On This Day
1942 > WW2
On This Day - 1942
- February 13, 1942
HMS SCORPION, (gunboat), was sunk south of Singapore. Among her crew who were killed was AB Daniel Ingram of the RAN. Ingram had been serving in HMAS BENDIGO when he was caught ashore in Singapore during an air raid in early February, and missed the ships sailing. He was then allotted to SCORPION and lost his life when that ship was sunk.
Japanese bombers attacked a convoy escorted by HMA Ships BALLARAT, TOOWOOMBA, and WOLLONGONG, (corvettes), in Banka Straits. The aircraft were driven off by fire from the escorts.
- February 12, 1942
Garden Island, Sydney, the RAN’s main base, was joined to the mainland by coffer-dams in the course of the building of the Captain Cook Graving Dock. A temporary road laid on the earth fill supporting the dams was known as the “Burma Road”.
- February 7, 1942
HMAS WARRAMUNGA, (Tribal class destroyer), was launched at Cockatoo Island, Sydney.
HMAS TOOWOOMBA, (minesweeper), picked up survivors from the merchant ship BRITISH AIRMAN, marooned on an uninhabited island near Sumatra.
- February 6, 1942
A Carley float containing the remains of Able Seaman Thomas Welsby Clark from HMAS Sydney II was discovered off Christmas Island. The body was brought ashore and buried in the European Cemetery at Flying Fish Cove. He was identified by DNA in 2021.
HMA Ships WOLLONGONG and BENDIGO were subject to air raids two or three times daily, starting on 1 February, whilst in Singapore harbour. HMAS WOLLONGONG sailed from Singapore with refugees for Sumatra. She was the last ship of the RAN to leave the port before it was occupied by the Japanese.
HMAS HAWKESBURY was the first ship of the RAN to enter the port after the Japanese surrender in 1945.
- February 5, 1942
HMAS YARRA, (sloop), took off 1304 troops from the burning troop transport EMPRESS OF ASIA near Sultan Reef, Singapore. The rescue was effected under heavy air attack. LCDR W H Harrington, RAN, captain of YARRA recorded: “I was becoming a little dubious of the stability of HMAS YARRA and on getting clear gave orders for all hands to sit”. YARRA shot down one aircraft confirmed and was credited with two probables.
- February 4, 1942
While escorting the troopship AQUITANIA to Batavia, Netherlands East Indies, HMAS CANBERRA, (cruiser), sighted a Japanese submarine directly ahead of the troopship. The submarine dived and escaped before CANBERRA could launch an attack.
HMAS YARRA, (destroyer), was bombed in Banka Strait whilst escorting a convoy.
- February 3, 1942
HMAS TOOWOOMBA, rescued the crew of the bombed merchant vessel LOCH RANZA in the Rhio Strait, Malaya.
The United States Navy transferred its submarine base from Darwin to Fremantle.
The Cruiser HMAS HOBART, (CAPT H. Howden, RAN) rescued 57 women and children from the sinking merchant ship NORAH MOLLER near Banka Island. The merchant ship had been attacked and set on fire by Japanese aircraft. The civilian survivors were off loaded at Tanjong Priok (Java) the following day.
- February 2, 1942
HMAS VENDETTA, (destroyer), was towed by HMS STRONGHOLD from Singapore to Java. VENDETTA was in the middle of an extended refit and was immobilised.
The former Chinese river boats PING WO and WHANG PU sailed from Singapore to Australia. PING WO later took over the tow of the destroyer HMAS VENDETTA from HMS STRONGHOLD and despite encountering adverse weather conditions and breakdowns, delivered the destroyer to Fremantle. Both river boats were later commissioned into the RAN and served as workshop vessels in New Guinea waters. They were paid off in 1946 and returned to China.
- February 1, 1942
Twenty Australian built corvettes, (or ocean minesweepers), were in commission with the RAN. The 650 ton ships were being launched at the rate of one a month.
- January 31, 1942
The British Far Eastern Fleet, which included HMA Ships NAPIER, NIZAM and NESTOR, (destroyers), passed within 90 miles of a superior Japanese fleet in the Indian Ocean.