1 0 Indian Ocean—Mediterranean Interlud E
CHAPTER 1 0 INDIAN OCEAN—MEDITERRANEAN INTERLUD E N November 1940 the R.A.N. had lost its first ship in the war when I the auxiliary minesweeper Goorangai was sunk in collision with a merchant ship in Port Phillip Bay. In June 1943 the navy lost its fifteenth ship in the war when the corvette Wallarool sank off Fremantle after a collision with a merchant ship . On 10th June Wallaroo (Lieutenant Ross, ' R.A.N.R.) sailed from Fremantle escorting two American merchant ships , John G. Whittier (7,176 tons), and Henry Gilbert Costin (7,200 tons) . Her instructions from Commodore Pope, the N .O .I.C. Fremantle, were to lead the convoy in column at 102 knots, in order Wallaroo (giving anti- submarine protection), John G. Whittier, Henry Gilbert Costin, four cables apart, until moonset about midnight that night . The convoy was then to disperse to the respective ocean routes of the ships, and Wallaroo was to return to port. When the dispersal point was reached—about 60 miles west of Fremantle—at midnight on the 10th, there was a moderate westerl y wind and moderate to rough sea, the moon had gone and the sky wa s overcast, with visibility about one mile . The three ships were darkened, steaming in column as pre-arranged, on course W . + N. Ross, Wallaroo's C.O., decided that weather conditions made further escorting unnecessary . He altered course to starboard to N.E. by E E, and while turning signalle d to John G. Whittier by lamp, to disperse . Wallaroo passed John G.
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