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Occasional Paper 86: Royal Australian Navy in the Pacific War

By Richard H Pelvin and Jozef H Straczek

This paper was provided courtesy of the Sea Power Centre – Australia. It was first published in 2003 and is available on the Sea Power Centre website Feature Histories page. Both authors worked for the Defence Department in a range of roles over many years. Jozef Straczek was the Senior Naval Historical Officer in the Naval History Directorate, Department of Defence, Canberra. He has written or contributed to many books and articles on naval history. Among his works is the reference book, The Royal Australian Navy: ships, aircraft and shore establishments (Sydney: Navy Public Affairs, 1996). Richard Pelvin worked for ten years in the historical sections of the Army and Navy. He was also Curator of Official Records at the Australian War Memorial and has written and published widely on military, naval and aviation history.

 

In the morning of 8 December 1941 Japanese troops commenced landing in Northern Malaya. This assault was co-ordinated with the Japanese strike against the United States Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor (7 December, local time). As a consequence of these actions the Royal Australian Navy found itself facing a new enemy and fighting a new war. A war that was to last four years and see Australian ships and personnel operate across the vast expanse of the Pacific and Indian Oceans.

Prior to the outbreak of hostilities six corvettes of the RAN had already been based at Singapore. Other vessels, including the cruiser HMAS Hobart, the destroyer HMAS Vampire and the sloop HMAS Yarra, were ordered back to Australian waters to help meet this new threat. Vampire formed part of the escort of HM Ships Prince of Wales and Repulse on their ill-fated sortie to attack Japanese landing forces at Kuantan on Malaysia’s east coast. She rescued 225 survivors after both the capital ships had been sunk by Japanese naval aircraft.

HMAS Vampire was present for the sinking of HM Ships Prince of Wales and Repulse on 10 December 1941. She would later be sunk herself off Ceylon in April 1942

After this disaster the Australian ships were heavily involved in escorting the troopships bringing reinforcements to Singapore, often in the face of severe Japanese air attacks. On one occasion Yarra lifted over 1300 survivors from the troopship Empress of Asia after it had been dive bombed and sunk. A few days prior to this, on 27 January, Vampirecarried out a spirited but unsuccessful attack on a superior Japanese landing force at Endau. An accompanying British destroyer, HMS Thanet, was sunk. Other ships carried out patrol and evacuation duties. After taking part in the evacuation of Singapore the Australian ships formed part of the force allocated for the naval defence of the Netherlands East Indies.

To remove a threat from their flank while attacking eastern Java the Japanese Navy launched a heavy air raid on Darwin, which was being used by the Allies as a staging point for reinforcements. The bombers hit the town, airfield and harbour facilities, sinking five merchant ships and the destroyer USS Peary. Many other vessels, including the hospital ship Manunda, were damaged. This was the first of many such raids.

In Javanese waters, on 27 February a combined Australian, British, American and Dutch striking force composed of five cruisers, including HMAS Perth, as well as a number of destroyers, engaged Japanese forces covering the approach of a landing force. In this action, the Battle of the Java Sea, the Allies lost two Dutch cruisers and three destroyers with damage to a British cruiser. Subsequently the Allied naval forces were ordered to withdraw from the Dutch East Indies. However, whilst attempting to reach Australia through Sunda Straits, Perth, accompanied by the cruiser USS Houston, RAN into a Japanese force landing troops in Bantam Bay. In the ensuing action both cruisers were sunk with heavy loss of life. Many of the survivors were to subsequently die as prisoners of war.

AA Guns loaded

HMAS Perth displayed incredible fight while outnumbered by a superior force. The ship, superbly led by Captain Hector ‘Hec’ Waller was eventually sunk in the early hours of 1 March 1942.

The Australian built corvettes were able to withdraw successfully to Australia while the destroyer Vampire had reached Ceylon. Also fortunate was the destroyer HMAS Vendetta which had been immobilised and under repair in dry dock at Singapore at the time of the attack. She eventually reached Australia after an epic towing operation through enemy controlled waters. Less fortunate, the sloop Yarra which, whilst escorting a convoy south of Java, was surprised by a Japanese heavy cruiser squadron. Despite putting up a gallant fight she was overwhelmed and sunk on 4 March. The following month, on 9 April, Vampire was also sunk by Japanese carrier aircraft off Ceylon.

With the occupation of Malaya and the Dutch East Indies the strategic centre of gravity moved east. The Japanese, having occupied Rabaul and points on the northern New Guinea coast decided to occupy the Solomon Islands and Port Moresby. This would enable them to deny the Allies bases from which to attack Rabaul and also to threaten the RANs Pacific lines of communication. The Combined Operations Intelligence Centre, located in Melbourne, linking information from locally based signals intelligence units, Coastwatchers and aerial reconnaissance, issued an assessment on 25 April that a Japanese assault on Port Moresby was imminent.

On 1 May the cruisers HMA Ships Australia and Hobart and USS Chicago escorted by three American destroyers sailed from Hervey Bay to rendezvous with an American force built around the aircraft carriers Yorktown and Lexington. The Australian force, designated Task Force 44, reinforced with a fourth US destroyer and detached on 7 May to block the movement of any Japanese ships through the Jomard Passage. The force was bombed that day by Japanese aircraft incurring only superficial damage. Although no other enemy were sighted the presence of the Allied ships was influential in the Japanese decision to withdraw the Moresby Invasion force. Meanwhile US carrier aircraft had sunk the Japanese light carrier Shoho the same day.

In the action between the American and Japanese fleet carriers, Shokaku and Zuikaku on the 8th, the Lexington was sunk and the Yorktown badly damaged. Neither of the Japanese carriers were sunk though the Shokaku was badly damaged. Although the Japanese had inflicted greater losses in ships on the Allies they had not achieved their strategic objectives. Further, the Shokaku and Zuikaku had suffered such heavy losses in aircraft and personnel that they were not available for the Midway Operation in early June.

The combined effects of the battle of the Coral Sea, Midway and later the Solomons Campaign turned the tide of the Pacific War. Although no Australian vessels were present at the Battle of Midway, Australian naval signals intelligence played an important part in helping to monitor Japanese movements and intentions and passing this information onto the Americans at Pearl Harbor.

Just prior to the Midway Operation the Japanese again brought the war to Australia’ shores with an attack on Sydney Harbour by midget submarines. The accommodation ship HMAS Kuttabul was sunk alongside Garden Island but all three Japanese submarines were lost. This was not the first incursion by Japanese submarines into Australian waters. In January four minelaying boats had operated in northern Australian waters, laying mines off Darwin and in Torres Strait. One, the I-124, had been sunk by the corvette HMAS Deloraine, assisted by other RAN and US vessels. In February and March the submarine I-25 had launched its reconnaissance seaplane on flights over Sydney, Melbourne and Hobart before moving on to New Zealand and Fiji. Simultaneously, submarine operations off the west coast resulted in the sinking of two merchant vessels and attacks on three others.

The tracks of the three midget submarines through Sydney Harbour

The midget attack presaged a submarine campaign against shipping on Australia’s eastern coast which lasted from early June until August. Fourteen ships were attacked of which six were sunk. Convoys were introduced on the Australian east coast on 6 June. The Japanese submarines also shelled Sydney and Newcastle with little resultant damage. Further operations carried out in the first half of 1943 resulted in the loss of another eleven ships including the hospital ship Centaur.

While the first submarine campaign was being waged, plans were in hand to eject the Japanese from the Solomon Islands. On 7 August an Allied force landed on Guadalcanal. Naval support was provided by an Australian/American force of cruisers and destroyers, including HMAS Australia, Canberra and Hobart. Shortly after midnight on 9 August a Japanese cruiser squadron attacked the allied force sinking Canberra and three American cruisers. Although operations in the Solomons were to continue, further RAN involvement was limited, although valuable support was provided by Coastwatchers.

Later in August the Japanese landed at Milne Bay. Units of the RAN had convoyed troopships to the area and latter supported the defence of the area from the sea. On 29 August the new destroyer HMAS Arunta sank the Japanese submarine RO33 off Port Moresby, thereby removing a major threat to the logistic support for Australian troops. With the successful conclusion of the Milne Bay battle the RAN provided naval support for forces operating in northern New Guinea and commenced development of the string of bases that would be opened up along that coast to support the Allied advance. Operations included conducting hydrographic surveys, shore bombardments, t RAN sporting troops and providing logistic support.

December 1942 saw the commencement of Operation Lilliput, which over a six-month period saw the transportation of 60,000 tons of supplies and 3,802 troops from Milne Bay to Oro Bay, escorted by Australian corvettes. In March 1943 the Japanese suffered a major defeat when a reinforcement convoy heading for Lae was destroyed by Allied air attack in the Battle of the Bismarck Sea. Intelligence on this convoy was provided by the joint RAN /USN codebreaking organisation in Melbourne.

This same period saw a lesser but significant level of RAN activity in the area north and west of Darwin. While supporting commando operations in Timor the destroyer HMAS Voyager was lost in September 1942 as was the corvette HMAS Armidale in December. With the withdrawal of the commandos the RAN continued to support covert operations in the area by the Services Reconnaissance Department (SRD) which were maintained until the end of the War. In September 1943 SRD operatives in small boats carried out Operation Jaywick, successfully attacking Japanese shipping in Singapore Harbour. They had been t RAN sported there in a small captured fishing vessel, the Krait. In late 1944 another covert attack on Singapore Harbour was mounted by the SRD but was to end in disaster. Throughout the war the RAN units based on Darwin were also to provide support for settlements, missions, airfields and other military installations in the area. On 22 January 1943, while undertaking one of these voyages, the stores carrier HMAS Patricia Cam was bombed and sunk.

As 1943 and 1944 progressed Australian ships were involved in the campaigns to oust the Japanese from West New Guinea and adjacent islands. In the succession of landings carried out the cruisers and destroyers carried out bombardments and provided seaward cover. The corvettes escorted merchant ships through the area. The armed merchant cruisers HMAS Manoora, Kanimbla and Westralia were converted to Landing ships Infantry (LSI). As such they were to take part in many of the amphibious operations such as those at Hollandia, Biak, Aitape and Morotai which brought the Allies closer to the Philippines.

In July 1943 the cruisers were detached from the 7th Fleet for operations in the Solomons area. Enroute to Espiritu Santo in the New Hebrides Hobart was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine and put out of action for nearly two years. In the previous month the heavy cruiser Shropshire had been transferred from the Royal Navy as a replacement for Canberra.

Captain John A Collins CB RAN assumed command of HMAS Shropshire on 7 April 1943 and she commissioned as HMAS Shropshire at Chatham on 20 April 1943.

Morotai was taken in September 1944 and from there the landings in Leyte were mounted. The LSIs landed American troops at Panaon while the covering forces included Australia, Shropshire, Arunta and her sister ship HMAS Warramunga. Survey work was carried out by the frigate HMAS Gascoyne. On 20 October a Japanese aircraft crashed into Australia causing heavy damage and casualties and forcing her withdrawal with Warramunga as escort.

In the Battle of Surigao Strait on 25 October Shropshire and Arunta formed part of the large American force formed around six battleships which overwhelmed a much smaller Japanese battle squadron attempting to attack the amphibious forces. Shropshire engaged the battleship Yamashiro with gunfire while Arunta carried out a torpedo attack. Surigao Strait was the last action fought using the traditional battle line. The Battle of Leyte Gulf, of which it was part, remains the largest naval battle in history and saw the end of the Imperial Japanese Navy as a fighting force.

In January 1945 the Allies commenced the invasion of Lingayen. Australia, now repaired, Shropshire, Arunta and Warramunga carried out bombardment duties while Manoora, Kanimbla and Westralia landed troops. The sloop HMAS Warrego and the frigate HMAS Gascoyne performed escort duties and carried out survey tasks in Lingayen Gulf. The Allied ships came under frequent air attack, especially from kamikaze aircraft. Gascoyne and Westralia were near missed and Arunta damaged. Australia, however, was grievously damaged when, between 5 and 9 January, she was hit five times. She continued to carry out her bombardment duties until ordered to retire with Arunta on 9 January. The other vessels continued operations in the area until March, by which time the repaired cruiser Hobart had rejoined.

At this time the British Pacific Fleet commenced operations in the Pacific. The RAN was initially represented by the destroyers HMA Ships Quickmatch and Quiberon as well as a number of corvettes. Later the destroyers HMA Ships Napier, Norman, Nizam and Nepal joined. All of these vessels had previously served in the Indian Ocean with the British Eastern Fleet. The destroyers had taken part in attacks on Japanese oil installations in Sumatra and the N Class vessels had supported the Army in Burma. The corvette HMAS Launceston had sunk the submarine RO 110 off Vizagapatam. The destroyers saw service in support of the Okinawa operations in April while the corvettes formed two minesweeping flotillas.

The RAN ‘s last operations in the Pacific were those in support of Australian troops in the landings at Tarakan, Brunei and Balikpapan in May, June and July respectively. As before the cruisers and destroyers provided gunfire support, troops were landed from the three LSIs and the sloops, frigates and corvettes carried out patrol, escort and surveying duties. RAN vessels, especially the smaller motor launches, were also active in the final operations in New Guinea waters.

Upon the conclusion of the war the RAN played a significant part in the arrangements for the surrender of various Japanese forces in South East Asia and the South West Pacific. Minesweeping continued for a number of years after the surrender and Australian service personnel and prisoners of war from around the region were repatriated.

The Pacific War saw an expansion of the infrastructure necessary to support wide ranging naval operations. Defensive minefields were laid in Australian, New Zealand and New Guinea waters. Harbour defence systems were established around Australia and forward operating bases provided logistic support to ships close to the combat areas. The manufacture of mines, torpedoes, guns and ammunition was undertaken as was the development and construction of sophisticated electrical equipment.

Shipbuilding, repair and maintenance facilities were greatly expanded, including the construction of the Captain Cook Graving Dock at Garden Island. Three destroyers, twelve frigates and sixty corvettes as well as numerous smaller vessels were built. A large number of merchant ships were converted for naval purposes and many others were defensively armed and given mine countermeasures. Most of this work was carried out by the men and women of the unarmed forces who worked in the factories and dockyard around Australia.

Women were enlisted into the Navy for the first time and helped provide many of the support functions so desperately needed by a navy at war. Some of these women played an invaluable, and largely unrecognised, role in supporting the large intelligence organisation that had been established. One, Ruby Boye, also served as a Coastwatcher at Vanikoro from February 1942 to October 1944. Before the end of the war the peak strength of the RAN had reached 39,650 with approximately 337 vessels ranging from cruisers to motor launches in service.

In proportion to its size the RAN made a significant contribution to the Allied effort in the war against Japan. This was more noticeable in the earlier days of the war when operations were taking place in Australia’s proximity and before the United States was able to fully deploy its manpower and industrial strength. The amphibious operations, survey, minesweeping, convoy and patrol tasks from late 1942 to 1945 tend to be overlooked yet they were all essential components in the exercise of sea power and ultimately the war in the Pacific was a maritime campaign.

The Hospital Ships Buenos Aires Maruand Wah Sui

Was the sinking of hospital ships isolated incidents which could be put down to mistaken identity or were they deliberate acts of destruction by those who had thrown away the rule book? With twenty-four hospital ships recorded as being sunk by enemy action during WWII it is difficult to reconcile that these were all accidental. These covered vessels of most belligerents, in numerical order losses were: Italy (7) Britain (5) Greece (4) Japan (3) Germany (2) and Australia, Norway and Russia one each. The most infamous was the loss of the Russian hospital ship Armenia when bombed and sunk by German aircraft in 1941 after evacuating civilians and wounded soldiers from Crimea, with over 5,000 deaths and only eight survivors. Remarkably the United States of America lost no hospital ships in this conflict. By comparison the Australian Hospital Ship Centaurat 3,222 tons was a small ship but with a large number of persons aboard including 75 crew, 55 medical staff and 192 passengers from the 2/12th Field Ambulance on passage to New Guinea. When torpedoed and sunk on her maiden voyage as a hospital ship she carried no patients but 268 lives were lost.

There is plentiful information on the tragic sinking of Centaur by a Japanese submarine in the early hours of 14 May 1943 and that of our greatest maritime tragedy, in terms of lives lost, the sinking of the Japanese transport Montevideo Maru when taking Australian POWs from Rabaul on 01 July 1942, but other related incidents have gone unreported.

Wah Sui

One of the great Allied tragedies of WWII was the fall of Singapore in February 1942. Because of suspected vulnerability to enemy aggression a few days before the surrender a decision had been made to evacuate as many European non-combatants as possible. Of special concern were women and children and patients from service hospitals, including female nursing staff. Just about anything that floated was used in this evacuation from Singapore to the then relative safety of the Dutch East Indies. Overall it was not a success with the majority of vessels being sunk with great loss of life amongst the 5,000 evacuees.

With no hospital ship available three small flat-bottomed Yangtze river boats were hastily converted into makeshift hospital ships and painted white with red crosses on their sides. They were not internationally registered hospital ships and it could be argued by disregarding international regulations they brought registered ships into jeopardy.

One of these ships, Wah Sui, came to Singapore. When fully laden with 450 passengers, mostly Australian and British wounded tended by six Australian Army nursing sisters, she sailed from Singapore on 12 February bound for Tandjong Priok in Java which could be covered in about three days steaming.

Prior to her sailing Japanese authorities had advised the local British command to move the Wah Sui further away from the main shipping channel as she was in danger of being accidentally bombed. After sailing she was buzzed by Japanese aircraft but unmolested. Later she was challenged and stopped by a Japanese cruiser who sent a boarding party to examine her. She was again allowed to proceed and safely made Tandjong Priok where her passengers were disembarked and hospitalised awaiting other opportunities to make their way home. In this instance the six Australian nurses were transferred to the troopship Orcades and reached Adelaide a few weeks later.

Buenos Aires Maru

Surprisingly we also know little of the sinking of the Japanese Hospital Ship Buenos Aires Maruin what might be regarded as Australian waters, off the Mandated Territory of New Guinea on 27 November 1943.

Buenos Aires Maru was a passenger-cargo ship similar to Montevideo Maru, both vessels requisitioned to help the Japanese war effort. Built in 1929 for the Osaka Shosen Kaisha (OSK) Line the Buenos Aires Maru was a 9,627 ton passenger-cargo ship, accommodating 1,200 passengers, and was mainly employed in the pre-war immigrant trade between Japan and South America. In November 1941 she was requisitioned as a troop ship plying between Japan, China, Korea and the Philippines. In October 1942 she was converted to a hospital ship and on 21 November 1942 the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs notified warring powers that Buenos Aires Maru is now a protected hospital ship.

Notwithstanding her new status, when in the South China Sea on 25 April 1943 this relatively large ship was damaged by torpedoes fired by the submarine USS Runner. The ship’s hull was slightly damaged and seven men were wounded. The ship was taken to Hong Kong for repairs.

On 17 August 1943 en route for Rabaul in New Britain she was attacked by an unknown American aircraft but escaped undamaged. The following day she arrived at Rabaul where she is described as being painted white with a green stripe around her hull, with large red crosses on either side of her hull and funnel. A black and white photograph exists from this time showing her hospital ship markings. She makes several more voyages between New Britain and the Philippines.

Hospital Ship Buenos Aires Maru – IJN

 

Bombing of Japanese sub-chaser by USAAF Liberator off New Ireland taken from an accompanying aircraft February 1944            USAAF

On 22 November 1943 she arrives at Rabaul where she embarks 1,129 sick and wounded servicemen, plus a small number of servicemen being repatriated to theirhomeland. In addition she carried 63 nursing staff and an unknown number of crew. The total number of passengers on board is estimated at about 1,300 personnel.

At about 0800 on 27 November when off the northern coast of New Guinea province of New Ireland the ship was subjected to low level bombing by an American Army Air Force B-24 Liberator. The raid was conducted in broad daylight in clear weather with the aircraft flying at low altitude. A bomb struck the port side of the ship, opening up the hull and flooding the engine room. The ship sank bow first about 50 minutes later. Remarkably in this relatively short space of time the survivors were taken off in lifeboats and two motor boats. The Liberator left the scene shortly after the sinking and is said to have strafed the area with machine gun fire, seemingly with little effect.

A small Japanese Navy submarine chaser squadron of three ships was based at Kavieng in northern New Ireland. Some days later one of these sub-chasers rescued about 1,000 survivors but 158 men and nurses were missing assumed killed in the bombing, sinking or dying later in the lifeboats.

This went unreported by Australian media who may well have been unaware of the incident. However the Australian War Memorial (AWM55 6/6) does have an unpublished interrogation report taken from a Japanese soldier (JA 147007) who was discovered in a life raft off the north coast of Bougainville and rescued by American soldiers on 16 December 1943. He had been aboard Buenos Aires Maru and was being transported back to Japan because of sickness. He was subsequently able to tell of conditions aboard the ship prior to, and during, her attack and evacuation.

Brigadier General Dr. Percy Carrol, the Command Surgeon, United States Army in the Southwest Pacific recommended an apology be made for this unfortunate mistake. However, General McArthur vetoed this recommendation and no apology was made.

In contrast Prime Minister John Curtin made a clear statement to the Australian Parliament in respect of the attack on Centaur which he said: …bore all the marks of wantonness and deliberations. The deed will shock the conscience of the whole civilized world. It will demonstrate to all who have any lingering doubts the unscrupulous and barbarous methods by which the Japanese conduct warfare.

A report of a subsequent United States Government investigation into the sinking of the Buenos Aires Maru was issued from Washington on 5 February 1944 through the Spanish Embassy, which was in charge of Japanese interests in Continental United States. It was stated that at the time of the bombing the identity of the hospital ship was not evident until after the attack was made. Regarding the alleged machine gunning of drifting lifeboats it was again stated that their identity was unknown. While the United States Government expresses its sincere regrets it emphasises the accidental nature of the attacks.

Summary

The Buenos Aires Maru tragedy underscores that such attacks are perpetuated by warring nations and alleged mistakes can be evenly divided by both sides in conflict. The story of Wah Suialso shows that the Japanese were conscious of international regulations regarding hospital ships and in this instance observed these to the letter.

 

An American at War in the Pacific Memoirs of Chief Radioman John Ottomar Adams, USNR

 A long standing member of our Society, David Mattiske, was a friend of John Adams who died early in 2017. David presented us with a self-published memoir of John Adams giving an account of his USN service. The following summary provides some indication of one man’s extraordinary contribution to the war in the Pacific.

Joining the Navy

John Ottomar Adams’s father had served in the Marine Corps during WWI so as a 17 year old he went to their recruiting office in Camden, New Jersey, to be told he did not meet the height requirements and it was suggested he try the Navy. A short time later, on 8 November 1940 he enlisted in the US Naval Reserve and service life began with a four month training course at a US Radio Training School at the small town of Noroton, Connecticut.

Starting pay as a Recruit was $21 per month, and following graduation came promotion to Radioman Third Class with a pay rise to $115 per month. On graduation the whole class boarded a train and crossed the country to California where they were to join ships at the San Diego Naval Base.

A young John Adams in uniform, USNR   1940

John’s first ship, the destroyer USS Henley (DD–391), was undergoing a refit at the Bremerton Navy Yard in Washington State when he joined her in March 1941. She was a Bagley-class destroyer first commissioned in August 1937. After refit Henley became leader of the 7th Destroyer Division, providing support to the carrier group then operating out of Pearl Harbor.

Pearl Harbor

Following routine exercises which included acting as plane guard and conducting live firings, most of the fleet, including Henley, made for Pearl Harbor, finding secure berths on Friday 5 December 1941 and looking forward to shore leave. Two days later a leisurely Sunday morning breakfast was interrupted when General Quarters (Action Stations) was sounded as Japanese aircraft started their devastating bombing raid.

John proceeded to his action station as first shell loader on No 3 Gun, a 5-inch 38 calibre open mounting, on the after deck house. With all hatches and doors dogged down it took him about ten minutes to arrive, by which time the guns were firing, not too effectively, at retreating waves of aircraft. Henley must have been in a good state of readiness as she was credited with being one of the first ships to fire at the enemy aircraft. When the action was over the destroyers put to sea and it was when they returned to port several days later that they were able to witness the devastation caused by this unprovoked attack. Welcome to the Second World War. It may be noteworthy that the author says that during his time in the Pacific he did not don anti-flash gear, the normal rig at action being a short sleeved shirt and blue jeans with a gob style soft cap.

Into the Pacific

Henley next had a relatively quiet time escorting convoys taking supplies across the Pacific to such places as American Samoa, the New Hebrides and New Caledonia. Following the Battle of the Coral Sea in May 1942 a tanker, USS Neosho,had been bombed and Henley was ordered to render assistance. After finding the ship, over 120 survivors were taken off (many were from the destroyer USS Sims which had been sunk in the Battle of the Coral Sea) and then the decision was made to scuttle the tanker. The first torpedo failed to detonate and a second did explode but caused little damage so she was sunk by gunfire. The survivors were taken to Brisbane but two died during the transit and the ship’s company witnessed their first burials at sea. At this stage no one from Henley had ever visited Australia. However it did not take long for them to settle in, and when making his way down Queen Street John came upon the newspaper offices of the Courier Mail where he was looking for past copies with commentary on the Pacific war. He was served by the attractive young Doris Lydia Lambe, later to become Mrs Adams.

USS Henley           USN

The time in Brisbane was mainly spent on training exercises with Australian warships and on convoy work up and down the east coast. When operating off North Queensland they were sometimes allowed ashore on the beautiful Whitsunday Islands, which at this time were virtually uninhabited, other than for the Aboriginal settlement at Palm Island.

In July 1942 Henley was ordered to join with HMA Ships Australia, Canberra and Hobart and proceed to Wellington, New Zealand to escort a convoy taking the 1st US Marine Division to the Solomon Islands on the first step to regain control from the Japanese in the Pacific. They departed Wellington on 22 July and first called at the Fijian island of Koru where practice landings were made before trying the real thing on beachheads at Guadalcanal and Tulagi. For a short period in mid-1942 a US Marine regiment was based at Koru to assist with the preparation of troops before sending them forward to the Solomons.

On their next supply run from Noumea to the Solomons they were called upon to conduct shore bombardment at Tulagi and Tanambogo Island where the Marines had encountered strong resistance. The ships encountered little bother from shore fire but air attacks were becoming more frequent where three US destroyers were damaged and one, USS Jarvis, was subsequently sunk by a Japanese submarine when en route to Noumea.

Battle of Savo Island

On the fateful night of 8 August the Task Force Commander, Rear Admiral Victor Crutchley1, divided his ships into three separate groups. The Southern Group comprised the cruisers Australia, Canberra and USS Chicago and the destroyers Henley and US Ships Bagley and Patterson.Two other radar-fitted destroyers, US Ships Blue and Ralph Talbot, patrolled the channel at the entrance to the sound between Cape Esperance and Savo Island.

That same evening the Japanese commander, Vice Admiral Gunichi Mikawa with his cruiser squadron steamed straight past and unseen by the Blue/Ralph Talbotpicket.

At about 1.30 in the morning of 9 August the Japanese cruisers opened fire with their targets eerily illuminated by flares dropped from float planes. When the Japanese turned for home, fearful of daylight carrier air attacks, three Allied cruisers, including Canberra, had been sunk and several destroyers were damaged. The Japanese suffered no losses in the actual engagement but on the return to New Britain the cruiser Kakowas sunk by the submarine USS S-44.

A Near Miss

The remainder of their time was spent protecting convoys between Noumea and the Solomons. During one of these convoys the commander of the destroyer squadron who normally flew his pennant in Henley transferred to Blue. Now senior ship, Blue led the return convoy to the Solomons. After dark on 22 August, Blue suddenly came to a dead stop in the water after having been torpedoed by a Japanese destroyer. When survivors were taken off Blue was scuttled. If the destroyer commander had not transferred his pennant it may well have been Henley and many of her crew that would not be around to tell the tale.

Eventually after the battle for Guadalcanal reached its climax the destroyers Henley and USS Helm were re-assigned to Rear Admiral Crutchley’s new Task Force guarding the southeast approaches to New Guinea. His forces were divided into two groups with one continuously patrolling at sea and the other based at an anchorage at Challenger Bay on Palm Island. These two groups would alternate every ten days or so with occasional visits for supplies to nearby Townsville and the more distant Brisbane.

Patrol Torpedo Boats

By this time John had been promoted to Radioman First Class (Petty Officer) and it was then that a secret document went missing from the radio room. A subsequent investigation found that in all probability the document had inadvertently been incinerated with classified waste. But someone was to blame and John was demoted to Radioman Second Class. There is an unwritten rule in the USN that if a man is demoted he is entitled to seek a transfer to another assignment when this becomes available and it is invariably approved.

In December 1942 a USN Patrol Boat Base was established in Milne Bay, initially comprising four boats. The Seabees had been busy at Kana Kope at the south eastern end of Milne Bay. In a region without roads an area about the size of a football pitch had been cleared from the jungle where a small base had been constructed with wharves, workshops, mess hall and radio room. Small amounts of ammunition and fuel were held here and most importantly there was a generator powering a refrigerator which held perishable food.

When a posting became available with the PT Squadron he was put ashore at Townsville and took the train to Cairns. Here over a few weeks a small US contingent was assembled and taken by an RAN corvette to Milne Bay.

He was surprised how small PT Boats were, at about 72 feet (22 m) long and built of marine plywood. They were fitted with three V-16 Packard supercharged petrol engines. On trials in lightship condition and without silencers, speeds of 60 knots had been achieved. They were originally fitted with 4 x Mk 8 torpedos launched from 21 inch tubes and several 0.30 calibre machine guns, subsequently upgraded to 0.50 calibre. They also could take up to eight depth charges. Depending upon weapons fitted, they had a crew of two or three officers and from 8 to 12 men.

They were squeezed like sardines into these small flat-bottomed boats which were extremely hard riding and uncomfortable even in the slightest seas. With the weight of a heavily armed boat and extensive marine growth in tropical waters these boats rarely achieved a top speed of 40 knots.

The routine for PT operations was regular patrols of about 12 hours duration, normally leaving their moorings just before dusk and proceeding to assigned areas at a cruising speed of about 20 knots, then cruise at slow speed 2000 to 3000 yards offshore looking and listening for suspicious activity. If this occurred they would open up with the 0.50 machine guns. When the boats first arrived in New Guinea attacks were usually against unprotected Japanese landing craft and these were easy pickings. Because of their shallow draught the favoured Daihatsu-class landing craft were virtually immune to torpedo attacks.

US PT Boats at Milne Bay              USN

The Japanese learned quickly and started fitting armour plating and arming their boats with twin machine guns which could effectively return fire.

John says: On one mission near Buna we were hit by shore fire but luckily the shell went right through one side of the bow and out the other. Under escort we were able to limp home for repairs. On another occasion on night patrol off New Britain where we had been sent to investigate enemy activity we were suddenly illuminated by a searchlight and then machine guns opened up on us. We had disturbed a Japanese destroyer who, not knowing how many of us were around, took off at high speed; we gave chase but soon lost him.

The camaraderie of the PT Squadron made for very happy days. One of their number had discovered that torpedo fuel is almost pure alcohol and this mixed with icy cold grapefruit juice makes an excellent concoction of which James Bond would have been proud. But all good things have to come to an end and it was time to return to the big ship navy.

Loss of USS Henley

Although John had left Henley in early 1943 she remained an important part of his life. Late in September 1943 Australian troops had established a beachhead at Finschhafen in New Guinea. With two other US destroyers, Henley formed part of a protective screen where they were attacked by Japanese torpedo bombers, three of which were shot down. In the same area, while conducting a defensive sweep on 3 October Henley was critically damaged by torpedoes fired by the submarine RO-108. Before she sank the crew were rescued by her companion destroyers but 15 officers and men did not escape.

 Admirals’ Staff

In early 1944 he was posted to the headquarters staff of the Commander Southwest Pacific. This was in the AMP Building in central Brisbane with General Macarthur occupying the 10th floor and Vice Admiral Kinkaid the 9th floor. Shortly after arrival he developed a very high fever and was hospitalised. This was thought to be malaria but after several weeks of treatment he was diagnosed with dengue fever. After recovery he was involved in the assault on Humboldt Bay in Dutch New Guinea, where the important border town of Hollandia is situated. The staff was flown to Manus Island to board the purpose-built flagship of the 7th fleet, USS Wasatch. This was an excellent career move as he had now been promoted to Chief Radioman.

In the early hours of 22 April 1944 the initial bombardment commenced and after overcoming slight resistance two beachheads were established and, most importantly, the Hollandia airfield was captured four days later. The Seabees lost no time in constructing a shore headquarters for Macarthur and Kinkaid where plans were finalised for the great push for a triumphal return to the Philippines. In this remote region an immense fleet of about 700 ships was assembled, ranging from aircraft carriers and battleships to submarines plus minor war vessels and numerous transports. All this was coordinated from the communications centre of the flagship Wasatch.

The Battle of Leyte Gulf

John Adams tells us that Wasatch departed from Humboldt Bay towards dusk. The next morning when he went on deck, all around were ships stretching to the horizon. Because of slower ships carrying much needed supplies the speed was no more than 10 knots. On the afternoon of 17 October minesweepers were detached to clear the approaches to the Gulf and this continued for several days until a bombardment of 16-inch battleships, 8-inch cruisers and 5-inch destroyers commenced on the morning of 20 October. Finally troops landed and with light opposition secured the beachheads and cleared the immediate hinterland. Later the same day Macarthur and his selected staff staged their beach landing and made his famous ‘People of the Philippines, I have returned’ speech.

This battle of the titans was the last throw of the dice for the Japanese Navy which afterwards was unable to assemble a coordinated fleet. With the end of the war now in sight John managed to wangle a posting back to Brisbane to help with the post-war closure of the old headquarters.

Closing the Shop

He returned to Brisbane by plane, arriving on 28 April 1945. Just over a week later, on 5 May, Doris  and he were married with very few on his side of the church. After a honeymoon using his new brother-in-law’s home at Redcliffe it was knuckling down to the job in hand, with the Brisbane office eventually closing on 11 January 1946. His final job was to assist in valuing equipment ready for disposal at knock-down prices as war surplus.

John returned to the US with his new bride and received his discharge from military duty on 13 February 1946. They then met with his family whom he had not seen since leaving for naval radio school in October 1940. After service life he decided to seek entrance to university to study electrical engineering. In June 1946 he sat the entrance examination for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and commenced studies.

For older students, many of whom were married ex-servicemen, MIT provided basic married accommodation which suited them. Doris was also able to obtain employment within the campus. After graduating with a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering he worked for a while with General Electric at a factory in Boston. But the call from Down Under was strong and in 1951 they decided to return to their new homeland.

Summary

John Ottomar Adams had a remarkable wartime naval career, first serving in a gun crew at the Battle of Pearl Harbor and then extending across the Pacific to the aftermath of the Battle of the Coral Sea, the Battle of the Solomons, patrol boat engagements in New Guinea and finally a front row seat at the Battle of Leyte Gulf. This is a privilege enjoyed by very few and there are not many who could match his extensive wartime service, keeping him away from home for well over five years.

While in Henley she had twice served in a Task Force under the command of the Australian Fleet Commander, Rear Admiral Crutchley, who mainly flew his flag in Australia. It was here that John became familiar with the RAN and in particular Australia and Canberra and her replacement HMAS Shropshire. In later life, with no other US Navy Associations in Queensland, John joined the Gold Coast Branch of the HMAS Canberra/Shropshire Association and for many years served as secretary. Aged 94, John died in January 2017, and is survived by his second wife Dawn, their two children and three grandchildren.

Note:

  1. 1. Rear Admiral Victor Crutchley DSC, VC (later Admiral Sir Victor) was a Royal Naval WWI hero who was lent to the RAN as Commander of the Australian Squadron from June 1942 to June 1944.

Lieutenant (SP) H.L. Billman, DSC, RANVR

By Hector Donohue

Harold Leon (Bill) Billman had a relatively short war in the RAN of just three years, but as a bomb and mine disposal officer he was regularly close to front line action. After nearly two and a half years in the Air Force he joined the Navy in late 1942 and qualified in bomb disposal. During 1943 he was quickly involved in battles in New Guinea and demonstrated courage and skill under dangerous circumstances being Mentioned in Despatches. This continued in 1944/45 when he was attached to the US Navy in the Philippines and was awarded a DSC. Bill was demobilised in December 1945 and little is known of him after this. Given his demonstrated abilities and bravery, it is surprising his career has not received greater coverage and this short biography attempts to describe his background and enlarge upon his wartime naval career.

Information for this article came from his service records held in National Australian Archives (NAA), his recommendation for Commendation, The Shepparton Advertiser, interviews with Ms S. Williamson of Chiltern, a Billman family historian, and his friend Mr B. Gawne of Grong Grong. The Wangaratta Family History Society also kindly provided details of his time in that town.

Early Life

Harold Leon (Bill) Billman was born in Carlton, Victoria on 4 January 1908. Bill’s mother, Bertha Billman was unmarried and there is no record of his father. Bill was fostered out to William and Eliza Walke who lived in Sale, Victoria. Eliza was in her mid-50s and knew the Billman family, so Bill retained his mother’s name. Bill went to Sale Technical School and was apprenticed to the Melbourne Electric Supply Company from 1926 to 1930. Through a company merger he was transferred to the Victorian State Electricity Commission as a linesman, initially working in Sorrento before moving to Shepparton in 1933. He became the residential linesman and assistant officer in charge of the Shepparton branch of the State Electricity Commission. His foster father had died in 1930 and Bill lived with Eliza in Shepparton with TheShepparton Advertiser reporting him as her nephew (when she was aged 80 and he was 25). Billman had studied refrigeration and in 1938 started his own business in this industry.

Bill was a very active sportsman (cricket, tennis, golf and rifle shooting) and The Shepparton Advertiser regularly reported on Bill and his older half-brother Albert (Bert) Billman who was also a regular in the sporting pages. The two, although friends, were unaware they shared the same mother. Bert had been adopted at birth and both boys had assumed their mother’s name. Bill was elected as Secretary to the Shepparton Tennis Association in 1934 and in 1937 won the Shepparton Rifle Club trophy.

Bert, who was three years older than Bill, married in 1926 and had five children. He joined 2/7 Battalion in November 1939 and served in the Middle East. He returned to Australia in August 1942 as a Sergeant and transferred to AAOC. He was discharged in November 1944. Bert died in a car accident near Dimboola in November 1950, aged 47 years. There is no record of the half-brothers being in post war contact.

Royal Australian Air Force

In March 1940 Bill applied to join the RAAF, indicating he would like to train for the aero mechanical branch and to be attached to a fighting unit overseas. As his mother had died in 1924 he gave his single aunt, Ida Billman (from Ballarat) as his next of kin, indicating he had kept in touch with his family. He allotted money from his pay to his foster mother who was by then in a nursing home.

His application stated an involvement in refrigeration service work in the Goulbourn Valley and he was unable to terminate his business until the end of May. His application was successful and on 27 April 1942 he passed the trade test and was enlisted as a Fitter IIA on 25 May 1940. Bill joined No. 1 Engineering School Ascot Vale on 28 June 1940 and did the Fitter IIA course, completing it in October 1940. After a brief posting to No 2 Service Flying Training School, Wagga, on promotion to Corporal on 4 November 1940 he returned to Ascot Vale. He was promoted Sergeant on 1 January 1942.

On 31 August he requested release from the RAAF to enlist in the Australian Military Force. His request mentions that he had applied for a commission but this had been rejected. He pointed out that he had been an instructor at No. 1 Engineering School for 21 months and had given his best and suggested that his previous training and experience would be more useful to the national effort in the AMF. The application was approved and he was discharged on 19 September 1942. It would be fair to say that he had wanted to be deployed overseas and his war at that time seemed restricted to Melbourne. Also his inability to reach commissioned rank may have been a factor.

On leaving the RAAF he gave his address as 12 Essex Street, West Footscray which was where his friends Jim and Anne Pavich lived. Jim Pavich, a WWI veteran who had lost his right leg in France in 1917, was eleven years older than Bill. His wife, Anne (nee Gawne), was from Shepparton and they visited there during the 1930s when they met Bill and became friends.

Royal Australian Navy

Bill told Bruce Gawne that after the war he wanted to be a diver and in the event applied to join the Navy. On joining, he gave his aunt as his next of kin but included in the listings of next of kin on his service record were his foster mother, who was still in a nursing home, and the Pavich family. Eliza Walke died in 1944 and his aunt, Ida Billman, died in 1948.

Lieutenant Harold Billman RANVR, New Guinea 1943. AWM

Billman joined the RANVR as a Sub Lieutenant on 16 November 1942 and was assigned to the M (mining) specialisation which covered controlled mines and bomb and mine disposal. He completed a controlled mine course and render mine safe course at Flinders Naval Depot before qualifying in bomb disposal at the Army Bomb Disposal School at Inglefield in February 1943. Bill was then posted in March to HMAS Platypusat Cairns for bomb and mine disposal (BMD) duties.

Between 1942 and 1945, Queensland became a support base for the war effort in the South West Pacific and the ports in Brisbane, Townsville and Cairns were rapidly expanded to become significant naval bases. Shipping congestion at Townsville caused the main naval presence in north Queensland to be based further north at Cairns. Early in 1943 RAN wartime facilities for the port of Cairns also included an oil tanker berth and the RAN shore depot, HMAS Kuranda, containing naval stores and accommodation for about 400 personnel. In February 1943 the depot ship HMAS Platypus took up permanent mooring near the shore depot and the naval base at Cairns was re-named Platypus until she departed in May 1944.

Both the RAN and the USN utilised Trinity Inlet in Cairns which became the principal naval base for repair, refuelling, victualling and maintenance of minor naval craft such as Australian corvettes, Fairmile patrol launches, and US motor torpedo (PT) boats. In addition, Consolidated PBY-5 Catalina flying boats of RAAF Nos. 11 and 20 Squadrons were based there from late 1942. The Cairns in which Billman found himself in early 1943 was a busy area but unlikely to have much requirement for bomb and mine disposal.

He qualified Diver II in HMAS Penguin in May 1943 and was promoted to Lieutenant in June with seniority of 21 March 1943. In August 1943 he was sent to HMAS Basilisk at Port Moresby where he was engaged in bomb and mine disposal in the New Guinea forward areas

Deployment to New Guinea

Japan’s entry into the war in December 1941 saw south-east Queensland become an important strategic hub following an expansion of the Allied presence in the Brisbane area. A US submarine base was established at New Farm and additional naval stores depots, victualling yards and maintenance facilities were created. There was an increased throughput of personnel to serve in combined operations training camps situated at Toorbul and Bribie Island. An effective examination service, Port War Signal Station and mine watching service were also operated by the RAN, as was a small ships base situated at Colmslie. By 1944 HMAS Moreton was also responsible for administering operations, intelligence and communications staffs attached to Allied Headquarters, Allied Naval Headquarters and Naval Staff in depots throughout Queensland and New Guinea.

In the South West Pacific area the US Army had few active bomb disposal squads in the theatre until after June 1944. Until then bomb and mine disposal was handled by RAN BMD teams, Australian Air Force and Army bomb disposal units or US Navy Mobile Explosive Investigation Units. BMD personnel in support of Allied offensives in New Guinea and the islands were often close to fierce fighting and dealt with Japanese booby traps as well as the large amounts of unexploded ordnance, both Japanese and Allied.

The campaign to take the Salamaua and Lae areas began after the successful defence of Wau in late January 1943, which was followed up by an Australian advance towards Mubo. A series of actions followed over the course of several months as the Australian 3rd Division advanced north-east towards Salamaua. The amphibious landing at Nassau Bay in July, some 24 km south of Salamaua, was carried out in order to capture a staging post to improve the supply situation for the main Australian force attacking Salamaua from inland bases.

Aerial view of Salamuna Isthmus looking into Nassau Bay, New Guinea 1943  –  AWM

Following the landing, the Australians were reinforced by a US regimental combat team, which subsequently advanced north up the coast. The US forces made contact with the Australian 17th Brigade around Mubo. The combined forces then turned their attention towards the Japanese at Salamaua, advancing slowly across difficult terrain during July and August, The Salamaua garrison was captured on 11 September 1943, while Lae fell shortly afterwards on 16 September, bringing this campaign to an end.

In August and September 1943, Billman was involved in providing BMD support for the Allied forces advancing towards Salamaua, following the Allied landings in Nassau Bay in July. He was attached to the advancing troops and regularly under fire. He was responsible for locating and disposing of land mines and booby traps left by the retreating Japanese which delayed operations and also caused casualties. The BMD teams also demolished Japanese emplacements and tunnels.

A 3rd Division report describing the demands on the men fighting illustrates the difficult conditions Billman and other bomb and mine disposal personnel operated under.

 

It rained almost every day and campsites were damp, at best, or soaked. Such conditions of rain, mud, rottenness, stench, gloom, and, above all, the feeling of being shut in by everlasting jungle and ever ascending mountains, are sufficient to fray the strongest nerves. But add to them the tension of constant expectancy of death from behind the impenetrable screen of green, and nerves must be of the strongest, and morale of the highest, to live down these conditions, accept them as a matter of course, and maintain a cheerful yet fighting spirit.

After joining HMAS Ladavaat Milne Bay on 1 October, he was hospitalised in Port Moresby two weeks later with malaria and was posted to Moreton in Brisbane mid November for bomb and mine disposal duties. But in May 1944 he was again hospitalised with malaria.

RAN officer delouses booby trap in New Guinea May 1944. The notice warns Japanese troops to avoid the trap.    –  AWM

In August 1944 a recommendation for a Mention in Despatches (MID) was forwarded to the Admiralty for his work in the Nassau Bay area and the award was received on 26 June 1945 …for courage, skill and undaunted devotion to duty in exceptionally hazardous operations. In September he was posted for duty with the 7th Fleet. It is unlikely that there was much call for Bill’s BMD expertise whilst at Moreton apart from dealing with allied unexploded ordnance found during training, but his diving skills were regularly required. Indeed he had to delay commencing his US Navy attachment to complete an important diving operation.

 

 

Attachment to the US Navy

Four US Navy Mobile Explosive Investigation Units (MEIU) were established during the war, two in the Pacific and two in the European theatre. MEIU 1 was established in the US in July 1942 for duty in the South West Pacific area and by January 1943 it had established its headquarters in Brisbane under Commander Service Force, 7th Fleet.

MEIU 1 teams were also involved in the operations in New Guinea. During USN planning for the retaking of the Philippines a number of RAN officers with relevant expertise were attached to the 7th Fleet, including bomb and mine disposal qualified officers.

Lieutenant Billman was the first of three RAN officers to serve with MIEU 1, joining in Brisbane on 14 September 1944. During his first two weeks he attended a refresher course on US and Japanese ordnance and undertook trials in using shaped charges. At the end of September he flew to Hollandia where the US Sixth Army was based and joined a US Underwater Demolition Team (UDT) under Lieutenant Colver USN onboard Landing Craft Infantry (Demolitions) 29 (LCI) which was attached to Commander 7th Fleet Amphibious Forces.

On Friday 13 October, the forces assigned for the operation comprising some 700 ships sailed from Hollandia for the 1300 nm journey to Leyte. The invasion fleet was so large it took a day and a half to clear the harbour. LCI 29 was allocated to the Panaon Attack Group, TG78.3, which included three Australian LSIs: Manoora, Westraliaand Kanimbla.

On A-Day, 20 October, Billman (and the UDT) landed with the almost 3000 men of the Sixth Army’s 21st Regimental Combat Team on the northern tip of Panaon Island just south of Leyte. The aim was to secure the strait between Leyte and Panaon Island to counter any IJN movement of ships into Leyte Gulf. No enemy resistance was encountered and a search of the island revealed the Japanese had left some months earlier. Investigations revealed that the channel between Panaon and Leyte had been laid with Japanese controlled mines but on leaving, the Japanese had blown the mines and removed the shore installations. Nothing else of interest was found and they returned to the LCI.

Three days later he landed with a support group that attacked a Japanese station at Leyte and captured some Japanese wireless equipment. The LCI then moved to the Tacloban area in Leyte, where the main landings had been conducted. During an air raid he noticed that a bomb which had fallen on a troop laden liberty ship had not detonated. Billman boarded the ship and found the bomb lodged behind the bridge with a nose and tail fuze, both in an armed condition. He decided it was too dangerous to move, cleared the area of troops and with a heavy sea running, rendered the bomb safe, after which it was lowered over the side. On 28 October, Billman took a UDT detachment to the Tacloban airfield and cleared the airfield and its vicinity disposing of 24 Japanese and US unexploded bombs. Speed was essential and the task was completed in two days. Later he disarmed a US torpedo in a crashed aircraft near the airfield.

On 1 November Billman contacted a MEIU 1 field unit at the airfield and joined them in reclaiming Japanese fuze dumps for shipment. He remained onboard LCI (D) 29 and responded as required for bomb disposal tasks around Tacloban. In early December, whilst staging in LCI (D) 29 for the Luzon campaign he was involved in searching for K-2 mines in Billiran Strait.

On 2 January 1945, together with the UDT, he joined the high speed transport ship (APD 13) USS Sands as part of the convoy transiting for the Lingayen Gulf landings. He suffered a severe bout of malaria and was hospitalised onboard. On 11 January Sands received a report that Japanese suicide swimmers were operating in the Gulf. The ship proceeded to the area, and despite his malaria issues, Billman joined Colver to search for swimmers in the ship’s landing craft, locating and killing three. From these three and a further seven already dead, they recovered diaries which provided valuable intelligence. They assumed the 10 personnel were survivors of an attack group formed the previous night. Searches continued each night for the next week with negative results. Sands returned to Tacloban and the UDT transferred back to LCI (D) 29. Billman remained onboard until the end of January, recovering from malaria.

In mid February, under orders from the Commanding Officer MEIU 1, Billman, together with Lieutenant Van Arsdale USN from MEIU, joined the 7th Fleet Intelligence Centre (SEFIC) personnel as the ordnance intelligence officer. They travelled to Paranaque, Manila Bay which was to be their base to examine Japanese hulks in the Bay. From 26 February until 9 March they searched 19 hulks finding no ordnance of interest and no booby traps. In three of the ships Japanese escapees from the mainland were found and in one ship, nine escapees in a cabin refused to be taken prisoner and commenced committing suicide using their own grenades. Billman and Van Arsdale hastened their demise throwing a further two grenades into the compartment. After a suitable delay they entered the compartment and made sure all were dead, with the aid of a carbine, before searching the bodies. Diaries were found which were given to the SEFIC group.

At the request of Commander 7th Fleet Amphibious Forces, Billman together with two MEIU officers was sent by PT boat to Corregidor Island on 13 March to examine Japanese Navy suicide boats, the first of such boats to be recovered. They spent three days examining, stripping and drawing the boats. The firing panel and wiring was recovered and sent to MEIU 1 for analysis and report. The boats were 6 m long with a beam of 1.6 m, had a speed of 18 knots and carried an explosive charge in the bow of 270 kg.  Whilst on the island, the team examined all the open tunnels and rendered safe many J-XVI mines.

Japanese Shinyo Special Attack (Suicide) Boat     –    USN

Billman then joined MEIU members searching Japanese dumps in the Nichols Field area, clearing mined areas and recovering ordnance of interest including Japanese torpedoes. Acting on advice from a US Army bomb disposal officer who had been instructed to investigate a mine found on the beach at Cavite Naval Base, south of Manila, Billman and a MEIU officer went to assist. They found it was new Japanese mine, which was subsequently designated ‘Camote’. Although of an unusual shape Billman found it had the standard safety switch and horns and, taking all precautions, rendered it safe. Subsequently a second one was found in a wrecked building at Sangley Point, which was also recovered. After lengthy searches in the ruins of a mine depot and surrounding areas, Billman found sufficient material with which, with skill and perseverance, he was able to reconstruct a Camote mine. This was reported to Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) and the mine was shipped by air to the Mine Disposal School, Washington. The new mine was an aircraft laid moored mine, now designated Type 3 Mark 1 Mod 1, a 640 kg mine with an explosive charge of 80 kg and four horns.

Other items of interest found in the burnt out base included sonar equipment and a new underwater sound making device. On his own initiative, Billman searched the burnt out Japanese workshops and found sufficient parts of the sound making device to construct a complete unit. His report resulted in the CNO requesting the device be sent by air to Washington for study by the Bureau of Ordnance,

Billman spent the remaining weeks of his tour writing reports and gathering a range of Japanese underwater and air delivered ordnance, many of which he had collected himself, to be shipped back to Australia. In commenting on the material to be shipped, Billman made the point that he was fortunate to be able to draw on the MEIU 1 resources which enabled a significant amount of enemy ordnance to be collected, which would benefit bomb and mine disposal training in Australia. He completed his tour with MEIU 1 on 26 April and accompanied the collected Japanese ordnance by ship back to Australia.

Principally for his work at Cavite, Billman received a Commander 7th Fleet Commendation in June that stated:

During the period September 1944 to April 1945 you were attached to MEIU 1 and rendered invaluable assistance in clearing unexploded ordnance from the Leyte and Manila Bay areas. By your diligent methods and careful research you recovered and reconstructed a new type of Japanese mine and a new enemy underwater sound making device. The Commander Seventh Fleet commends you upon your exemplary performance and your contributions to the success of our operations in the Philippines.

Lieutenant John Hunter RANVR joined MEIU 1 in November 1944 remaining until August 1945. He was initially employed in the Unit’s mine disposal vessel USS YP 421and then continued bomb disposal activities in Cavite Naval Base. In reporting on the two RAN officers to Navy Office in April 1945, the Commanding Officer, Lieutenant Commander F.M. Rivinus USNR stated: This command is pleased to have attached two officers of the quality of Billman and Hunter. They have co-operated in every way with this unit. They have worked unusually hard at their jobs and by doing so have earned the respect and friendship of every officer in the unit. Lieutenant Gavin Anderson RANVR, the third RAN officer, joined MEIU 1 in July remaining until November 1945.

Final Posting and Post War

Billman returned to HMAS Cerberus where he was involved in RMS training in the Torpedo School. His DSC was promulgated in the London Gazette on 6 November 1945 with the following citation: Lieutenant Billman landed on Panaon Island on 20th October, 1944 with the assault forces. He displayed bravery, devotion to duty and exceptional skill over a period of four months in dealing with Japanese mines and unexploded bombs in the clearance operations in the Philippines.

At Cerberus, Billman did not get on well with the OIC of the Torpedo School, Lieutenant Commander R H Fanshawe RN who in his reporting of Billman was less than complimentary. He wrote that Billman …was a good BMD officer for operations but had very little administrative ability and was not outstanding in any way. He also did not recommend him for promotion. In fact, Billman had exhibited outstanding administrative qualities in collecting and arranging for transport to Cerberus of the many Japanese ordnance artefacts, for which Fanshawe seemingly gave no credit. After a ‘full on’ operational period with the USN, it must have been hard to adjust to life in a training establishment working for a RN officer with little understanding of US procedures and who was not qualified in BMD. This clash of personalities in his final posting after receiving such a high award, together with his malaria attacks, may well have soured his feelings towards the Navy. Billman had a final Medical Board on 23 November, demobilised on 17 December 1945 and moved to live with the Pavich family in West Footscray.

Billman’s DSC was despatched from London and arrived in Navy Office, Melbourne in May 1946. Billman would have been contacted regarding a presentation but must have refused as the medal was sent by registered post to 12 Essex Street, West Footscray on 18 November 1946.

Little is known of his post war activities. Initially he lived with his friends Jim and Anne Pavich in West Footscray where he had a self contained flat in their backyard. He was probably engaged in handyman type work and may well have had a Veterans Affairs disability pension given his poor health. The Shepparton Advertiser reported in 1946 that he had been elected to the Committee of the Mechanics Institute in Shepparton.

Billman was approached by the RAN in October 1950 to assist with the War Crimes Trials at Manus Island (one Lieutenant Commander and two Lieutenants were allocated to the War Crimes Compound at Manus Island from early 1950 until November 1951). He applied to rejoin the RAN in October 1950 but although recommended, he was assessed as medically unfit and re-entry was not approved.

In the mid-1950s the Pavich family moved to Warragul and Bill moved to Wangaratta where he boarded with a friend and local teacher, Neil Redfern and his family at 27 Taylor Street. Harold Leon Billman DSC died in Wangaratta on 16 April 1968, just 60 years old. He is buried in the Victoria Garden of Remembrance, Springvale Botanical Cemetery in Melbourne, which honours those who died as the result of service in the armed forces of the Commonwealth. It has been Australian policy since 1922 to extend official commemoration to eligible post-war deaths, and in Billman’s case would indicate his death was determined by the Department of Veterans Affairs to have been related to war service.

 

 

Tales of the South Pacific, Broadway and a South Pacific World War II Museum

The South Pacific has a wondrous reputation as the home of tales from the sea, producing great characters such as Robinson Crusoe and Bligh of the Bounty. In later times many of these sleepy backwaters were awoken by fierce fighting with an influx of mainly American and Japanese troops. The island of Espiritu Santo in the New Hebrides (now Vanuatu) became a prominent United States base from March 1942 and almost overnight this sleepy South Pacific outpost became a bustling metropolis with new wharves, oil tanks, a hospital, a large floating dock, warehouses, electrical supplies, fresh water and three airfields; at one stage it was home to 200,000 American servicemen and women. A few Australians and New Zealanders were also based here or were in ships using the facilities for repairs and provisions. From Santo the Allies could project troops, ships and aircraft into the Solomon Islands which were then occupied by the Japanese. On 20 July 1943 HMAS Hobart, which was in company with HMAS Australia and three USN destroyers, was badly damaged by a torpedo fired by a Japanese submarine and she limped into Espiritu Santo for emergency repairs before making her way home; this kept her out of the front line for over 12 months.

What’s in a Name

The name Espiritu Santo, literally meaning Holy Spirit, was conferred on this group of islands discovered in 1606 by a Spanish expedition led by the Portuguese navigator Pedro Fernandez de Queiros. de Queiros named them La Austrialia del Espiritu Santo (his original spelling) believing he had discovered the fabled southern continent of Terra Australis. The expedition comprised a squadron of three ships; the second ship was commanded by Luis Baez de Torres and the third by Pedro Bernal Cermeno. At some stage on leaving Espiritu Santo the ships became separated with de Queiros returning homeward and making for Mexico. Torres believed the flagship had foundered and in company with Cermeno continued south west, making for New Guinea, and discovered the strait which would make him a household name. Although not recognised at the time, Torres had also discovered the northern coast of the Australian continent.

LT James Albert Michener, USN

Let us return to more familiar times. Tales of the South Pacific was drafted by Lieutenant James Michener, USN when seated at his desk in a Quonset hut at Espiritu Santo. This, his first published book, gained the Pulitzer Prize and was the inspiration for Rogers and Hammerstein’s Broadway smash hit musical South Pacific. Michener later wrote: Many of the fondest memories of my travels stem back to my years of military service in the New Hebrides during the Pacific War years in the early 1940s. While those beautiful islands have changed much with progress in the ensuing years, I know from subsequent visits that the friendliness of the peoples, their infectious smiles and open-heartiness will remain one of life’s treasures. In the distance lies the volcanic island of Ambae, visible in mirage-like conditions beyond the waters of Santo, the inspiration for Bali Hai, referring to a mystical island visible but always just out of reach.

James Michener, with a painting of himself, at his home in Pennsylvania in 1962. At the the time he was running for the United States Congress. (© Bettmann/CORBIS)

James Michener grew up in a Quaker community in Pennsylvania; a good student, he gained entrance to university where he graduated with an Arts degree in English and History. He became a high school teacher and undertook further studies at the University of St Andrews in Scotland. While undertaking his PhD he was a guest lecturer at Harvard University. A seemingly brilliant career was interrupted by America’s entry into the Second World War and in October 1942, aged 35, Michener enlisted into the USN as an Ordinary Seaman. It did not take long for the authorities to recognise his talents and he was commissioned as a ‘Lieutenant Special Duties Officer – Public Affairs’. He was posted to the South Pacific theatre in early 1944 where he travelled extensively amongst the islands documenting the progress of the war.

It is possibly not recognised that Michener’s tales are based on a collection of real life observations and anecdotes with one of his characters thought to be SBLT Frederick Ashton ‘Snowy’ Rhoades, RANVR. As a Coastwatcher in the Solomon Islands ‘Snowy’ Rhoades became a local legend and for heroism and gallantry was awarded the United States Distinguished Service Cross and the Silver Star; surprisingly there were no Imperial awards.

Michener left the service in 1946 as a Lieutenant Commander and resumed his brilliant literary career. Given recent events, perhaps we could do no better than read one of his later books published in 1969, entitled Presidential Lottery: The Reckless Gamble in our Electoral System, in which after thorough analysis the author condemned the system.

LTJG John Fitzgerald Kennedy, USNR

On 27 July 1942 John Fitzgerald Kennedy entered the Naval Reserve Officers Training School in Chicago. After completing basic training he volunteered for Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron Training at Melville, Rhode Island. Graduating and now a Lieutenant Junior Grade (LTJG) Kennedy was given command of PT 101assigned to the 14th PT Boat Squadron based at Panama. Seeking combat experience, after a few months he managed to arrange a transfer to the 2nd PTB Squadron based at Tulagi Island in the Solomons.

LTJG John (Jack) Kennedy USN, later to become the 35th President of the United States, came to Espiritu Santo on 27 March 1943 in the troopship USS Rochambeau. This troopship had an interesting history, as she was a French passenger liner, which after the fall of France was requisitioned by US Forces in the Philippines to assist in their withdrawal from that country. After nearly two weeks on Espiritu Santo hetransferred to LST 499 for passage to the Torpedo Boat Base at Tulagi Island. Here on 14 April 1943 Lieutenant Kennedy took command of PT 109.

President Kennedy and Arthur Evans in the White House    Presidential Library Museum

During 1942 a number of PT Boats were transported as deck cargo to be offloaded at the then main USN South Pacific Base of Noumea in New Caledonia and made ready for the Pacific campaign, including a coat of dark green camouflage paint. PT 109was transported from the Norfolk Navy Yard to the Pacific in August 1942 as deck cargo in the liberty ship SS Joseph Stanton. In total eight PT Boats were then towed by elderly four stack destroyers to Espiritu Santo, and then on for assignment to No 2 MTB Squadron based at Tulagi in the Solomon Islands.

PT Boats might be regarded as the ‘Jackals of the Sea’ as they often hunted in packs with formidable armament and if allowed close enough could cripple a major warship. One line of defence against these boats was to drive straight for them, if hit they would be torn apart and with a near miss they could be swamped by the wake of a larger high speed vessel.

After Kennedy’s arrival his ship was ordered to Russell Island in preparation for the invasion of New Georgia. It was here that Kennedy was to gain fame, mainly thanks to a media campaign orchestrated by his father, after his ship was struck and cut in two when hit by the Japanese destroyer IJN Amagiri on the night of 2 August 1943. Two crew members died and another two were badly injured. Kennedy himself was a strong swimmer and despite injury when slammed against a bulkhead he organised for the survivors to reach a nearby island. Sub Lieutenant Arthur Evans, RANVR, an Australian Coastwatcher based in these waters,witnessed an explosion and despatched natives in canoes to search the area. With confirmation of survivors, Evans radioed for assistance, and six days later Kennedy and his crew were rescued.

As Kennedy chose to remain in the Pacific theatre after the loss of his ship in October 1943 he was given command of another boat from the same squadron, PT59.On 2 November PT59was involved in the rescue of more than 40 Marines who had become stranded on Choiseul Island during an ill fated landing when their landing craft was swamped.

LT Kennedy, who suffered permanent back injuries from the PT109incident, was decorated for his courage and leadership. The publicity involved became the engine for a political career. Many years later a model of PT109adorned a shelf in the Oval Office and Kennedy usually wore a tie clasp based on a model of his ship. Move forward some twenty years and President Kennedy welcomed ex-Coastwatcher Arthur Evans as his guest at the White House.

President Coolidge

Another president is celebrated at Espiritu Santo, or all that remains of the ship carrying his name. John Calvin Coolidge was the 30th President of the United States, serving in those difficult inter-war years from 1923 to 1929. An American passenger liner company, the President Line, named their luxury vessels after incumbents of this prestigious office. The ship was on passage to the Philippines when war was declared and she was resumed by the military authorities as USS Coolidgeand used to evacuate US civilians from the Asian ports. Later she was used as a troop transport in the Pacific campaign.

On 12 January 1942 the first large convoy set out from the US West Coast for Australia, this included the ex-liners Coolidge and Mariposa. As well as carrying troops, supplies and munitions the two ships between them carried an invaluable cargo of fifty P-40 Kittyhawkfighter aircraft. On her return voyage from Melbourne to San Francisco she carried the deposed President of the Philippines, Manuel Quezon and his suite.

On 6 October 1942 she departed San Francisco for New Caledonia and the New Hebrides with the 172nd Infantry Combat Team and a Harbour Defence Unit intended to protect airfields at Espiritu Santo that provided air support to forces on Guadalcanal. The large military base established on Espiritu Santo had its harbour protected by mines. Information about the mines had not been supplied to Coolidge and on 26 October she sailed directly into the mine field with one mine exploding under her engine room and another near her stern. Captain Henry Nelson, USNR, knowing his ship was doomed, ran her aground and ordered ‘Abandon Ship’. In less than 90 minutes nearly all 5,340 men aboard made their way safely ashore, many just walking over the coral.

USS President Coolidge aground  –  USN

There were only two causalities, the first was Fireman Robert Reid who had been working in the engine room and was killed by the blast. The second was Captain Elwood Euart of the 103rd Field Artillery who safely disembarked but on hearing that men remained trapped in the ship’s hospital returned onboard and secured their rescue. This act of heroism was not rewarded as the ship unexpectedly slid off the reef and disappeared below the water taking Captain Euart to his grave. In 2013 human remains were located by a local dive team and in 2014 and when identified by dog tags and DNA testing, the remains were confirmed to be those of Captain Euart. They were removed by a specialist US recovery team and later reburied with full military honours in the United States.

The remains of USS Coolidgeprovide one of the most accessible shipwrecks of her size and type and preservation. She is regarded as one of the world’s top dive sites.

Million Dollar Point and a Japanese Prison

Close by there is another popular dive site with a large amount of military hardware. At the end of the Pacific War, British and French authorities, who jointly controlled the New Hebrides, were offered the vast amount of surplus military equipment located at Espiritu Santo. While only a nominal sum was sought the authorities failed to agree, possibly the local thinking was that the Americans had little option but to leave their stores behind. However the Americans had other ideas and in a fit of pique took whatever they could and dumped them off the harbour in what became known as ‘Million Dollar Point’. Michener mentions the waste here thus: The engines coughed, and the grim procession crawled along the ramp, and the lumbering dinosaurs of modern industry plunged into the sea.

Perhaps the most unusual war relic to be found at Espiritu Santo is a small prison building used to house Japanese prisoners of war who were mainly brought in as survivors captured by USN warships. This was opened on 10 October 1942 and closed a few months later on 13 February 1943 when the small number of prisoners was transferred to a larger facility in New Zealand.

A Wharf, a Museum and a hint of Broadway

One of the first tasks undertaken by the Americans in the early 1940s was to build a large wharf capable of accommodating their largest ships. This later became known as the Burns Philip (BP) Wharf. Seventy-five years later Vanuatu, in common with several other Pacific Island nations, has jumped aboard the Chinese economic aid bus finding it more comfortable than the tired Holden ‘ute’, resulting in the old wharf being replaced by a new 360 metre wonder completed by the Shanghai Construction Group in 2016. Maybe a tad beyond the needs of a patrol boat gifted by Australia.

As Michener had discovered, Espiritu Santo is a tropical paradise set within a verdant landscape fringed by glistening sands, and beyond are sparking turquoise lagoons protected by picturesque coral reefs. Into this heady mix came the fictional ‘Bloody Mary’ dispensing cocktails and dames to enthusiastic young customers.

The early 1940s were halcyon years for the New Hebridean locals who joined in the American largesse. They were only attacked once by a Japanese aircraft that was shot down, resulting in one casualty on Santo – Bessie the cow. Post-war, many were inspired by the brief but enlightened presidency of ‘JFK’ but perhaps for a similar short period in our history, when JFK visited, Santo too was transformed into another version of ‘Camelot’.

Belatedly, but better late than never, the Vanuatu government has shown interest in establishing a museum capturing Santo’s war-time past. This worthwhile initiative would enhance a growing tourist market and benefit the local economy, as well as rekindling some wonderful South Pacific memories, before they are sadly forgotten.

A new South Pacific World War II Museum is at present little more than a virtual reality site but a start has been made with an impressive website which is worth visiting at southpacificwwiimuseum.com. Land has now been purchased at Santo and Australian based architects engaged to assist with this ambitious project.

Post War History

During its relatively recent transition from colonial status to a democratic republic it is difficult to conceive how this tranquil land could be involved in revolution. But such was the case in 1980 with a revolt during the transfer of power from the colonial administration to independent Vanuatu. The local Nagriamel movement, championed by charismatic Jimmy Stevens in alliance with private French interests and backed by the Phoenix Foundation and American libertarians hoping to establish a tax-free haven, declared the island of Espiritu Santo independent of the new government.

On 28 May 1980 the ‘Republic of Vemerana’ was proclaimed and recognised by the French government on 3 June. Two days later the tribal chiefs of Santo named the French Ambassador Philippe Allonneau ‘King of Vemerana’ and Jimmy Stevens Prime Minister. The capital town of Luganville was renamed Allonneaupolis. However negotiations with Port Vila failed and from 27 July to 18 August, British Royal Marines and the French Garde Mobile were deployed to the Vanuatu’s capital island but did not invade Espiritu Santo. The troops were recalled shortly before independence. Following independence, Vanuatu, governed by Father Walter Lini, requested assistance from Papua New Guinea who sent armed forces to Espiritu Santo to defuse the situation and peace was restored under the new republic of Vanuatu. Now visitors come and go from this fabled island having little or no knowledge of its magnificent history.

 

 

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