On This Day
1914-1918 > WW1
On This Day - 1914-1918
- August 30, 1914
VADM Sir George Patey, RN, in HMAS AUSTRALIA, arrived of Samoa, and the official surrender of German Samoa took place. The squadron comprised AUSTRALIA, HMA Ships MELBOURNE, and PSYCHE , and HM Ships PYRAMUS and PHILOMEL.
- August 26, 1914
HMAS PIONEER, (3rd class cruiser), captured the German merchant vessel THURINGEN, off Fremantle, WA.
- August 20, 1914
The German cruiser MAGDEBURG was captured by the Russian Navy, after running aground in a fog in the Gulf of Finland. Code books recovered from the cruiser were rushed to London, where intelligence experts matched them with merchant service code books seized by the RAN on 11 August, from the German ship HOBART, in Port Phillip, VIC. By November 1914 all German naval wireless traffic was being intercepted and decoded orders passed to the British Fleet.
- August 18, 1914
The auxiliary cruiser HMAS BERRIMA, (CMDR J. B. Stevenson, RN), was commissioned. BERRIMA was requisitioned for the RAN, from her owners, the P&O Steam Navigation Co Ltd, in August 1914.
ADML von Spee, C-in-C, German Pacific Fleet, recorded in his journal: ‘The AUSTRALIA is my special apprehension-she alone is superior to my whole squadron’.
- August 16, 1914
HMAS PIONEER, (light cruiser), captured the German merchant ship NEUMUNSTER, off Rottnest Island, WA.