HMAS Swan I

The Attack on Darwin – A Pictorial Record

April 26, 1992

On 19 February, 1942 a massed air raid on Darwin, Australia’s northern gateway was made by Japanese aircraft, the first major attack on Australian soil.

The American Destroyer USS PEARY in Darwin Harbour shortly before the Japanese raid.

This first attack was made by 81 carrier-borne aircraft, composing of an equal mixture of high level bombers, dive bombers and fighter aircraft.

The twisted remains of the main wharf at Darwin after the Japanese air raid on 19 February, 1942.

Darwin at this time was a busy war time port and the Australian Navy was well represented there at the time. Some of the Australian ships present were SWAN, WARREGO, PLATYPUS, KATOOMBA, DELORAINE, KANGAROO, KOALA, KARANGI, KARA KARA, KOOKABURRA, GUNBAR, TOLGA and TERKA. Two of the American ships in harbour were the USS PEARY and USS WILLIAM B PRESTON, the latter being a seaplane tender. There were four American transports and merchant ships – MEIGS, MAUNA LOA, PORTMAR and ADMIRAL HALSTEAD. Alongside the main wharf were the Australian merchant ships NEPTUNA and BAROSSA. NEPTUNA’s cargo included 200 tons of depth charges. Other merchant ships in harbour included the BRITISH MOTORIST, TULAGI and ZEALANDIA.

The Australian cargo ship NEPTUNA sunk alongside the main wharf at Darwin.

At approximately 0945 the first of the Japanese aircraft attacked 10 American Kittyhawk fighters that were returning to Darwin. These American fighters had earlier left Darwin at 0915 for Koepang but were returning to Darwin due to adverse weather. Four of these aircraft were shot down whilst a fifth was damaged and was able to return safely to Darwin with the other five Kittyhawks. All five were later destroyed as they attempted to take off when the Japanese arrived over Darwin.

HMAS DELORAINE during the Japanese raid on Darwin, with oil tanks of fire in tbe background

The Japanese fighters apparently opened the attack on Darwin as GUNBAR was attacked by fighter aircraft as it was passing through the boom gate at 0957. Nine fighters attacked GUNBAR and the ship was attacked 18 separate times. The first attack hit the ship’s Lewis gun rendering the ship defenceless and it was amazing that it survived. These attacks ceased at 1010.

USS PEARY blown up after being bombed by Japanese aircraft in Darwin 19/2/42

Only a minute or so after GUNBAR was attacked, the bombers dropped their first bombs from a height of 14,000 feet at targets in the harbour area. At 0958 bombs hit the wharf near the shore end, blowing a railway engine and trucks over the side. NEPTUNA and BAROSSA were soon on fire from direct hits and oil fires were soon billowing over the scene of destruction.

United States Transport MEIGS sunk in Darwin Harbour 19 February, 1942.

SWAN, WARREGO, PEARY and WILLIAM B PRESTON were soon underway and they were singled out for attention, these ships fought back with vigour. PEARY was soon hit by enemy bombs and was fatally wounded. SWAN was heavily damaged by a near miss and, in the harbour a number of the merchant ships were on fire including the ZEALANDIA, BRITISH MOTORIST, MAUNA LOA and MEIGS, all these merchant ships eventually sank as a result of their damage.

HMAS KATOOMBA high and dry in the floating dock with ship on fire in the baclaground

Ships that received damage and casualties included PLATYPUS, SWAN, GUNBAR, KARA KARA, KOOKABURRA, COONGOOLA, the merchant ship ADMIRAL HALSTEAD, the hospital ship MANUNDA and USS WILLIAM B PRESTON.

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Obituary: Rear-Admiral H.A.S SHOWERS, CBE

September 11, 1991

With his death an historic link with the beginning of the RAN has been severed as Rear Admiral H.A. Showers, CBE was the last survivor of the first entry of Cadet Midshipmen who joined the RAN in 1913 when the College was temporarily housed in Osborne House, North Geelong. He was 92.

On passing out in 1916 at Jervis Bay he was awarded various prizes including the Albert prizes for theoretical and practical engineering. He had also gained his colours for rugby, cricket and rowing.

Aged 17, he became a midshipman on 1 January, 1917 and commenced his seagoing career in World War I as one of five Australian midshipmen posted to the light cruiser HMS GLORIOUS of the Grand Fleet.

The GLORIOUS was, during part of that time, stationed at Scapa Flow. It was a little chilly. To keep fit, and warm, the midshipmen took up boxing. When a Grand Fleet boxing tournament was held, the five Australian midshipmen represented their ship in the five different divisions. Each won his division.

At the end of 1917 he joined submarine K14 at Rosythe. The disaster off May Island at the end of January, 1918 had two significant consequences for my grandfather. First, several years later when he was back in Sydney, he visited the family of his close friend from the Naval College, Dick Cunningham, who had been killed there. Then he met Dick’s sister Jean, whom he subsequently married. Secondly, my grandfather’s own submarine was damaged at May Island and he was given the task of restarting the batteries. He always maintained that the amount of chlorine gas he breathed in at that time forced him to take up smoking, so as to get rid of the taste of the chlorine. It must have been quite a taste, as he continued smoking ardently for the rest of his life.

He was one of the original Australian submariners serving in submarines until 1922 in the North Sea, Mediterranean and Australia. In 1918 he was sent to the “E” Class submarine flotilla based at Harwich and in 1919 was posted to the submarine J3 and was part of the crew bringing her out to Australia. I cannot imagine a more unpleasant task. The journey took three months and six days and only a few days were spent in each port. The submarines had no ice, no fresh bread and no fresh water facilities. When asked why he had chosen submarines, he mentioned that it was primarily due to the fact that he could not bear sleeping in a wet bed. He reasoned that if his bed became wet in the submarine, sleep would be the least of his concerns.

All through those early naval days he played sport whenever he could, representing his ship, flotilla or squadron in rugby, boxing, soccer, hockey and cricket. In 1920, whilst studying at Greenwich and again in 1925 when studying at Portsmouth, he was selected in the squad for the All England Rugby team. Unfortunately, both times he was thwarted by injury.

As a result of his studies in the early 1920s, he was an accomplished engineer, navigator and astronomer. He then pursued his career in the Navy as a navigator. In this time he discovered, in 1927, while fixing the stars from a position here on Garden Island that Sydney was not correctly placed on the map. It took four long nights to prove this to his superior officers; but prove it he did. The maps and Captain H.A. Showers’ s charts of the Barrier Reef made under his supervision while on the MORESBY in 1926-27 were the first of that area since Captain Cook and have only recently been superseded.

He was squadron navigator for the third cruiser squadron of the Royal Navy’s Mediterranean fleet during the Abyssinian crisis. By the outbreak of World War II he had been promoted to Captain and was in command of the SWAN.

He spent the whole of the war in the Pacific, during which he commanded the cruisers HMA Ships ADELAIDE, HOBART AND SHROPSHIRE at various times between 1940 and 1944. On the ADELAIDE in September 1940 he was in charge of the coup by which the Free French Governor of the New Hebrides was taken to New Caledonia to prevent the Vichy Governor from placing that island in enemy hands.

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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

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 26^¾ft, 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 31^¾ft, 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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The RAN in the Black Sea

June 23, 1984

IN 1918 the Allies had cast their lot with the White Russians in the savage civil war which was raging in Russia. They offered to give support to any state prepared to take up arms and resist the Bolshevik expansion. Ukraine had been declared an independent state in the German-Russian Peace Treaty of 1917 and the Austrian and Germans had immediately occupied the state to obtain control of its wheat. When the defeated enemy forces withdrew after the Armistice, Cossack forces prepared to resist the Bolsheviks and appealed for Allied support.

Parramatta sailed early on 25 November from Ismid with a combined fleet which included the battle ships Superb, Temeraire, Justice, Democratie, Roma and two divisions of F destroyers which also included Swan. They passed through the Bosphorus at 0830 and increased speed bound for the famous Crimea Peninsular.

This was the destroyers first entry into the Black Sea and it was anything but comfortable. Heavy seas buffeted the ship and visibility was poor. She steamed a mile on the starboard beam of the battleships and a keen lookout was kept for submarines.

Shortly after dawn on the 26th the south end of the peninsula was sighted and at 1000 speed was reduced while Superb made her entry into Sevastopol. She was allowed by the ships of the battle fleet and Parramatta and the destroyers entered last.

The Russian port showed no signs of war damage. Several old units of the Russian Fleet were in the harbor and a number of German torpedo boats which had been scuttled after the Armistice.

A detachment was landed on the 27th to pick up mail and despatches. They were surprised to meet large numbers of Germans and Austrians, still in uniform, wandering the streets. Mounted Cossacks were also seen guarding the docks and government buildings. The civilian population was poorly dressed and appeared to be dazed.

At 1330 Parramatta weighed and commenced her duty as despatch ship between Sevastopol and Constantinople. She was to continue in this role until 16 December.

While Parramatta was involved in her despatch ship duties, Swan, together with the French destroyer Bisson, was engaged in a task which took her through the Sea of Azov. She embarked the Russian Admiral Kernoff and an interpreter to make contact with the Commanding Officer of Anti Bolshevik Forces, General Krasnoff at Rostov.

Included in this party was Commander (D), Commander A.G.H. Bond, Engineer Lieutenant Commander G.W. Bloomfield, Lieutenant J.G. Boyd, Paymaster Sub- Lieutenant D. Munro and six ratings from Swan. They were landed by the destroyer at Marioupol and travelled by train through a blinding snow storm to Rostov and Novocherkasak.

The purpose of the expedition was to report on the position of Krasnoff’s forces. They cut the visit short when the Bolshevik Armies broke the defence line at Bobrov, and returned to the destroyer. A number of Russian awards were made to the party. Bond received the Order of St. Vladimar and Bloomfield, Boyd and Munro the Order of St. Anne.

On 5 December Hill landed a large party for a route march in the vicinity of Sevastopol. They landed at the city steps and visited the battlefields of the Crimea War, which were close to the port. The weather was cold and the sailors marched with surprising vigour.

The Japanese Navy had been active in the Mediterranean since the previous year, and on the 6th, a cruiser and a flotilla of destroyers joined the Allied naval forces at Sevastopol. The Bolshevik forces, which out- numbered the defenders by 10 to 1, were rapidly advancing on the port.

HMAS Brisbane, the first Australian built cruiser, arrived on the 10th and joined Parramatta, Huon and Warrego. Later in the day the four vessels weighed and steamed for Constantinople.

Christmas 1918 was spent at anchor at Ismid. Commander Bond visited each of the destroyers during the morning and wished all the seasons greetings. He then handed over command of the Flotilla to Commander W. Burrows before entering hospital.

Swan remained at Sebastopol until 15 December and helped guard the railway station at the head of the Valley of Inkerman which was invested by the Bolsheviks. She visited Taganrog and Ekaterinodar before returning to Constantinople. On several occasions the destroyer operated within small arms range of Red troops.

On Boxing Day Parramatta, Swan, Yarra and Huon sailed for Malta. Warrego, which was in dock at Constantinople, followed later and rejoined the Flotilla at Gibraltar. Torrens, plagued by condenser troubles also was in dock and joined the ships of the Flotilla at Malta.

HMAS Parramatta: First Born of The Commonwealth Navy

September 30, 1974

The torpedo boat destroyer, HMAS Parramatta, was born of political expediency and twenty years later was saved from scuttling by political expediency. The first ship built for the Royal Australian Navy was also the longest lived. To her laurels is the credit of sinking the RAN’s first U-boat.

THE STORMIEST ISSUE in Australian politics in 1908 was national defence, and particularly naval defence. Prime Minister Deakin, under attack from the Opposition for his failure to present an acceptable defence policy, included an amount of £250,000 in the budget of that year for the purchase of naval vessels. Deakin, however, was not to spend the money provided because later in that year he was swept from power by a Labor government led by Fisher.

Some weeks after assuming office Fisher ordered the Commander of Commonwealth Naval Forces to produce plans for three destroyers capable of operating at sea. Creswell was prepared for the task. He ordered his staff to modify the plans of a Royal Navy torpedo boat destroyer and within three weeks he presented the completed plans to the Government.

A month after the plans were approved, orders had been placed in the United Kingdom for the three ships. The winning tenders were within the allocation of £250,000 and Parramatta, complete with armament and stores, was ordered from Fairfields of Govan, Scotland, for £82,500. She was the cheapest ship ever built for the RAN.

Laid down on March 17 1909, the vessel was launched on February 9 1910 by Mrs. Asquith, wife of the British Prime Minister. Mrs. Asquith said: ‘First born of the Commonwealth Navy – I name you Parramatta. God bless you and those that sail in you.’ The bottle of champagne broken across the ship’s bows was the first ever exported from Australia.

Trials commenced in June and Engineer Commander Barnes reported her to be a fine ship. Her best speed recorded was 29.6 knots – 2 knots better than specified.

The ship was commissioned by Captain Tickell on September 10, and on the 19th of that month she sailed from Portsmouth for Australia – the first King’s Ship to sail from that port without a rum cask. The Australian Government had decided their navy would be dry.

Parramatta and her sister ship, Yarra, arrived at Broome on November 16 and commenced a round of welcomes which has never been surpassed. The Melbourne Age dubbed them the ‘Lion’s Cubs’, a name which the RAN was to retain until the end of World War I.

When the signal to prepare for hostilities with Germany was received on August 1 1914, Parramatta was undergoing a refit at Garden Island. Within 24 hours her Captain, Lieutenant W. H. F. (Cocky) Warren, was able to report his ship ready for sea. Her first task was acting as a tanker conveying oil from Berrys Bay to the flagship, HMAS Australia, at No.1 Buoy.

The ship sailed north and arrived at Townsville on August 5. The crew were turned to painting the ship black and preparing the vessel for war. She rendezvoused with the fleet at Rossel Island on the 9th, where Lieutenant Warren boarded the flagship for orders for an attack on the German Pacific Fleet in Rabaul Harbour on the night of August 14.

As the destroyers steamed past Australia to head north, three cheers rang out from the flagship. Then, as the last cheer died away, a black-faced stoker in Parramatta poked his head through a hatch and roared: ‘Cheer, you buggers. I’d cheer too if I was on a bloody big ship like yours.’ The comments of the Captain were not recorded.

Tying the battle ensign to Parramatta’s yardarm in 1914

Time and place decides glory and had the time and place been right on the night of August 14 the names of Parramatta, Yarra and Warrego would have won a place in the annals of the Navy’s great. At 2100 on that night the three destroyers slipped into the darkened harbour of Rabaul to carry out a torpedo attack on Admiral Von Spee’s squadron of two heavy and three light cruisers. Unfortunately, Australian intelligence was at fault and the German fleet was hundreds of miles north of Rabaul – the harbour was empty.

After this abortive attack on Rabaul the fleet sailed to Suva to intercept the enemy, but again the time and place was not right.

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HMAS Swan I

River Class

Gift Destroyers

S Class

V&W Class

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