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THE R .A.N. in ACTIO N T Was Fortunate That at the Outbreak of War

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THE R .A.N. in ACTIO N T Was Fortunate That at the Outbreak of War CHAPTER 6 THE R .A.N. IN ACTIO N T was fortunate that at the outbreak of war the naval forces of Aus- I tralia, though small, were well-balanced and ready to take up instantly any of the duties that circumstances might demand either in home water s or in combined service with the Empire and Allied forces . The First Naval Member and Chief of the Naval Staff, Vice-Admiral Sir Ragnar Colvin, was returning from a brief visit to England when war broke out , but under the Second Naval Member, Commodore M . W. S. Boucher, th e switch from peace to war was made without difficulty . The fleet of the Royal Australian Navy on 3rd September 1939 com- prised two 8-inch gun cruisers, Australia and Canberra, four 6-inch gun cruisers, Sydney, Hobart, Perth and Adelaide, one flotilla leader, Stuart, four destroyers, Voyager, Vampire, Vendetta and Waterhen, two sloops, Yarra and Swan, the survey ship, Moresby, a depot ship, Penguin (ex Platypus), the boom working vessel Kookaburra and the fleet oiler Kurumba. Adelaide was 17 years old ; the three other 6-inch gun cruisers were modified Leander-class, of around 7,000 tons . Built for the Roya l Navy in the rearmament period of the 1930 's, they were acquired and commissioned in the R .A.N. in 1935 (Sydney), 1938 (Hobart) and 1939 (Perth) . The destroyers were all veterans of the 1914-18 War. Most of the ships were commanded and manned by officers of the R .A.N. who had graduated from the R .A.N. College and by men trained at Flinders Naval Depot . As the war went on, the expanding scope of operations and th e inevitable losses called for additions and replacements . In September 193 9 two sloops were under construction : Parramatta, almost completed, and Warrego. Other ships were immediately necessary as minesweepers an d armed merchant cruisers, and smaller coastal traders, trawlers and passen- ger liners were converted for these purposes . The Admiralty helped to augment Australian naval strength, and by this means and an activ e building program in Australia the following wartime additions were made : the 8-inch gun cruiser, Shropshire ; the armed merchant cruisers (late r converted to infantry landing ships), Manoora, Westralia and Kanimbla; the destroyers, Nestor, Napier, Nizam, Norman, Nepal, Quiberon, Quick - match, Arunta, Warramunga and Bataan ; the frigates, Gascoyne, Barcoo, Burdekin, Hawkesbury, Lachlan and Diamantina; 56 corvettes (Australian minesweepers), 3 boom defence vessels, 35 Fairmiles (M.L's), 28 harbour defence motor-launches and numerous merchant vessels taken up fo r naval service. A great expansion of the medical services could be foreseen even in the early months of the war, though the reality exceeded most expecta- tions. The personnel of the navy, which on 3rd September 1939 numbere d approximately 5,000, was doubled almost overnight, and the medical 50 MEDICAL SERVICES OF THE R .A .N . services were called upon to provide medical care for all sea-going an d shore units. The navy's immediate task was the defence of the Australia Station . Canberra, Hobart, Voyager, Vampire, Swan and Yarra at once began patrol duties in the waters off the east coast, while Sydney was based on Fremantle . In October 1939 the cruiser, Hobart, and the five destroyers, Stuart, Vendetta, Waterhen, Vampire and Voyager, left Australian waters fo r Singapore. January 1940 saw the departure from Australia of the first convoy of Australian and New Zealand troops for the Middle East. Canberra and Australia augmented the escort by the battleship Ramillies from Sydney to Fremantle, where the two Australian cruisers were replace d by the British Kent and the French Sufiren. After leaving Colombo Hobart joined the escorting warships and the troops reached their destinatio n safely on 12th February . Meanwhile the five destroyers after varied experiences had arrived in the Mediterranean, where they were a welcome addition to the British Mediterranean Fleet . Rear-Admiral J. C. Tovey, in addressing Stuart's complement on their arrival, forecast hard work and dull days ahead, and as time went on this appeared as an understatement . The destroyers were engaged mostly in convoy work, and during the winter months of 1940 they experienced intensely cold conditions, with strong winds an d rough seas ; ice coated their sides, and Vampire's torpedoes froze in the tubes. To add to the strain of the day-by-day work, quarters were close ; the vitiated air did not circulate freely ; water leaked into the mess decks , damping bedding and causing loss of sleep, and there was little fresh food because of the absence of refrigeration . Such living conditions were not conducive to good health : colds, influenza and bronchitis were com- mon, and in July 1940 an advanced case of pulmonary tuberculosis wa s discovered in Vampire. Vampire's medical officer, Surgeon Lieutenant C. P. C. Reilly, also noted a deterioration in the men 's mental outlook. The five destroyers, Stuart, Vendetta, Waterhen, Vampire and Voyager, with a number of British destroyers were formed into the 10th Destroye r Flotilla on 27th May 1940, under the command of Captain H . M. L. Waller, R.A.N. The day before, H.M.A.S. Sydney arrived on the Mediter- ranean Station and joined the 7th Cruiser Squadron . On 10th June 1940 Italy declared war . She had a powerful, balanced fleet, numerically superior in all categories to the British in the Mediter- ranean, with strategically situated bases . It was a weapon which could seriously menace Britain's Mediterranean communications . The Australians were soon in action against the Italians. On 21st June Bardia was bombarded by a force which included Sydney and Stuart. During the action Sydney's Seagull aircraft narrowly escaped destruction when attacked in error by three R .A.F. fighters . Although damaged, it managed to reach Mersa Matruh. France signed an armistice with Germany on 22nd June and with Italy two days later. The British forces were now left to defend alone the THE R.A.N. IN ACTION 5 1 vulnerable sea path from Gibraltar, past Malta and Alexandria to Haifa . The narrow channel of 75 miles between Tunisia and Sicily and the neigh- bourhood of Malta held particular hazards . From this time until Novem- ber of the following year Australia's representation with the Mediter- ranean Fleet was never less than a cruiser and four destroyers . On 28th June Sydney operating with ships of 7th Cruiser Squadron had her first engagement with an Italian force at sea, and the Italian destroyer, Espero, was sunk. To pick up survivors in narrow waters near enemy-held shore bases was a dangerous operation . Sydney picked up 47, including 12 seriously wounded . Injuries included extensive burns and several fractures. One man suffered from a corneal ulcer due to burns, and here, as in other actions, burns involving the ocular region s caused great pain. Morphine was given freely as soon as patients reached the sick bay, and four anaesthetics were administered to allow fracture s to be splinted . Three of the patients, who had severe wounds incidenta l to fractured femur, with great blood loss, died within 36 hours. The rest were nursed on board until they could be discharged to hospital. Owing to the risk of submarine attack Sydney and the destroyer force were forced to move on quickly from these waters . The cruiser left a cutter floating with food and water for those who were able to reach it s haven. Bombing attacks were made by the Italians before the ships reached Alexandria, but no casualties or damage resulted at this time . In the first three weeks of the war the Italians also lost six submarine s to British attacks in the Mediterranean . Voyager was involved in two of these actions, the sinking of the Console Generale Liuzzi on 27th Jun e and the Uebi Scebeli on 29th June. On 4th July there was a heavy air raid on Alexandria and here, an d on the sea route to Port Said, the Australian ships were attacked, thoug h they escaped serious damage . Five days later the Battle of Calabria—the first major naval action wit h the Italians—took place. The British forces included the Australian ships Sydney, Stuart, Vampire and Voyager. The Italian forces were repelle d decisively. In spite of heavy air bombardments before and after the action , there were no British casualties. Vampire while escorting a convoy from Malta to Alexandria suffered the flotilla's first battle casualty when Com- missioned Gunner J. H. Endicott, R.N., was mortally wounded during a low-level bombing attack. Later in the month, Sydney, working with British destroyers, engaged two Italian cruisers and in an early morning action off Cape Spada, th e north-western extremity of Crete, sank the Italian cruiser, Bartolomeo Colleoni, and damaged her sister ship, the Giovanni delle Bande Nere. This action illustrated the problems involved in the rescue of survivor s from a sunken or sinking ship. The British destroyers, Hyperion, Ilex and Havock, stopped to rescue men from the Bartolomeo Colleoni, and succeeded in picking up 545. As a result of the delay, and hampered i n anti-aircraft defence by having their decks crowded with demoralised 52 MEDICAL SERVICES OF THE R.A.N. prisoners, the destroyers—and Sydney who had turned back to help them —later suffered heavy air attacks, with some damage to Havock. A second bombardment of Bardia was carried out on 17th August, and Stuart, Vendetta and Waterhen supplied screening for the heavy British ships taking part. Later in the month Stuart was one of four destroyers which bombarded the Italian base at Bomba, and on the same night , 23rd-24th August, Sydney and Waterhen were included in the force which again bombarded Bardia .
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