On This Day
1919-1938 > Depresssion and between the wars
On This Day - 1919-1938
- January 15, 1936
HMAS AUSTRALIA, (cruiser), became Cock of the Mediterranean when she won the Cruiser Regatta from HMS LONDON. She also won this regatta. in 1935.
- October 31, 1935
HMAS SYDNEY, (cruiser), was ordered to join the 2nd Cruiser Squadron in the Mediterranean. The Mediterranean Fleet was strengthened as a result of the Abyssinian Crisis.
- October 11, 1935
Secret orders were received by HMAS AUSTRALIA, (cruiser), in the Mediterranean. In the event of war with Italy, AUSTRALIA was to join HMS BERWICK, and proceed to a position off Taranto to cover HMS GLORIOUS, (aircraft carrier), which was to launch its torpedo-carrying Swordfish aircraft against the Italian Fleet.
The orders were reactivated with great success in 1940.
- October 8, 1935
HMAS AUSTRALIA, (cruiser),won the Mediterranean Regatta against all ships of the Fleet. The cruiser scored 279.5 points, against HMS LONDON’S 276.
- September 24, 1935
The modified Leander class cruiser HMAS SYDNEY, (CAPT J. U. C. Fitzgerald, RN), was commissioned at Portsmouth . SYDNEY was laid down in Swan Hunter and Wigham Richardson Yard, Wallsend-on-Tyne, England, on 8 July 1933, as HMS PHAETON, and launched 22 September 1934, having been purchased for the RAN, as HMAS SYDNEY. Mrs S. M. Bruce, (Wife of the Australian High Commissioner), performed the launching ceremony. HMAS Brisbane was decommissioned at Portsmouth during the same ceremony.
- September 12, 1935
The first Seagull MK V amphibian was embarked in HMAS AUSTRALIA, (cruiser). HMAS SYDNEY, (cruiser), also carried a Seagull A2-2.
- August 1, 1935
The decommissioned MARGUERITE and MALLOW were sunk by gunfire and explosives off Sydney
- July 16, 1935
HMA Ships AUSTRALIA and BRISBANE, (cruisers), represented the RAN at the Jubilee Review of HRH King George V, at Spithead, England.
- June 13, 1935
HMAS BRISBANE, (cruiser), was ordered to assist HMS HASTINGS, (sloop), which ran aground on Shab Kutle Reef in the Red Sea. The cruiser stood by the stranded ship for a week until she was freed.
- May 2, 1935
HMAS Brisbane sailed for England manned by a complement which would form the balance of the ship’s company of the new HMAS Sydney (ex-HMS Phaeton)