Naval Engagements, Operations and Capabilities

Book Review: The Midget Submarine Attack on Sydney

March 11, 1991

Lew Lind, Bellrope Press, 74 pages with illustrations and maps.

The Japanese midget submarine attack on ships in Sydney Harbour occurred almost fifty years ago and yet is still a very topical subject. It was the first attack on Sydney and its impact changed Australia from a quiet backwater of the Second World War to a vital springboard for the defeat of Japan.

The author was the founder of and President of The Naval Historical Society of Australia and Public Relations Officer of the Garden Island Naval Dockyard for more than twenty years. He was stationed at Garden Island in 1944 and a contemporary of those who participated in the attack.

The object of the book was to correct the various errors which appeared in the Official History and the number of books that have been written on the subject. This the book does, but in addition, it introduces new material which has not appeared in print.

Perhaps foremost in this regard is the official casualty list. For some 47 years it remained at 19 killed but the author’s research has shown it was 22. Two Royal Navy sailors, survivors from HMS REPULSE and HMS CORNWALL, and a United States Air Force squadron leader were the missing personnel. The latter was the first United Stated serviceman killed on active service in Australia.

This interesting book also corrects the grossly understated number of Allied men of war in Sydney Harbour on the night of the attack. Strange to relate, the Japanese made the same mistake.

The author has not only shown the anti-submarine net was effective but has unearthed the plans used by the Maritime Services Board of New South Wales and they are reproduced in the book.

The Japanese Midget Submarine Association closely cooperated with the author on the Japanese participation in the attack. This has helped to dispel the suicide myth which has highlighted most previous accounts.

Perhaps of more interest to many readers, is the well authenticated suggestion on the fate of the missing midget. This surmise is based on evidence which has been overlooked by researchers and, for this alone, the book is worthy of a place on the book shelf.

‘The Midget Submarine Attack on Sydney’ is the first book published by Bellrope Press, the publishing outlet of the Garden Island Naval Museum, and is a limited edition of 1000 copies. Highly recommended.

Howard Horwood

Book Review: Action Stations

June 29, 1990

Action Stations by Iris Nesdale

Action Stations in some ways disappointed me but it must be very difficult to write a book about two ships serving in the same area and still manage to give each a distinct flavour. Bataan, of course, saw virtually no WWII activity as she was only commissioned on 26 June, 1945. However, she did see plenty of action in Korea. Her life was cut short, being placed in reserve in June 1954.

So the book has been ‘padded’ and contains some interesting information on Cockatoo Island Dockyard, the heavy (8”) cruisers and some good photographs.

One inclusion is the profile drawing ‘as fitted’ of Arunta. This is an excellent idea and apart from allowing laymen to see what that class of destroyer looked like inside, will stop many an argument from the ‘old hands’.

This book is well worthy of a place on your bookshelf and a welcome addition to Australian Naval Historical recordings.

Book Review: First In Last Out – The Navy at Gallipoli

June 29, 1990

First in, Last out – the Navy at Gallipoli By T R Frame and G J Swinden

This is a timely book. It is 75 years since the landings at Gallipoli and the activities of the Navy of course started some months before this. I suppose most of us who have bothered to read of the exploits of our first two Submarines would have studied A.W. Jose’s excellent account in Volume IX of the Official History of Australia in the War of 1914-18. In particular of course those exploits of AE2.

This book has brought much more life into the dry account mentioned and follows the crew as PoW of the Turks with the accompanying changes in treatment, not of course generally known in Australia as 26 men, were small beer when compared to the numbers of soldiers who became PoW.

I think that the introduction highlights one of the problems of the Australian ideas that the defence forces of Australia consist of Army, Army, Army, Air Force, and Navy somewhere way down the track. That the Navy is virtually just short of instant readiness for action never impinges on the average man in the street nor, one would sometimes think, the average politician. Suffice it to quote:

‘There was an enormous difference between ‘Jack’ the sailor and the Anzac ‘digger’. In Gallipoli Alex Moorehead put it succinctly:

‘In the case of the Anzacs there was not even a tradition to guide them, for there had been no wars at all in their country’s past. They had no immediate ancestors to live up to – it was simply a matter of proving themselves, of starting a tradition here and now.

The sailor of World War I was nothing like the Anzac. He was experienced in fighting his ship at sea, he was technically trained to some level, disciplined and loyal to his service and whereas the Anzac had to build a tradition from scratch, for the sailor it was already 400 years old.’ For herein I believe lies the reason that AE2 and the Bridging Train have virtually never been heard of by the general public.

This book, which sets out the matter very clearly, should be one of the ‘required reading’ for newly entered officers and the basis of a lecture to recruit sailors, because it follows up in RAN tradition the sinking of Emden.

I think most of the RAN had heard of the Bridging Train because of Leighton Bracegirdle. He steadily rose in rank and naturally his background became known and through that the existence of the Bridging Train. What a pity he was not in command when the mutiny took place. As has caused the vast majority of mutinies – pay – or lack of it, was the basic cause, the matter being badly handled by the temporary commanding officer. But Admiral Wemyss quickly fixed the situation by ‘bending the rules’.

One other point probably not known to many today is that the Naval Board was extremely reluctant to have reserve officers and men serve in ships. I wonder what would have happened to the RAN in WW2 if the same ideas had prevailed?

This book is well worthy of a place on your bookshelf and a welcome addition to Australian Naval Historical recordings.

Book Review: Silencing debate on Shropshire

March 28, 1990

Mr Stan Nicholls wants to silence debate on what did and did not happen to HMAS Shropshire during World War II.

So he has written a 330-page hard-cover book on the eight-inch heavy cruiser, which played a major part in the sinking of the Japanese battleship, the Yamasharo.

Mr Nicholls, 64, who served on the Shropshire for more than two years, began writing the book six years ago. He said yesterday that he had never written anything before, other than hundreds of government reports.

Stan Nicholls – launching his book on the Shropshire’s exploits

Originally, he planned to distribute photocopies of the story to fellow members of the HMAS Canberra and HMAS Shropshire Association but interest among the ship’s former crew was so strong the association set up a committee to organise its publication.

‘At reunions you hear the fellas reciting stories of what did and didn’t happen to the ship so I thought I’d better get to the truth,’ he said.

Formerly called the HMS Shropshire, the ship was given to the Australian Navy to replace the HMAS Canberra, which sank in August 1942.

It was engaged in active service in the South and South-West Pacific until 1947.

In its encounter with the Yamasharo, Mr Nicholls said the Shropshire fired 32 broadsides, 19 of which were direct hits.

He described the ‘scary’ feeling of crew as they watched the thousands of Japanese sailors drown rather than allow themselves to be rescued.

‘Only three came aboard, the rest stayed in the water,’ Mr Nicholls said.

The book contains about 200 photographs and charts and includes several amusing anecdotes. The HMAS Shropshire was eventually returned to the British who scuttled it during the 1950s.

(By courtesy Adelaide ‘Advertiser’, 18/1/90)

Naval Engagements, Operations and Capabilities

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