On This Day
1941 > WW2
On This Day - 1941
- November 3, 1941
LEUT Ashley-Brown, while commanding a boat from HMAS AUSTRALIA, (cruiser), found the abandoned French sealing vessel L’ESPERANCE, grounded on Cat Island in the Kerguelen Group. The ship had been abandoned in a hurry, and a large hole had been blown in her bottom by a German demolition charge. Three graves were found on the beach nearby.
HMA Ships NAPIER and NIZAM, (destroyers), landed troops of the British 50th Division at Famagusta, Cyprus.
- November 1, 1941
HMAS AUSTRALIA arrived at Desolation Island to search for a German raider. The cruiser laid a minefield before departing. Post-war records showed the island had been used by the raider ORION for a refit, some time before AUSTRALIA’s visit.
CMDR A. S. Rosenthal, RAN, was awarded the DSO for outstanding gallantry while commanding HMAS NESTOR during Operation Substance, the passing of a convoy from the west to Malta, on 15 December
CMDR A. S. Rosenthal, RAN, was awarded a Bar to the DSO for the sinking of a German submarine in the Atlantic.
HMAS Ballarat (I) sailed for Jervis Bay to give anti-submarine protection to the transport Queen Mary. That ship and another giant liner of the Cunard Line, Queen Elizabeth, were to comprise Convoy US13 to the Middle East, the troops embarked being mainly from the 6th, 7th and 9th Australian Divisions
- October 30, 1941
The cable repair ship HMAS INNISFAIL, was commissioned. INNISFAIL was laid down in Mackie & Thompson Ltd, Govan, Scotland, in 1912. She was requisitioned for the RAN, from her owners, Australian Steamships Pty Ltd, Melbourne, on 3 September 1941.
- October 27, 1941
The destroyer HMAS NORMAN, (CMDR Henry Burrell, RAN), embarked a British Trade Union delegation at Archangel, Russia, for passage to England.
- October 26, 1941
The Bathurst class minesweeper, (corvette), HMAS WOLLONGONG, (LEUT G. A. Keith, RANVR), was commissioned. WOLLONGONG was laid down in Cockatoo Island Dockyard, Sydney, on 29 January 1941, and launched on 5 July 1941. Mrs J. A. Beasley, (Wife of the Minister for Supply and Shipping), performed the launching ceremony.
- October 24, 1941
CAPT H. M. L. Waller, DSO and Bar, RAN, was appointed to HMAS PERTH, (cruiser).
- October 22, 1941
CAPT J. Burnett, RAN, informed the crew of HMAS SYDNEY, (cruiser), that a German raider was operating in Australasian waters. The identity of the raider, STIERMARK, (the original name of the KORMORAN), was known to the Australian Naval Board on 17 October 1941. CAPT Burnett concluded his address with an exhortation to his crew that he expected every man to be up to the highest pitch of training.
- October 20, 1941
HMAS VENDETTA departed Alexandria for Singapore and passed through the Suez Canal on the 21st.
HMAS HOBART and HM Ships AJAX and GALATEA bombarded enemy batteries east of Tobruk.- October 17, 1941
HMAS CESSNOCK, (minesweeper), was launched at Cockatoo Island, Sydney. CESSNOCK was sold out of service in 1947, and was renamed NAN-AU
- October 14, 1941
HMAS Lithgow swept a German mineoff Tasman Island