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You are here: Home / Archives for Australian Navy / HMAS Tattoo

HMAS Tattoo

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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A Peaceful Scene – Sydney 1921

March 21, 1983

Sydney Harbour - 1921
Sydney Harbour – 1921

H.M.A. Ships Encounter and Australia with Huon and two other “Rivers”, and Tattoo and two other
S class boats laid up in Sydney Harbour in 1921.

Flinders Naval Depot

December 31, 1982

Flinders Naval Depot – The Cradle of the RAN

ONE RESULT OF THE FAMOUS HENDERSON REPORT of 1910 was the establishment of a naval depot at Crib Point, Victoria. Originally intended to be a fleet base, it was eventually commissioned as a training depot, under the name of HMAS Cerberus, and as such still functions as the RAN’s prime training establishment.

The name Cerberus had been borne by the depot at Williamstown, Victoria, the name ship being the old turret ship herself. On transfer to Crib Point, the name was transferred to the old South Australian cruiser Protector, the old turret ship being renamed Platypus II and utilised as a mooring vessel for the submarine base at Geelong. In 1920 the new depot opened for business, from very modest beginnings. Accommodation was spartan for the sailors, but quite comfortable for the officers. The buildings were brick, the two main blocks being three storey constructions known as A and B blocks. Later additions saw C block, as well as separate blocks for petty officers and chief petty officers. The ratings slept in hammocks in large dormitories, with small wooden kit lockers to hold the large scale kit required by the matelots in those days. Petty officers slept in dormitories, but were issued with beds. Chief Petty Officers had beds and single cabin accommodation. The living quarters were built to form three sides of a very large rectangle, bordering on playing fields.

On the side not used for accommodation was built a drill hall. This building was one of the landmarks of FND. It had many uses, a gymnasium, a church, a drill hall and a stage theatre. It also held the gunners store. Next to the drill hall stood the training battery where young seamen learned the gentle art of gun drill on a mixed battery of BL guns. In those days, and until fairly recent times, the depot was known as Flinders Naval Depot, the name Cerberus being the ‘ship’ name, and the name inscribed on the sailors’ cap ribbons. A captain held the position of commanding officer, his title being Captain Superintendent of Training, Flinders Naval Depot (short title CST FND), but later the post was upgraded to a Commodore’s command. Many of the Navy’s training schools were established, such as gunnery, supply, engineering, etc. and a full scale hospital was opened. In 1927 a band was formed in the depot, the second band in the RAN. Until that date the one and only permanent band was held in the flagship.

The depot was a self-supporting township, it had its own power station, bakery, etc. When the ‘J’ Class submarines were paid off in 1922, they were brought around to Flinders and put on the mudflats, but ‘J7’ was utilised as a standby power station, and performed this duty until sold in 1929.

FND is situated on Hanns Inlet, off Westernport, and in the early days it was possible to bring reasonably deep draught ships alongside; Marguerite was a regular visitor, and Yarra was used as a training ship for a short time. In the 1930s Tattoo was permanently attached to the depot, being replaced in 1936 by Vampire, the channel still being deep enough to allow the destroyer to reach the depot. By the 1950s the channel was becoming quite silted up, and two AMS, Gladstone and Latrobe, became the training ships; they sometimes came alongside, but normally anchored in Westernport. When negotiating the channel the AMS were attended by small wooden ex-army tugs who quite often had to nudge the corvettes off the bends in the channel.

During the Second World War many temporary blocks were built to house the influx of recruits, and these were numbered from D block to J block. These were built behind the original brick blocks, and since then new permanent blocks have replaced the old temporaries. In 1931 the RAN College was established in the depot after its transfer from Jervis Bay. This was a very sound idea, as besides being a good economical move, it allowed the sailors to see at first hand the tough training carried out by the thirteen-year-old cadets, and gave the sailors a better understanding of the officers.

Over the years many improvements and modifications have been made to the depot, and of course many old points of interest have gone. Heating used to be obtained by a boiler house near the main blocks. This consisted of a bank of Babcock and Wilcox coal fired boilers, and hand fired at that. This was known as the ‘giggle house’. The powerhouse proper was situated away from the main accommodation, near the engineering school. It contained two B&W boilers and a Yarrow boiler, as well as the electric generating equipment. This has now been modernised.

Sport has always been a big thing in the Navy, and at FND all sports were catered for. The large playing fields near the main blocks are in constant use, there is an indoor swimming pool, heated in winter, a rifle range and of course enough water for boat pulling and sailing. Internal transport in the depot was, and probably still is, normally by push-bike.

All officers seemed to acquire one of these machines, and when the training classes were marched down to their ‘parts of ship’ it was usual for the officers to ride up to the falling in point and then hand their ‘velocipedes’ over to one of the men. This was very popular with the sailors as they would rather ride than march. Dutymen rode bikes, as did the duty officers. One story told regards the DXO’s bike. During the night watches the depot maintained a fire party, the members of which had to ride around the depot looking out for fires. On return to the fire party dormitory the duty fire party man would enter that ’rounds’ were correct. One particular DXO was in the habit of waiting until the firemen rode past the wardroom, and then hauling down the Commodore’s flag.

When the man returned to the fire point he would fill in the log ’rounds correct’. In would amble the DXO, read the log, then produce the flag. How could rounds be correct if the Commodore’s flag was not flying? He would then proceed to ‘dash the offender in’. One night the worthy carried out his usual childish prank, and then ambled over to the fire point to carry out phase two of the operation. He read the log, spluttered, and raced out as fast as he could. The entry read ‘Commodore’s flag not sighted. DXO’s bike sighted at the truck’. If any one remembers the height of that mast outside the wardroom they will understand the job the DXO had in getting his means of transport down again. From all accounts he never tried the trick again.

FND was the RAN’s home of pomp and circumstance. Divisions on Friday was the big event of the week. The ship’s company dressed themselves up in their best uniforms, and were inspected by the CST. After the inspection, CST positioned himself on a platform outside the drill hall, facing an asphalt covered area known as the quarterdeck, and took the salute as Divisions marched past. On Sundays a smaller edition of Divisions was held, after which the sailors marched into the drill hall that had been ‘rigged for church’. After church, the duty watch would ‘unrig church – rig cinema’. The seats were turned around 180°, a flap was lowered to conceal the pulpit and another one raised to reveal the screen. Side screens were lowered and presto, the church facing west had been converted into a cinema facing east. The evolution took about five minutes. With the building of two chapels in the 1950s this evolution became a memory.

Over the years many changes have been made to the depot, and today it is one of the most modern of its type in the world. In its early days it was a very dismal place, isolated from civilisation as it was. Vice-Admiral Sir John Collins, in passing a few comments about FND in its early days, told of how, when asked to play a selection at an official function. Bandmaster Joe Ventry had his band play ‘Down On Misery Farm’, a fitting description of FND at that time. In these modern times the title of FND has greatly been dropped, CST is now known as Commanding Officer, HMAS Cerberus, but to the older ex-naval men it will always be FND.

The Gift Fleet

December 31, 1980

The Gift Fleet – from the RN to Australia, 1919

WITH THE END OF THE GREAT WAR the Imperial Government found itself with a considerable number of naval vessels on hand and with little possibility of being able to put them all to work. General reductions in both men and ships soon got under way, the bulk of the ships would have to be placed in reserve or sold. Of the ships that had been completed before 1914, the obvious thing was for them to be sold as scrap. Some would be able to be used in subsidiary services, but on the whole it would be prudent to scrap them altogether. Of the ships completed during hostilities, most of them would be retained as they were modern, with the lessons of the war built into them. One other avenue was open to the Imperial Government. It could turn some of the newer ships over to the Colonial and Dominion Governments to build up their naval strengths. This latter course was adopted, the main recipient being the Commonwealth of Australia.

In 1919 a well balanced squadron of three minesweepers, six submarines, one flotilla leader and five destroyers were presented to the Royal Australian Navy in recognition of the assistance given by that service during the Great War. The gift fleet was a mixed lot, but all were seaworthy, and the five destroyers were still not in a completed state at the time of the presentation. They were in fact brand new.

The three minesweepers were units of the Flower class of single screwed ships classified as ‘fleet sweeping vessels’ and were designed to act as sweepers and escort sloops. The three ships allocated to Australia were Mallow, Marguerite and Geranium, three ships that had been sent over to Australian waters to sweep up the mines laid by the raider Wolf.

Although of one basic class, they represented two distinct types and with three schemes of gun armament. The smaller of the two types was known as the Acacia type and was represented in the gift fleet by Mallow. This ship had a standard displacement of 1,200 tons and had been launched in July 1915. Her gun armament on arrival in Australia consisted of a 12 pdr 12 cwt QF gun on the foc’sle and a 3 pounder on a high angle mounting aft. Her speed of 16.5 knots gave her a comfortable margin over the average merchantman of the day, enabling her to act as an escort, and being coal fired meant that she could take on fuel practically anywhere in the world. Her main engine developed 1,800 IHP, with steam supplied by two scotch boilers.

Her sister ships were of the slightly improved Arabis type. There was an increase of 50 tons in the displacement and an increase of 7 feet in the overall length when compared with the Acacia’s, but they were for all intents and purposes the same general class.

Geranium had been launched in November 1915, whilst the third ship of the group, Marguerite, had been launched the same month as Geranium. The armament in this pair was quite different. Geranium carried a QF 4.7 gun, while Marguerite had a BL 4 inch gun. Both mounted two 3 pounder AA guns.

The three ships arrived in Australia in June 1919 and after mine clearance operations paid off in Sydney on 18th October 1919 for transfer to the RAN. The intention was for them to be used as a minesweeping training unit, but this did not eventuate. Geranium and Marguerite commissioned as minesweepers in February and January 1920 respectively, but in the case of Geranium this was only a run of four months. She recommissioned as a surveying vessel on 1st July 1920 and soldiered on in this capacity until finally paid off on 10th October 1927.

Marguerite became a Reserves Training Ship, many of the old system compulsory training reserves saw service in this little ship. She finally paid off on 23rd July 1929, but during her training days she had paid off and recommissioned on many occasions.

The other Flower class sloop, Mallow, saw very little use, and spent a good part of her life at Westernport, Victoria, in reserve. In 1928 she returned to Sydney and lay idle in ‘rotten row’ until the Government decided that she was of no further use. In the latter half of 1932 the three Flowers were sent up to Cockatoo Island, where all useful fittings were removed. In 1935 the three were laid to rest in the ship’s graveyard outside Sydney Heads, two of them being used as gunnery targets.

The six submarines were the infamous ‘J’ boats and were not a very reliable group of ships. They had been hurriedly designed on the strength of faulty intelligence, it being understood that the German Navy had submarines capable of 20 knots on the surface. This was found to be wrong, but not until the ‘J’ boats were well and truly heading towards completion.

To get close to the alleged 20 knots the ships were given three screws by the simple expedient of fitting three instead of two standard submarine diesel engines. This gave the ships a speed on the surface of 19½ knots but they were only armed with 18 inch torpedoes. The class had a nasty habit of snapping propeller shafts. They arrived in Sydney after a very unpleasant delivery voyage in August 1919. After a much needed refit, the flotilla was transferred to Corio Bay, near Geelong, where a submarine base had been opened in the buildings that had been the original RAN College. The arrangement did not last very long and on 22nd July 1922 the flotilla paid off. Declared for disposal in January 1924, four boats (J1, J2, J4 and J5) were sold in February 1924 to the Melbourne Salvage Syndicate and, after stripping, their bare hulls were scuttled outside Barwon Heads, Victoria.

J4 had caused some concern by sinking alongside the wharf at Williamstown while being dismantled, but she was eventually raised and joined her three sisters off Barwon Heads. J3 and J7 were retained slightly longer but in 1926 J3 was sold. Her hull is still visible today as she lies ashore on Swan Island. She is rusting badly but enough of her remains to identify her as a J boat. J7 remained in service until 1929, being used as a floating station at Flinders Naval Depot. Her hull still exists at Hampton, Victoria. She was originally purchased to form a breakwater for the yacht club and in this role she was quite successful. When a marina was built the old hulk was badly rusted and it was near impossible to remove it, so the marina was built over the remains.

The six submarines were not identical in appearance. J1 was built with bridge wings, where as J2, J3, J4 and J5 did not. J7 had a completely different profile to the other five. Her conning tower was built further aft on the casing but her gun was mounted forrard on deck. The other boats had their gun one deck higher, being carried on a platform on the face of the conning tower.

In length of service these ships were quite young when sold. The first five had been all launched at the end of 1915, J7 being launched in February 1917 and had only a couple of years war service. They were handed over to the RAN on the 25th March 1919, so when considering that they paid off in July 1922, their service in the RAN was only a matter of three years and four months. The exception in this case was of course J7 but she did not operate as a submarine for her last seven years. Taken all round, the J Class submarines were not a very spectacular group by any means. They did provide training in submarine warfare for a short time, but were not missed, or regretted, when sold.

The flotilla leader in the gift fleet was ANZAC (1), a unit of the later ‘Marksman’ class of leaders. She was a well liked ship, but was regarded as being somewhat odd by many people. She was our last triple screwed destroyer, the first to mount super-firing guns and the only one with three funnels. Launched in January 1917 and completed three months later, she saw service with the Royal Navy’s 14th Destroyer Flotilla, her half leader being Vampire, which was later to join the RAN. ANZAC headed a flotilla of five Admiralty ‘S’ class destroyers, named Swordsman, Success, Stalwart, Tasmania and Tattoo.

The ‘S’ boats were all building when the war ended and were transferred to the RAN on completion. They never commissioned as HM Ships. Although turned over in March and April 1919, the six ships had to remain in the United Kingdom until 1920 when crews could be found to make the delivery voyage out to Australia. The crews were mainly Royal Navy men loaned for a two year commission. Many transferred to the RAN on completion of the two year period and became permanent residents of Australia.

After the visit of the Prince of Wales in 1920, the Australian Squadron settled down to full peace time routine and one of the worst features was the cutting down on manpower. Only three destroyers were kept in full commission, the ‘S’ boats rotating between full commission and reserve fleet status. The depression era had a marked effect on the RAN and the destroyers in particular. One by one the boats were paid off and in 1931 only one, ANZAC, was in commission. In July 1931 she too paid off into reserve, her place as sole destroyer being taken by Tattoo.

With the arrival of Stuart (1) and the four V & W class destroyers in 1933, Tattoo was relegated to training duties and by 1936 she too had reached the end of the line.

ANZAC was sold in August 1935, followed by the five Ss in June 1937. The gift fleet had gone. Little remains today to remind us of this group and our historians have been in the habit of neglecting them for the more famous named ships of the RAN but during their service they made a very commendable contribution to the training and efficiency of the RAN. It is pleasing to note that our destroyer tender of the present time is named Stalwart and that the replacement fleet replenishment ship is to be named Success. It had been stated that it is intended to build a second ship of this type and it is to be hoped that she will be named Swordsman to keep the tradition alive.

The ‘J’ Class submarines were, in their day, comparable with the present Oberon class. They were classed as fleet submarines and were in fact very large boats. With a length of 274 feet, a beam of 23 feet 6 inches and a draught of 14 feet, they were almost as big as our present boats, although the standard surface displacement of 1,260 tons is much smaller than the 2,030 tons of the Oberons. The ‘S’ boats were small ships by destroyer standards, but they were fast and above all they were brand new. The minesweeping sloops were very good, all round ships, but were never utilised to their full capacity. Financial difficulties played a very large part in the break up of the Gift Fleet, unfortunately denying Australia a group of ships that could have been very useful in 1939.

Out of the Past – pictorial

March 16, 1974

H.M.S. Achilles (renamed Delhi) in a visit to Sydney in 1971
H.M.S. Achilles (renamed Delhi) in a visit to Sydney in 1971

HMAS Stalwart puts to sea, 1928
HMAS Stalwart puts to sea, 1928

The "S" Class destroyers Tattoo, Stalwart and Swordsman laid up in reserve at Garden Island, 1930.
The “S” Class destroyers Tattoo, Stalwart and Swordsman laid up in reserve at Garden Island, 1930.

H.M.S. Penguin Depot and Receiving ship, Sydney, and H.M.S. T o r c h (sloop, in reserve) circa 1903
H.M.S. Penguin Depot and Receiving ship, Sydney, and H.M.S. T o r c h (sloop, in reserve) circa 1903
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