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You are here: Home / Archives for Australian Navy / HMAS Norman I

HMAS Norman I

HMAS Norman – far from Home

March 29, 2017

By Peter Nunan

Background

The N-class destroyers operated in many parts of the globe but HMAS Norman was the only one of her ilk to have made an operational voyage to Russia. In October 1941, she proceeded from northern Scotland to Iceland, past Bear Island and Murmansk to the White Sea port of Archangel. Over the next three years, convoys using this route to Murmansk became the focus of public attention in the terms of men, ships and material lost to German enemy action in horrendous weather conditions. Norman’s icy passage remains possibly the most memorable of her wartime activities.

A new Australian destroyer, six British trade unionists, and Winston Churchill combined to produce a notable voyage in October 1941. On 2 September that year in Edinburgh, the British Trade Union Congress set up an Anglo-Soviet Trade Union Council. Two weeks later, in Southampton, Commander Henry Burrell, RAN1commissioned HMAS Norman; his navigating officer was Lieutenant Graham Wright, RAN2. Three weeks later, on 8 October, Churchill, eager to promote Russian links, had Normanand six unionists on their way to Russia.

The delegation’s leader, Sir Walter Citrine3, Commander Burrell and Lieutenant Wright all recorded the voyage in later publications. Norman‘s Report of Proceedings fills in details. Burrell’s Mermaids do Existpublished in 1986, two years before his death, gives one perspective, and Citrine’s autobiography, published in two volumes in 1964 and 1967, provides another. In 2014 Wright also produced his autobiography, the aptly named Putting it Wright, in which he provides a slightly different version to that of his commanding officer. We also benefit from a previous article in this magazine, One of our Destroyer’s Journeys to Russia by George Ramsay, published in December 1988.

Norman’s captain’s evening meal, on 6 October at Scapa Flow during work up, was interrupted by a summons from his superior. Rear Admiral Hamilton ordered him to Seydisfjord, Iceland to embark Citrine’s party from the disabled HMS Antelope. The delegation had previously embarked in the destroyer Antelope but she developed engine problems caused by water freezing in her condensers. The admiral asked if Burrell had the necessary charts. He confessed ignorance, but said ‘ … he would pinch Antelope‘s set if necessary.’ Then he respectfully reminded the Admiral that his new ship, still working up, could in no way be considered battleworthy. This was blandly met with, ‘ … he knew the position, and I was to let him know at what time I wanted the boom gate opened …’

Driving hard through the night, morning fog, and a bright afternoon Norman averaged 31 knots to reach Antelope and transfer the passengers. Sailing at 0800 on 8 October, Burrell steered well clear of German-occupied Norway, and, maintaining best speed of 18.5 knots in rough, very cold weather, they reached Archangelat 1500 on 12 October. On passage, to improve his ship’s readiness, he carried out gunnery practice, and kept the forward gun mount constantly manned. A steam hose, rigged to prevent freezing of the ready use ammunition housing, itself froze.

Wright’s Observations

At this stage Graham Wright was a newly promoted 22 year old Lieutenant and had yet to complete a course of specialisation. He was, however, given the highly responsible job of navigation officer. He relates that as the crow flies the distance between Seydisfjord and Archangel is some 1370 nautical miles but, making a passage clear of enemy aircraft and submarine activity, meant going mostly inside the Arctic Circle north of Bear Island as far as 75 degrees north latitude and increasing the distance to some 2470 nautical miles.

With only the benefit of primitive anti-aircraft radar and, with the prior agreement of Russian authorities, that a lighthouse would be operational for five minutes only on the hour, they made landfall during a snowstorm off the Kola Inlet. After circumnavigating a minefield, they arrived at the mouth of the North Dvina River to take a pilot who spoke no English, beyond port and starboard. They later learned that the minefield they so carefully avoided didn’t really exist.

Convoy routes to northern Russia. From Roskill’s The War at Sea.

Owing to the high speed of advance the voyage was extremely uncomfortable, especially for non-seafarers such as the Trade Union Delegation. To escape the vibration of the Captain’s Day Cabin, Sir Walter found some relief in the Chart House below the Bridge, which was heated, and he could converse with the Navigator on progress. Quite a rapport was established between the young Australian and the experienced older man who spoke freely of his mission to gain first-hand information from Stalin as to whether the Russians could hold out against the German offensive before Britain poured aid into northern Russia, which might then fall into enemy hands. If not, an alternative strategy was planned to be implemented before Christmas, whereby the British Trade Unions were to be called out supporting appeasement with Germany.

Graham Wright receives hs Arctic Star in 2013 – Navy News

Ramsay’s Observations

George Ramsay was a 20 year old Perth born junior sailor who had served in HMAS Sydneyand who, together with about 120 of his colleagues, was transferred to form the nucleus of the crew of the new ship Norman. They were the lucky ones who escaped the Sydney/Kormoranengagement. Extracts from young George’s recollections help fill some important gaps.

Into the Barents Sea and passing north of Bear Island, then turning southward past Murmansk, and into the White Sea. On Sunday 12 October, we were met by a pilot and two officials in a very smart motor launch, skippered by a tall attractive lady in a white uniform, who then guided us into the Dvina River proceeding along the tree lined and snow covered shores to berth in Archangel. From our berth, all seemed to be wood – ice – snow, and the settlement reminded me of an old time American army outpost.

This berth was in a bay with a small settlement on the opposite side from the city of Archangel which could only be reached by boat.

A band of very sizeable armed women sentries, probably appearing so under a lot of protective clothing, patrolled the dock area but the local traders eluded them. As we had no Russian money someone soon found out that a bar of chocolate or a packet of cigarettes could barter all that was on offer, which wasn’t much due to local rationing. What we needed was warmer clothing and I managed to acquire a fur hat. It was also so cold that we did not venture ashore much. There was a small canteen-bar but the local beer was awful to drink, and more devastating in results. For recreation someone from the two RN destroyers we found up here Escapadeand Impulsiveproduced a football, and it was hilarious playing in the deep snow.

The ships were later joined by the cruiser HMS Suffolk which berthed further downstream.

Churchill with Citrine far right – MOD

 Citrine’s Observations

At Archangel, as Sir Walter and his team disembarked ‘ … it was quite clear that he hoped for a bigger ship for his return.’ Burrell was not wrong as the 54 year old Citrine had an uncomfortable voyage. The following excerpt taken from Sir Walter Citrine’s observations provides a useful insight into conditions in one of HMA Ships when working far from home:

At daybreak the following morning, Normanput to sea, and when I awakened the heaving of the ship showed that we were already some distance from land. The Commander had very considerately allowed me to use his day cabin on the lower deck … Every ship has its own peculiar motion and Normanmost certainly had hers.

I went up to the bathroom on the deck above and bathed and shaved as expeditiously as I could because of unpleasant and unmistakable symptoms. I had to return to bed but the pitching and rolling of the ship was so violent, and I felt so thoroughly dejected, that I couldn’t even read. I lay listening to the interminable whirl of the propellers and the swishing of the water near my head. There was only three-eighths of an inch thickness of plating between the sea and us, and one could hear many sounds that would never be noticed in a larger and heavier ship.

The atmosphere was decidedly colder than it had been the previous day and I was literally buried in blankets. Naturally I ate nothing, and the succeeding night could scarcely sleep, and lay listening to the howling of the wind and the battering of the sea against the hull.

[Next day] I staggered up on deck … to find a fresh wind blowing and a heavy swell running, so that I had to walk warily and to hang on to the lifelines which ran lengthwise at shoulder height above the deck.

The crew were Australians and they were a husky and friendly lot. They were clustered about the gun stations and near the funnel trying to escape the biting wind. Everyone wore his balaclava helmet and was muffled up in all the warm clothing he could muster … The weather really was cold and I was told by one of the engineers that the men in the stokehole were wearing heavy coats to keep them warm. It appears that the forced draught was rather strong and the frigid air rushes down on the stokers … The following day, when I went on deck, I was greeted with a swirl of sleet, the decks being wet and not at all easy for landlubbers to traverse … We were now very far to the north, and I thought this was probably the coldest weather we would encounter. We had only six degrees of frost, but, on going to the forecastle, I saw ice encasing the guns, stays, deck and rail … Despite the bad weather it was a pleasure to go on deck, not only for the exhilarating air, but to chat with the crew … They were a keen, alert lot of fellows. At the moment their principal concern was whether they would get any leave in Archangel and how much. What was Archangel like? How much did vodka cost? Were there any dancehalls there? How much was the rouble worth? Did the Russians like night life? Was the vodka very strong? These, and a host of other questions, showed how eagerly the crew were looking forward to having a fling ashore … One grievance these young fellows had was about rum. It appears that there is no rum allowance in the Australian Navy as there is in the British, and on cold runs like this, the crew considered this was a hardship. Certainly they were going through it. Used to the beautiful, mild climate of Australia, these frigid zones put a strain on them. I looked up at the fellow in the crow’s nest and thought he must nearly be frozen. Fortunately these men only have very short spells of duty of about an hour each on lookout.

The engineers weren’t without their troubles either [with fractured water and hydraulic pipes]. But they took it very philosophically, as they said such defects always showed themselves in a new ship …

The wind, which was now abeam, caused Normanto roll a good deal, so much so that one of the officers was thrown the whole length of the wardroom. … That night the weather became worse, and I went to bed early, listening to the sudden angry swirling of the water, the tremor of the ship, and the banging of the sea on her sides … The cold at night was intense, and although I had an electric radiator turned on and an extra blanket on the bed, I had to put my heavy coat on top of these to keep myself warm. I turned in wearing my underclothes and socks, over which I pulled my pyjamas.

The succeeding day the gun turrets, decks and almost every bit of metal were covered in ice. One of the crew told me he had almost passed out with the cold during his four-hour watch. I lay awake until approximately five o’clock, when, suddenly, the bedding shot off the mattress and I was hurled right across the cabin … I knew that we had to expect an unpleasant passage in a destroyer, but I never imagined it could be so bad …

That morning] for a time I stood [on deck] … talking to the men on watch. We had a following wind, whereas the previous night it had been on the beam practically the whole time. It was a sight to inspire confidence to see how the little vessel soared up just as mountainous waves appeared ready to burst over her. There was a really heavy swell, some of the waves rising, I should say, more than fifty feet above the deck. Yet somehow they seldom succeeded in curling over the poop. Forward it was a different matter. Great wave after great wave came over the weather side and swept along the decks. One had to be wide awake to avoid trouble. But the cold didn’t freeze the spirits of the crew who were as friendly and optimistic as ever.

HMAS Norman off Scotland – HMAS Cerberus Museum

On Sunday, 12th October, while we were at breakfast, the alarm bells began to ring … An aeroplane had been sighted … It was very inspiriting to observe the alertness of the crew as they speedily and calmly manned their posts … The aeroplane … turned aside [so] we never knew for certain whether it was a German or a Soviet machine.

Soon after … we took a Soviet pilot on board, accompanied by two officers, one of whom was an interpreter … They were full of admiration for Norman, calling her a beautiful ship, which in truth she was despite the unpleasant time she had given us. 

Able Seaman from HMAS Norman displays his beard grown while in the North Atlantic

The destroyer rounded the turn and passed down the delta of the River Dvina, steaming briskly along. At the truck of the mast a figure of an Australian kangaroo had been fixed with a pennant streaming from it and the White Ensign floating below …

Further down the river we drew near the quay and fastened up alongside in the rapidly diminishing light. Very soon an English naval captain came on board, accompanied by a delegation of trade unionists … They greeted us warmly, and regretfully we left our good host, Commander Burrell and the officers and crew of Norman.

Citrine’s party was flown from Archangel to Moscow hedge-hopping all the way to avoid enemy aircraft. At this time, German troops were within 20 miles of the Russian capital. On arrival they discovered Stalin had remained but many of his senior political advisers, who they had hoped to see, had decamped to Kuybyshev some 500 miles further east. The mission was however regarded as a success, leading to increased aid being shipped to northern Russia and a subsequent return mission of senior Soviet officials to Britain.

Burrell’s Leadership

After two days at a rudimentary jetty Commander Burrell decided that as the Russian trip had interrupted their work-up, training should continue. Perhaps also feeling his crew would be better off at sea, rather than ashore in the arms of the local ‘angels’. With the agreement of the resident Senior British Naval Officer Norman sailed on an anti-submarine patrol for two days in some of the coldest weather in the world, inside the Arctic Circle to the Barents Sea. Burrell’s style of leadership, if not exactly appreciated by his crew, was to later take him to command the Australian Fleet and then achieve the greatest accolade as Chief of Naval Staff.

Shortly after return to Archangel, at 1530 on 16 October, Norman was ordered by Suffolk to proceed to Seydisfjord. Off Bear Island came the order, again from Suffolk, to return and from the 19th to the 21st the destroyer was again alongside. Another anti-submarine patrol and an assessment of a possible convoy anchorage as the river began to freeze filled part of the wait for the unionists.

‘A thoroughly depressing town’ was Burrell’s assessment of Archangel. On his only run ashore the captain and his chief engineer passed rifle carrying women sentries before traversing wooden roads. They saw no men, and ‘the women, … shrouded in black, all seemed very old.’ An order in a cafe for fried eggs produced two frying pans each containing four small eggs.

Homeward Bound

Citrine’s party rejoined Norman on 27 October. He describes the return voyage:

After about two hours steaming we dropped anchor and lay to until orders were received for us to proceed on our way.

The following day opened with a bright sun in bitterly cold weather. On going on deck I found that the ice was at least three inches thick and big chunks of it, broken off as we passed through, were forming up some distance behind us. No doubt it would soon freeze over into a solid mass …

This cold of the return leg initially matched that of the voyage to Archangel. Thankfully the seas were kinder. On the bridge a suspicious sighting turned out to be a log. Citrine continues:

I descended to the comparative warmth of the main deck, joining the select party who were warming their hands on the funnel. I was curious to ascertain what the crew thought of Archangel. They held that the roubles were far too expensive and they grumbled that a bottle of Madeira wine had cost them 35 roubles, with the rate of exchange at 48 roubles to the pound. They had resorted to trading cigarettes and chocolate. A bar of chocolate brought 10 roubles, and English cigarettes were much sought after.

The intense cold persisted until the day before arrival. Gunnery practice with a smoke float as target Citrine judged as ‘pretty good.’

We put in at Iceland where the caterers for the various ship’s messes went out hunting for food. I saw them delving into the shops for fish, onions, bread and biscuits … The following day we left Iceland, travelling at high speed … An open boat was investigated and found to be a fisherman; a wisp of smoke on the horizon was monitored until it disappeared.

Arrived off a place somewhere in Scotland, a lighter put off to us and we passed down the ship’s side while the whole ship’s company lined up to give us three cheers which we heartily returned. We left Normanwith a real sense of gratitude to the good fellows who had brought us home in security on a voyage full of interest, despite the rigorous weather.

Burrell’s account adds further details. At 0700 on 27 October, Norman sailed for Seydisfjord. Arriving there on the last day of the month, Normantook on bread and mutton from the Army before sailing at 6.41 a.m. on 1 November. The party disembarked next day at 9 a.m. at Scrabster, Scotland.

Summary

This northern voyage was unique to the RAN in WWII. It made its crew some of the few Australians eligible for the Arctic Star, the last campaign medal of the war. Norman‘s navigator, Graham Wright, was 93 when he received his in 2013, at the same time ex‑Able Seaman George Ramsay, then 91, also received his medal. The captain, who died in 1988, did not live to receive his Arctic Star. The Russians did not forget their past comrades and eventually issued a splendid Russian Convoy Medal, with its striking ribbon, to all Allied sailors involved which included those of the RAN.Commander Burrell also received a black lacquer cigarette box Sir Walter gave him on disembarking. He was grateful, but in 1986 ended his account of the voyage with:

I have yet to learn if the conference in Russia achieved anything, and I still doubt the wisdom of sending out into enemy waters a ship whose only fighting attribute was high speed in retreat.

Naval and merchant ships suffered grievous losses during these Russian convoys with their precious cargoes being delivered at tremendous cost. The heroism, determination and seamanship displayed by all who took part deserved the mark of respect they made in maritime history.

Notes:

  1. Henry Mackay Burrell (1904-1988) was a highly successful Australian naval officer who graduated from the RANC in 1921 and served in a number of RN and RAN ships during the inter-war period, including as navigating officer of the cruiser HMS Devonshire, during her tour of duty in the Spanish Civil War. Early in WWIIhe was given command of the new N-class destroyer HMAS Normanand in her took a British delegation to Archangel. A variety of other commands followed with promotion in 1959 to Vice Admiral as Chief of Naval Staff when he received a knighthood. He retired from the RAN in 1962.

2.Graham Wright also wrote of his experiences in his autobiography Putting it Wright,published in 2014 when he was 94 years of age. He was greatly assisted in this work by his much younger wife, Marie. Graham Wright excelled academically and was good at sport, he became Chief Cadet Captain and King’s Medallist at the Royal Australian Naval College, all attributes likely to assure a highly successful naval career. His self confidence sometimes placed him at odds with more experienced officers and his fractious relationship with Henry Burrell impacted upon his subsequent naval career. In 1962 he retired from the RAN and after a couple of false starts pursued an accomplished public service career within the Department of Defence.

  1. Walter Citrine (1887-1983) came from humble origins, his father was a seafarer from Liverpool, but he quickly rose through the ranks of the Trade Union movement. He was General Secretary of the British Trades Union Congress from 1926 to 1946 and from 1939 was also President of the influential International Federation of Trade Unions and, from 1931 a director of the mass circulation Daily Heraldsocialist newspaper. Citrine was favoured by Winston Churchill because of his anti-Nazi views. He had made visits to the Soviet Union in 1925 and again in 1935 and, with Government support, visited Finland in 1940 when Britain was providing aid at the height of her war against the Soviet Union. His 1941 visit to the Soviet Union was part of Churchill’s diplomatic efforts to bring Russians into an alliance against Germany before establishing Arctic convoys providing them with war materials. Walter Citrine was knighted in 1935 and received a peerage in 1947.

 

Book Review: The Kellys

March 18, 2004

The Kellys – British J, K & N Class Destroyers of World War II
By Christopher Langtree
Published by Chatham Publishing, Kent, England
Distributed in Australia by Peribo
58 Beaumont Street, Mount Ku-Ring-Gai NSW 2080.
Hardcover 224 pages, RRP $110.00.

Reviewed by Vic Jeffery


One could be forgiven for thinking a book with the title, The Kelly’s, relates to the 19th Century Australian bushranger Ned Kelly and the infamous Kelly gang.

Not so; author and historian Christopher Langtree uses the name ‘Kelly’ as shorthand for all 24 members of the group which comprises three flotillas of eight each, of those magnificent British J, K and N class destroyers of World War Two.

The flotilla leader, HMS Kelly of course, was Lord Louis Mountbatten’s flagship and the most famous of the group. Of the three flotillas, the N-class flotilla was the only one to be entirely non-Royal Navy manned with five being Australian, two Dutch and one Polish-manned.

I believe they were perhaps the most handsome destroyers ever constructed. With their sleek low silhouettes, single raked funnel and a certain jauntiness about them, fast, heavily armed, innovative, and highly manoeuverable, they were a considerable advance in British destroyer design.

The five that served in the Royal Australian Navy during the War, Napier, Nizam, Nepal, Nestor and Norman were awarded 24 battle honours between them including Malta convoys, Atlantic, Bismarck 1941, Crete, Libya, Mediterranean, Indian Ocean, Pacific, Burma and Okinawa.

Amazingly, although the RAN’s N-class destroyers had a very busy war, only four men were lost to enemy action, in the Mediterranean when four stokers were killed when Nestor was near-missed by two heavy bombs which flooded the boiler rooms and caused the ship to lose power. A sister ship HMS Javelin took the stricken Nestor under tow, but as the tow parted twice and with more air attacks imminent at dawn, the daunting task of getting the crippled destroyer back to Alexandria 250 miles away became impossible. The decision was made to scuttle Nestor; her crew was taken off and she was sunk with a series of shallow set depth charges dropped nearby on 16 June 1941.

The second part of this book covers the entire service careers of the ships in detail, including the 12 lost on wartime service. It is indeed interesting to read the postwar careers of the four surviving RAN N-class ships after they reverted to Royal Navy control in 1945.

The five N-class in reserve, four former Australian and the former Polish Piorun (ex-Nerissa), came under close scrutiny for conversion to Type 16 frigates as part of the program to combat the new Soviet high-speed submarines that were entering service, which were faster than the wartime constructed anti-submarine frigates and sloops.

It was decided to produce a different type of conversion, the Type 18. These ships would have two primary purposes, firstly to protect convoys against submarine attack and secondly a seek-anddestroy role, in cooperation with aircraft if necessary.

History reveals that as the N-class destroyers were halfway through their hull lives, the project was not proceeded with. They remained in reserve until 1955 when the decision was made to dispose of them.

The 113 photos selected for this book are first class, with many never published previously.

The book fittingly opens with a doublepage spread of one of the finest destroyer shots of World War Two, a magnificent photo of HMS Kimberley at a vital moment of the Second Battle of Sirte on March 22, 1942. Kimberley is seen pounding through rough seas at 30 knots with guns elevated as the 14th Destroyer Flotilla turn to make a torpedo attack.

As well as the photographs, 24 technical and line drawings by John Lambert, 12 tables and eight appendices support this commendable book. John Roberts provides the known 17 colour camouflage schemes used by these ships.

These destroyers were certainly among the best destroyers of the Second World War. Ships based on the original design were still in service in the 1970s, long after these greyhounds of the sea had been scrapped.

Author Christopher Langtree is to be commended on his first effort in producing such an excellent reference book in an easy-to-read format, and also producing a work which fills a void in naval history.

 

The RAN’s Destroyers

March 11, 1991

Surely destroyers are the backbone of our Royal Australian Navy. Thirty-nine destroyers have served in the RAN since Foundation in 1911, from our first destroyers – HMA Ships PARRAMATTA (1), and YARRA (1), of only 700 tons, to our latest DDGs PERTH, HOBART and BRISBANE displacing over 4,500 tons.

River Class

HMAS Parramatta
HMAS Parramatta

Australia’s first destroyers were known as the River Class (I Class in the Royal Navy). The first two, PARRAMATTA and YARRA, were completely built in the UK during 1910/11, with WARREGO 1910/12, built in England, then disassembled and shipped to Australia to be rebuilt in Cockatoo Island Dockyard in NSW (for the ship building experience). The remaining four were completely built in Cockatoo Island Dockyard – WARREGO 1910/11/12, HUON (laid as DERWENT, but renamed HUON so as not to be confused with HMS DERWENT) 1913/15, TORRENS 1913/15 and SWAN 1915/16. They had a displacement of 700 tons, length 250ft, beam 24½ft and a 9ft draught. They carried one 4″ gun forward, 3x 12pdrs, 3×18″ torpedoes in tubes. Speed of 26/27 knots, with a complement of 66 officers and men. The cost of the UK built ships was £81,500, and the Australian built ships £160,000. (How times have changed.)

These ships served in the Mediterranean and the Pacific areas during World War I, and after the War, from 1919 in various duties, and for Naval Reserve training.

Gift Destroyers

In 1919 the RAN received six gift destroyers from the Royal Navy, the first was HMAS ANZAC (1), 1917 to 1933, a Marksman (Destroyer leader) Class destroyer of 1,660 tons, length 325ft, beam 31½ft, draught 12½ft, with three funnels. Her armament was 4×4″ guns, 2x12pdrs, 4×21″ torpedoes. She had a speed of 34 knots from her triple screws, with a complement of 122 officers and ratings. ANZAC transferred to the RAN, leaving Plymouth (England) in February 1920 and sailed to Sydney, arriving there on 29 April. There was little to do after the War (Great War), and she spent her time on the Australian east coast, though she visited New Guinea and New Britain in 1924, 1926 and 1930. But she remained the only destroyer kept through the depression years, till she was paid off in 1933, and scrapped in 1935. Sold for £1,800, ANZAC was sunk off Sydney on 7 May 1936 as target practice for RAN ships.

S Class

The other five S Class Destroyers – HMA Ships STALWART (1), SUCCESS, SWORDSMAN, TASMANIA and TATTOO were of 1,070 tons, 276ft in length, beam 26¾ft, draught 10½ft, with 3×4″ guns, 1x2pdr, pompoms and machine guns, 4×21″ torpedoes, speed 34 knots and complement of 90 officers and ratings.

For these ships, the majority of their service life was spent in port, and on the east coast, the only exception being TASMANIA, which visited New Guinea in 1924.

These S Class were famous ships, and over sixty more were built for the Royal Navy to replace WW I ships, and though many were scrapped between the wars, eleven still served in the Royal Navy during WW II.

The RAN’s five were built in the UK 1917/18, and commissioned into the RAN 1920. They paid off and went to Reserve in the late 1920s to 1930, and were all sold by 1937.

TATTOO was the last to pay off in 1933. On one of its last trips outside Sydney’s Heads, when passing the Matson Liner MARIPOSA, it signalled ‘Are you catching any fish’. Poor TATTOO! At least – they claimed – TATTOO never broke down.

V&W Class

Next, after service with the Royal Navy from 1918 to 1932, STUART transferred to the Royal Australian Navy in October 1933, along with four V & W Class destroyers (to replace the old S Class destroyers).

HMAS STUART (1) was a Scott Class Destroyer Leader, with displacement of 2,000 tons, length 332ft, beam 31¾ft, draught 12¼ft. Her armament (original) was 5×4.7″ guns, 1×3″ AA and small arms, and 6×21″ torpedoes. Speed 36½ knots and ship’s complement of 185. In her RAN commission, she was the Flotilla Leader, and up to 1939 served mainly in Australian waters, though being decommissioned for two short periods in that time.

With the declaration of war in 1939, STUART (Cmdr H.M.L. Waller, RAN), with the V & Ws HMA Ships VAMPIRE (1), VENDETTA (1), VOYAGER (1), and WATERHEN (1), sailed for the Mediterranean, where the Flotilla saw much action along the North African coast, with the British Fleet all over the Eastern Mediterranean, and with HMAS SYDNEY in action against the Italian Fleet at Calabria, through to the Battle of Matapan, then landings of troops on Greece and Crete, and later evacuating those troops after German occupation. STUART departed the Mediterranean August 22nd 1941, to return to Australia to commence a long and overdue refit, till April 1942. She then served in north eastern Australian waters till 1946, paying off 27th April 1946 and was scrapped in 1947.

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Captain A.S. Rosenthal DSO and Bar, OBE, RAN

December 31, 1975

ALVORD SYDNEY ROSENTHAL was born in Sydney on 16th January 1901. He came from a distinguished military family, being the younger son of Major-General Sir Charles Rosenthal, a Divisional Commander in France in World War

Educated at The King’s School, Parramatta, young Rosenthal entered the Royal Australian Naval College at Jervis Bay in January 1915 as a Cadet-Midshipman in the Third Entry. The 1915 Entry consisted of 31 cadets, several of whom were to distinguish themselves later, including Vice Admiral Sir Roy Dowling, and Commander Jefferson Walker (lost in Parramatta).

Commander Donald Clarke, also of the 1915 Entry, recently wrote: ‘I recall Rosenthal as a dominating personality in our group of cadets, he was popular, energetic and powerfully built‘. The First Entry had been in 1913, which had meant that Rosenthal’s elder brother had had to join the Royal Navy, rather than the Royal Australian Navy, in 1912. Around this pre-1914 period, several Australian brothers were split between the two navies, as the RAN was not inaugurated until 1911.

When Rosenthal joined the College in 1915, his father was serving at Gallipoli, and his elder brother was at sea with the RN as a midshipman.

After four years of intensive training, Rosenthal, known to his friends as ‘Rosy’, passed out of Jervis Bay in December 1918, and in January 1919 sailed for England in the Transport Marathon to gain seagoing training with the Royal Navy. Those cadets who had joined in 1913 and 1914 had been appointed to battleships of the Grand Fleet. Those of Rosenthal’s year missed the War, but were able to gain valuable experience in its aftermath. After six weeks at Whale Island Gunnery School in Portsmouth, the midshipmen were drafted to the Fleet. Rosenthal’s first ship was the battleship Ramillies, one of the five ships of the Royal Sovereign Class, completed in 1917.

When he joined Ramillies on 7th May 1919, the ship formed part of the guard on the German Fleet at Scapa Flow. He had missed the actual surrender of the German High Seas Fleet in November 1918, but both his father and his brother had witnessed the historic ceremony from the Australian cruiser Melbourne.

The scuttling of the German Fleet at Scapa Flow was the highlight of Rosenthal’s service in Ramillies, and made a profound impression on the young midshipman. A number of men from the scuttled ships were picked up by Ramillies and taken to Invergordon. The body of one captain who had been killed by his own crew was also taken onboard.

On 21st June 1919, the First Battle Squadron was at sea in the Pentland Firth for torpedo exercises. At 1220 the Flagship received a signal from the destroyer Wescott in Scapa Flow that the German battleship Frederick Der Grosse was sinking at her moorings. Ramillies, Revenge and Royal Sovereign arrived in time to see Seydlitz capsize and sink. It was a dismal end to a fleet that had fought so well.

After visits to various seaside resorts in January 1920, the First Battle Squadron made rendezvous off Plymouth with the Atlantic Fleet for the Spring Cruise, which was planned to cover northern Spain, Gibraltar, Las Palmas and Algiers, but for the First Battle Squadron the Cruise actually extended for more than a year. The midshipmen were to see the grim aftermath of war in the Middle East and to witness at close hand revolution, fire, famine, and wanton slaughter, before they returned to Devonport.

Rosenthal’s first taste of action took place when the First Battle Squadron was ordered to the Bosphorus and the Black Sea to protect Allied interests against the Turkish Nationalists, and also to protect the White Russian Army retreating from the Bolsheviks. On 16th March 1920 the British and Allied warships lay off Calata in the Bosphorus, and Allied troops marched in to occupy the town. Four thousand seamen and Marines were landed from the ships. Landings were also made at Trebizond on the southern coast of the Black Sea. Here all the Marines and four companies of seamen took a fort and blew up its guns.

The First Battle Squadron returned home in August 1920, and for the rest of that year they did the round of the Home Ports.

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Australian Naval History on 1 April 1958

April 1, 1958

HMS NORMAN, (destroyer), formerly HMAS NORMAN, was paid off for disposal.

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