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VOLUNTARY GUIDES - BACKGROUNDER Number 22 Issue # 2 July 2012

A document prepared by the Australian War Memorial in March 1999 as a training resource for the

Discovery Room Volunteers

Peter Hugonnet

T H E D I S C O V E R Y R O O M - 1

1 DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION The Bathurst Class Corvette – Australian Mine Sweeper (AMS) – was based on the design for the British ‘Bangor’ class minesweeper. Sixty ships were built (four for the Indian Navy), in eight shipyards around Australia. It was the largest construction program ever undertaken by the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). All the ships were named after Australian regional cities or towns. The basic corvette design was: • length 186ft; • breadth 31ft; and • displacement 680 tons; Once commissioned, each corvette was adapted according to the needs or resources of its crew. Consequently they were varied quite a lot in details such as whether the bridge was covered or open. This is of assistance in the Discovery Room, because it means no-one should expect us to perfectly reproduce an exact corvette! The standard complement was four officers, six chief and petty officers and 50 ratings. Corvettes were often used to train new officers.

2 WARTIME SERVICE Corvettes were the work-horses of the RAN. They were designed to be built quickly in shipyards unfamiliar with naval construction, and to perform a wide variety of functions. These included escort, troop transport, anti-submarine and minesweeping duties, hydrographic survey, and occasionally bombardment in support of ground operations. 2.1 Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean The first corvettes sent overseas were HMA Ships Bathurst and Lismore. They left Darwin on 20 March 1941, to join the British Eastern Fleet at Colombo. Lismore did not return to Australia until December 1944, making it the longest overseas-serving RAN ship in the Second World War. Lismore and Bathurst spent several months in the Red Sea, before being sent to the Mediterranean where major battles were taking place. However their armament was considered so poor that they were sent back to the Red Sea. They then joined the Aden-Bombay-Colombo escort force. Other corvettes progressively joined Lismore and Bathurst in the Indian Ocean, to help convoy merchant ships against the escalating German U-boat threat. By 30 June 1943, there were 13 Australian corvettes serving with the British Eastern Fleet.

Corvette, HMAS Ballarat. AWM 300334.


The Allied success in North Africa during 1943 enabled the Royal Navy to open up the Mediterranean route for ships. Escort ships and minesweepers were needed and eight Australian corvettes were transferred from Colombo to Alexandria. After the collapse of Italy, these eight corvettes gradually returned to the Indian Ocean. They were based at Colombo, convoying ships against the German and Japanese submarines working out of Penang. In early 1944 the Indian Ocean was the worst area in the world for Allied shipping. 2.2 Singapore Seven corvettes took up station in Singapore between June 1941 and January 1942. Initially life in Singapore was a largely uneventful routine of eight day anti-submarine patrols followed by four days leave. After Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbour, the corvettes took on the tasks of minesweeping, escorting and defending convoys against enemy aircraft and submarines, picking up survivors from sinking ships, and eventually evacuating troops and civilians from Singapore and Java. HMAS Burnie evacuated Commodore John A. Collins, Commodore Commanding China Force, and his staff from Java to Fremantle. HMAS Wollongong was the last Australian warship to leave Singapore, and HMAS Ballarat was the last British warship to leave Java. By March 10, after 92 days of war with Japan, all seven corvettes had returned safely to Fremantle harbour. 2.3 Australian waters Seven corvettes also served in the waters close to Australia. HMA Ships Deloraine, Katooomba and Lithgow had early success against two Japanese submarines, destroying I-124, one of Japan’s 2000 ton minelayers. Unfortunately, HMAS Katoomba later collided with a 13,000 ton American tanker, during a severe tropical storm. Katoomba made it back to Darwin, and was still in a floating dry dock there when the Japanese attacked. Despite being a perfect target, Katoomba escaped harm. In 1942 and early 1943 the threat to Australian shipping from Japanese submarines was intermittent. Most of the time, the Japanese submarines were supporting their fleet elsewhere, but in May 1942 three midget submarines made it into Sydney Harbour. Shells were also fired on Sydney and Newcastle. From April 1943 the Japanese submarine activities along Australia’s east coast escalated considerably. From April to June, Five I-class submarines patrolled the coast between Bundaberg (Queensland) and Gabo-Island (Victoria/NSW border), with moderate success. The submarine campaign eventually ended in October 1943. By then 12 Japanese submarines had sunk 18 ships (totalling 79,608 tons). Fifteen other vessels were attacked without being sunk, some damaged quite seriously. A total of 605 lives were lost including the 19 killed when HMAS Kuttabul was sunk by one of the midget submarines in Sydney Harbour. In northern waters corvettes were escorting Australian troops to various destinations, and later performing more dangerous evacuations and withdrawals.


During one of these operations, off Timor, HMAS Armidale was attacked and sunk by Japanese bombers. Ten of Armidale’s crew and 37 of the Dutch soldiers on board were killed in the action and 53 men drowned. [An interesting story worth reading more about.] In late 1942 Australian and American forces began to take the offensive in the south-west Pacific, and the corvettes often found themselves closely involved. They undertook surveying and advanced scouting in largely uncharted waters, attacked enemy submarines and planes, transported troops and supplies, towed ships off reefs, and provided hot meals for stranded soldiers. 2.4 End of the war By late 1944, the submarine threat in the Indian Ocean declined considerably. Penang had become untenable as a submarine base and the Germans needed to concentrate their submarines in Europe. Corvettes stationed in the Indian Ocean therefore returned to Australia, becoming part of an enlarged 21st and 22nd Minesweeping Flotilla attached to the British Pacific Fleet. Many Australian POWs and internees were recovered by the corvettes as the Japanese surrender approached. Corvettes were part of the vast armada in Leyte Gulf in October 1944 prior to the invasion of the Philippines, and at Tarakan and Balikpapan during the Borneo campaign in early 1945. Corvettes took part in the surrender of the Japanese at Rabaul, and at Koepang in Timor. In the final stages of the British Pacific Fleet’s advance, the 21st Minesweeping Flotilla was given the task of sweeping the approaches to Hong Kong, and so HMA Ships Mildura and Bathurst were among the first to enter Hong Kong Harbour. Ipswich, Pirie, Ballarat and Cessnock were present at the Japanese surrender in Tokyo Bay. 2.5 After the war It took 12 months before all corvettes were back in home waters. Their final task was to sweep Australia’s defensive minefield, an enormous undertaking begun in 1944 and two years in completion. Tragically, HMAS Warrnambool struck one of the mines with the loss of four crew. After the war many of the now surplus corvettes were sold. Purchasers included the Chinese, Royal Netherland, and Turkish navies. Two corvettes are preserved as museums – Castlemaine alongside a wharf in Williamstown (Victoria) and Whyalla on dry land in Whyalla (South Australia). Most, however, ended their days in Asian and Japanese scrapyards.

Corvette, HMAS Kiama, passing the volcano South Daughter in Blanche Bay, Rabaul, 10 October 1945. Kiama was one of the escort vessels for troops occupying the Rabaul area after the Japanese surrender. AWM 096261.


3 WEAPONS AND ARMAMENTS 3.1 Firepower Corvette armaments varied throughout the war. The first corvette (HMAS Bathurst) had only one four inch gun of First World War vintage, and two Vickers machine guns. When a better armament and radar was later installed, the ship became very top heavy and the top of the funnel was taken off to reduce the weight. Later corvettes were given shorter funnels, which resulted in more fumes on the bridge. The low angle of fire from the 4” gun on early vessels was ideal against submarines, but ineffectual against aircraft, so a 12 pounder AA gun was used. From mid-43 a new 4” high angle/low angle gun with a more rapid rate of fire was introduced on some vessels. Secondary armaments also varied. Early corvettes had 2 pounder pom poms or 20mm Oerlikons but by the end of the war some corvettes had been supplied with the much more effective 40mm Bofors AA guns. 3.2 Minesweeping Corvettes were fitted with gear to protect against moored mines, and those under Royal Navy command were also fitted with equipment for magnetic mines and and acoustic mines. Australian corvettes, however, operated more often as convoy escorts and combat vessels than as minesweepers. Vessels commissioned after 1943 dispensed with their mine-sweeping gear and placed emphasis on the anti-submarine role including depth charge throwers. 3.3 Sensors Initially corvettes were not equipped with radar, so detected submarines by: • Direct vision aided by binoculars. • ASDIC (equipment developed by the Allied-Submarine Detection Investigation

Committee). Used to locate a submerged submarine, by the direction and return time of a sound echo. Effective only within a radius of approx. 1.5km and affected by underwater obstructions such as fish shoals, tidal disturbances and variations in water temperatures.

• Radio Direction Finding (RDF). Only useful if the submarine broke radio silence. Often the quickest way to locate a submarine was to race back down the trail of a torpedo, but this was obviously not an optimal strategy. Radar was installed in corvettes from mid-1943, enabling the detection of a surface object, including a surfaced submarine or its periscope, well beyond normal vision. Unfortunately, as with the ‘Hedgehog’ and ‘Squid’ weapons (see diagram below), radar came too late for the peak of Japanese submarine activity.


3.4 ASDIC equipment ASDIC is a sonar (SOund NAvigation Ranging) device which involves transmitting a sound beam through the water. The sound beam bounces back to the ship if it hits an object (such as a submarine). 3.4.1 ASDIC operation The ASDIC operator directs the sound beam in front of the ship, beginning with the direction of 80 degrees to starboard. The beam is then directed in progressive intervals of 5 or 10 degrees until reaching dead ahead, and repeated from 80 degrees to port, again in 5 or 10 degree intervals, until reaching dead ahead (see handout for diagram). The sound is created by imposing an electric current on to the piezo-electric plate, causing the plate to oscillate at its particular frequency. The resultant sound beam can be directed as a quite narrow band which fans out as it moves. When the sound hits an object it bounces back to the transmitter/receiver device. This converts the sound back into an electric current, which is transmitted on to a paper roll impregnated with a sensitive product (usually salt or iodine). The mark made on the paper indicates the range or distance of the object from the transmitter/receiver. The transmitted sound is quite audible to the operator. If no object is hit, the sound fades away gradually. If there is an object, the operator hears the echo.

Diagrams illustrating some of the different weapons used on corvettes later in the war.


Normally the machine which records the sound is switched off. Once the operator hears the echo, he switches the recorder on, and it indicates the submarine’s distance from the ship. When the submarine is coming toward the ship, the pitch of the sound echo is higher than the transmitted beam. This is known as ‘high doppler’. When the submarine is moving away from the ship, the pitch of the sound echo is lower than the transmitted beam. This is known as ‘low doppler’. 3.4.2 Closing on a submarine A typical scenario in a contact with a submarine would be: • Operator reports ‘echo bearing green 30’ (i.e. echo from object at 30 degrees to

starboard) ‘range 1500 metres, doppler high/low’. • Officer Of the Watch (OOW) orders alteration of course towards the echo. • Speed may be increased. • Captain is called. • Action Stations alarm bell pressed, crew proceed to their stations. • Telegraphs manned. • Captain’s on wheel. • Operator continues to report range and direction. • Order to drop depth charges given on bridge, transmitted by voice pipe to quarter deck

for firing. As the ship approaches the submarine, the interval between transmission and echo shortens. When the transmission and echo coincide, the ship is just about over the submarine. Judging the submarine’s location at close range is assisted by the transmitter/receiver picking up engine noise. When the operator judges the ship is over the submarine, he directs the transmitter astern. Sweeps are conducted astern while the ship continues in the same direction, then as the ship turns back towards the sub for another attack, the transmitter is returned to the forward direction. The ship does not necessarily know whether it has hit the submarine, so several approaches are made. Despite the millions of bubbles and occasional other objects, a skilled ASDIC operator is able to distinguish a submarine echo from other interference. 3.4.3 Attacking a submarine Corvettes were equipped with depth charges, and much later in the war a ‘hedgehog’ weapon, comprised of a dozen small mines in an oval pattern. The hedgehog was fired ahead of the ship, at the moment when the crew calculated the missiles would hit the submarine. The depth charges could be set to explode under water pressure at certain depths.


4 NAVAL COMMUNICATIONS Orders and information must be passed rapidly, accurately, and where possible securely, between ships, aircraft and shore establishments. An efficient system of communications is therefore vital. 4.1 History of signalling Before the Napoleonic wars signalling was performed by sail movements, firing guns, and displaying flags in various positions. The codes used were privately compiled and printed, limited in scope and use. In 1780 Admiral Kempenfelt devised a code using numeral flags and a small number of special flags and pennants, by which several hundreds of different signals could be made. Semaphore signalling was intriduced in 1795, using of a screen of six shutters operated to give numerous combinations. Initially it was used to communicate over land via a chain of signal stations. A revised system using arm movements was adopted in 1816, and on a clear day using this method, a message could travel from London to Plymouth in ten minutes. Morse code revolutionised signalling on land with the introduction of the electro-magnetic recording telegraph. Visual Morse code signalling dominated communication at sea from the 1860s until 1905. Shutters and flags were used to send messages during the day, and lamps were used at night. In 1905 wireless telegraphy emerged from early experiments into practical use. This had an enormous impact on naval communications. Prior to the wireless a ship at sea and beyond visual range, was entirely cut off from outside communication except by dispatch vessel. By the Second World War communication was increasingly carried out by wireless. However, visual signalling remained a vital part of naval communications because it was much less likely to be intercepted. 4.2 Second World War visual signalling 4.2.1 Pyrotechnics and panels. Used mainly as an emergency means of communications and for identification purposes. 4.2.2 Coloured lights. Displayed in accordance with the pre-arranged code to convey information, or for identification purposes. 4.2.3 Flashing light. A method of transmitting Morse code visually. A directional light is used to communicate with a single ship, and a non-directional light with several ships. It is a most suitable method of passing messages between ships in close company by day or night.


4.2.4 Semaphore A rapid means of passing messages over short distances during daylight. The different semaphore signs are made by moving one or two hand-flags so that they form various angles. It is essential for communication accuracy that angles be formed correctly. When transmitting to another station the sender must always stand in a conspicuous position and choose a plain, light-coloured background, the best example of which is a skyline. 4.2.5 Flag Signalling This involves the use of flags and pennants displayed from halyards and is employed by ships and shore stations. It is limited to daylight use and to comparatively short distances. The flags and pennants used in naval signalling include both International Code designs, for: • Alphabetical flags • Numerical pennants • Substitutes and special designs used by the Royal, Commonwealth and Allied Navies: • Numeral flags • Special flags • Special pennants • Fourth substitute. Each flag and pennant is allocated a meaning, which may vary according to whether it is hoisted at sea or in harbour. Two or more flags may form a group, also allocated a meaning. These meanings are known as a ‘signal code’, and can be determined by: • International Code (used in the Discovery Room); or • special codes of the Navy at the time. Naval code is used by warships, the International code is used by all water craft and between warships and merchant ships. Naval codes are published in (restricted) code books. Unfortunately we have been unable to locate a Second World War code book for use in the Discovery Room. Flags and pennants are preferable to radio communication in many situations, for example where: • maintaining radio silence is necessary; • radio frequencies vary between ships; • crews from different countries need to communicate in a common language; and • instant confirmation is required that a message was received.


5 LIFE ON A CORVETTE 5.1 Experiences of Doug Blake and Geoff Taylor The following are exerpts from an interview with Doug Blake and Geoff Taylor, who served on corvettes during the Second World War. Interview conducted by Graham Clews of the Australian War Memorial, July 1998. Edited by Graham Clews and Georgina Binks. Geoff and Bill became officers aboard HMAS Cowra while they were still in their teens. At one point, after transfers of crew, most of the junior officers were under twenty years of age: (Doug) The age group of the officers dropped dramatically. I was eighteen, Geoff was eighteen or nineteen, the ASDIC officer was about the same age…the First Lieutenant officer – he was getting on – he must have been in his thirties and the Captain he must have been in his late thirties early forties because he had grey hair and I wrote to my mother ‘Mum, you should see the Captain, I’ve never seen anyone so old!’. Their duties included censoring all out-going mail, including personal letters written by men many years their senior: It was a hateful job that none of us enjoyed ... Most of us tried to overcome it by folding the letter down and trying to read only one half of it so that you got a flavour of whether there was anything that shouldn’t have been in it or not ... it was fairly obvious quickly just by looking at the pattern of words whether there was anything untoward. Brief periods of R and R featured impromptu water polo competitions between ships, and the Cowra’s team was one of the best in the region. A man alsways stood on deck with a rifle to deal with sharks, understandable given this recollection of a game in Langemak Bay: (Doug) We swam from our ship to, I think the Bendigo it might have been, we swam a quarter of a mile or whatever it was to play and then when we finished we swam back again. And we subsequently discovered that it was just off Langemak that Zane Grey [famous American author and fanatical fisherman] caught one of his biggest sharks. But even the water polo was impacted by the war: Way up north of New Guinea we challenged the Australia just a couple of weeks before she went into Leyte and we gave them a very good hiding ... that was my very last recollection of a few of my midshipman friends who had been sent from their corvettes to the Australia – a thing I was always terrified of happening to me – and they didn’t know they only had a few weeks to live because some of them were killed in that first big stoush up their in the Philippines. ... one fellow was just nineteen – nineteen – because I went to his nineteenth birthday just before they sailed. On the atomic bomb: (Doug) I was with the beachgroup down at Balikpapan. I recall I was duty officer when the first bomb went off and all hell broke out down in the lines because sailors thought the war was over ... when we got the news that this little bomb had done so much damage we all laughed and thought this was a real Goebbel’s job, they were trying to con us and it wasn’t until the second one went off that we really believed it.


Corvettes were often overcrowded, because of the addition of new equipment and the need to train junior officers. ... just one thing was radar, for which they hadn’t originally been designed, required radar mechanic and radar operators and that meant more people. And as far as junior officers – midshipmen – were concerned they just had to get the training, the numbers were coming and they were looking to give them experience before they got into perhaps more responsible positions... Corvettes were numerically the most obvious place to post junior sailors. On postings: There was no volunteering or anything. ... The appointments came out of the blue. I have no idea how the appointments were made, it just happened. We knew when we did the junior officers general service course we would be posted to corvettes either as gunnery officers of ASDIC officers – whichever one we had specialised in. (Geoff) The pattern in corvettes was often a refit in Sydney or Melbourne – in my experience anyway – a year or almost a year in northern waters and then back for a refit and during that year there were changes [to the crew] but not very many changes – usually during the refit there would be more substantial numbers of changes. Role of the Captain: (Geoff) at sea the Captain really lived in his cabin or on the bridge. He was isolated, or isolated himself I suppose, in that very limited area and I think he felt he always had to be close to the bridge if their were any need. …Thinking back now it occurs to me he really bore a very great responsibility because so many of us had so little experience before joining these ships in wartime. The crew were allocated divisional officers to whom they could go with problems: (Geoff) As Divisonal Officer we would get all sorts of things personal problems people had and things that were happening at home and worrying them, sometimes their interactions with other members of the crew and so on ... we tried to head off and find solutions for before they became real problems. In my experience I met very very few people who were really very unhappy or couldn’t make a good go of it. Most people were young and took things as they found them and most found it easy to fit in. Relationship between officers and crew: (Geoff) There was of course a demarcation between officers and crew for ordinary discipline reasons that had to be maintained but it was maintained with a degree of relaxation and without a great pointedness about differences in rank. (Geoff) Cruisers were very different I’m sure ... my short visits to cruisers made me think it was very much like a large shore establishment ... the relationship was still good but more distant, not quite the same feeling of comraderie and might almost say friendship or being linked in a common cause that kind of feeling. (Doug) There was a sailor on board ... I had known he and his brother in civilian life pretty well and on one occasion when I was a midshipman and went ashore and this fellow said I might see you and we could go and have a beer ... So I met up with this fellow and his off-sider and we went to a dance or somewhere and came back on board and the next thing I


know I’m up before the Captain and apparently the engineering officer had got wind of this and I was given a dressing down by the Captain for going ashore with someone from the lower deck and it was not right for me to do that despite my peace time friendship ... It was a bit of a lesson for me, I was a bit hot under the collar at being told this but I understood what they were saying. Shipboard routine: (Geoff) My standing watch was mid-day to four pm and midnight to 4 am and we did this day in day out and I got what sleep I could before and after this midnight shift and during the day. We had other responsibilities, we had all the weapons and the maintenance of the guns and that side of things as far as I was concerned, also the depth charges, the depth charge throwers and there was also certain patterns of maintenance that had to carried out and a certain amount of bookwork that was associated with that and I was also responsible for the vitalling and the bookkeeping for the provisions of the ship. Provisions: (Geoff) When I first joined Cowra the balance for each lower deck person was tenpence per day and that had to provide enough food for these young and healthy sailors ... After some time we got very heavily in debt, the amount went up to one and threepence a day and we were still some way in debt, but as that overspending had occurred we had to balance the books and that meant we had to do without. ... I remember on one occasion we went to get provisions from an American supply ship and they supplied us with what was their standard rations for so many people for such a length of time but when in fact the bill came in we couldn’t afford to eat most of it because it had things like Turkey in it. It would certainly have gone down well but we couldn’t afford to do this because despite the rigours of war the book-keeping had to go on and the books had to be balanced. ... This occupied an unreasonable amount of time. 5.2 Experiences of other returned sailors From ‘Audio cassette: CORVETTES memories from returned sailors’. Maybe from the AWM collection, or Little ships for big men? Edited by Graham Clews (?) and Georgina Binks. Joining up: At the training camp at Rushcutters Bay they were fully kitted out and fitted for uniforms. They learnt to respect and fear their superiors and those who had been enrolled for longer than them. They were drilled and disciplined and given general Naval training. If their parents had signed over permission for them to join the Navy then their parents also had to sign a letter for shore leave. This could have taken several days/weeks. Life at sea: The ships were very cramped with 80 – 96 men on board. Every morning the sailors had to roll up their hammocks and put them in a bin to create more space. The crew ate, read, and wrote at the same tables there was limited space so they used to go on deck and sunbake and play deck games dressed in little more than shorts. Many sailors chose to sleep on deck during the day because it was too hot below deck. Some ships were so crowded the young or new sailors had to sleep on the deck, this was good in the heat but horrible when it rained.


Sea sickness: Sea sickness was not a problem for some while for others it was so bad that they had to be transferred to a shore posting. The corvettes were not built for rough seas and they swayed a lot. Sometimes the corvette were tossed around so much that it would bury its nose in a wave and the tail would pop out, while at other times the ship would sway from one life boat on the port side to the other lifeboats on the starboard side. The sailors however, considered the corvettes much more comfortable than a destroyer. Watches: The usual closed watch was four hours long with four hours off. A cruising watch lasted for four hours with eight hours off. The day started at midnight and the watches usually rotated but some ships preferred a system where a watchmen watched the same hours every time. Some of the seamen and stokers rotated positions on their watch to reduce the monotony. Convoys: The convoys had various destinations along the Pacific and into the Persian Gulf. Occasionally the ships ran low on fuel and they tossed coins to decide who would go on. At other times there were great feats of ingenuity. Three recollections from sailors: While fishing for mines a wire twisted around the screws (propellers) and stopped the boat. A stoker dived into the water, with no diving equipment, armed only with a saw and tried to cut the wire. Meanwhile on the boat the crew, armed with guns, kept an eye out for sharks. The stoker eventually cut the wire through after around six hours. A ship in a convoy near Alexandria was torpedoed. It carried 1600. The ship the sailor was on pulled 400 out of the water. Nearly all had injuries of various degrees but some were dead or dying and there was nothing the sailors could do for them. An attack on the Japanese in an enclosed harbour was a great success so they decided to repeat the attack the following night. They went into the harbour and suddenly there were flashes in the jungle. The Japanese had brought in 75mm artillery and they were attacking the ship. One shell hit the quarter-deck and killed two while another one hit the water line of the engine room. The engine room began to flood and they evacuated the room leaving the engines on full. The bulkhead was reinforced and the ship got out of the harbour to safety. Food: Food on the corvettes depended greatly on the cook. The meat the cooks called mutton was usually goat and goat did not cook very well. Some cooks however, could make Bully Beef taste good. The tropics, with lack of food and water, caused a variety of health problems. End of the war The sailors remember the dropping of Thermal Nuclear Bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. They remember thinking that it was a shockingly powerful bomb and that the POW’s near the cities would have been saved from torture. The demobbing happened soon after VJ Day [Victory over Japan]. The men with wives and children went first and then the bachelors. Many had no regrets and cherished the friendships they made. They felt they were far better men for having served and survived and also felt fortunate to have lived through such a difficult and challenging time. They had a great sense of community: ‘The boys, all together’.


5.3 Extracts from Corvettes: Little Ships for Big Men A memorable storm “All the crew will remember this crossing for its wildness. Most will recall the sickening lurch and bash as the ship slid down the waves like a surfboat to drive its bow into the next wave. They will recall hearing the water rushing across the deck above and waiting for the ship to lift to climb the next crest all over again. Along with many, I expect, I often waited, wondering whether the ship would lift or whether it would continue down and never come up. Even in their sleep, crew members were alert. I remember seeing their legs coming over the sides of their hammocks at such moments, to be pulled back in as the ship lifted.” “To go to the bridge was a relief. There I would breathe some fresh air, get some shelter and get away form the swirling debris. I could see what the ship was doing, although seeing the sea and the gigantic waves did not bring much comfort. There was nothing for the duty signalman to do, as there were no other ships with us. Apart from the helmsman and the officer of the watch, the bridge crew did nothing but stand and look – in some trepidation on my part. The helmsman was kept busy by trying to keep the bows into the waves, difficult at any time but nigh impossible then.” “The spray flies up in whipping pellets. It bites into the faces and finds every crack. Oilskins may keep it out for a while but the water soon leaks in. The wetness spreads down the necks and trickles down stomachs and beyond. Boots fill and squelch. Everything fills and it is cold and clammy.” “[The water’s] last barrier is the bridge structure itself. It thuds against the square-fronted steel and the shudder is there again. Sometimes the water batters great dents in the steel platings between the frames. It squirts under pressure through the scuttles and portholes. The little jets and rivulets wet everything within their reach so that it seems just as wet inside as outside. The swirling water on deck spills down onto the break of the forecastle and washes down to soak everything in its path. It finally spills in feet-deep torrent out through the scuppers. Nobody dares to move in its path. Bridge windows rattle angrily under pressure of the water mass and jets squirt though around them to the helmsman and chart table. Everything gets wetter and wetter.” Conditions in the tropics “Even when the weather was benign in the tropics, corvettes were like ovens. In the boiler-room the temperature would get to 140°F. Stokers had to munch salt pills to make up for the sweat that poured out of them and when their watch ended they would throw themselves on the deck and shipmates would throw buckets of water over them to revive them. In the officers’ quarters, immediately under the iron quarter-deck, the temperature was well over 100°F, night and day.” “Nearly everybody had skin trouble – tropical ulcers, ugly, itchy rashes and prickly heat which sent waves of pin-pricks over the whole body. And at the back of everybody’s mind was the grim knowledge that if they were captured by the Japanese – and that was always a possibility, because corvettes had to operate close inshore in territory occupied by the Japanese – they could not expect the reasonably humane treatment they would get from the Italians or the Germans. They knew the Japanese beheaded prisoners, but that was preferable, to toughen their own soldiers.” “There were, however, some magic moments in the tropics. Sometimes at night the sea was the same grey-black as the sky, so there was no horizon. The stars were reflected in the


mirror of the sea, so that the ship seemed to be gliding through the bowl of the twinkling lights. There were nights when the stars were so bright that the sailors felt they could reach up and touch them. There were nights when the only sound was the crunch and crackle of the bow-wave as the ship rose and fell on the gentle swell. On nights like those it was easy to forget about hitting a mine or being torpedoed or being bombed or meeting an enemy warship that could blow a corvette to bits.” Discipline and officers “In larger ships, with crews numbering several hundred, there was room to take up the slack for any slip-ups, but not in corvettes. Knowing that the ship’s very existence depended on every single man imposed its own special sort of discipline that did not need bugles splitting the air or petty officers barking orders. This in turn produced a mateship among the sailors, so that they always looked after each other.” “In contrast to the ratings, who had very little or no privacy, officers in corvettes had too much and led lonely lives. There were only five – the captain, first lieutenant, gunnery officer, anti-submarine officer and engineer officer. In accordance with naval practice, the captain kept pretty much to himself. He even dined alone in his cabin – he could not dine with his officers in the wardroom unless invited, and invitations were not always offered or for that matter accepted. At sea, the captain was either on the bridge or in his cabin, directly below the bridge. The engineer officer spent most of his time at sea in the engine-room. Of the other three officers, one was the officer of the watch on the bridge, one had just come off watch and was catching up on sleep and the third was trying to finish off his bookwork – filling in forms, preparing reports or censoring letters – before going on watch himself.”


6 CORVETTE TRIVIA • The first corvette to be commissioned was HMAS Bathurst. Thereafter in keeping

with tradition, all corvettes were called ‘Bathurst class’ minesweepers.

• When one shipyard in Queensland could not get tallow to grease the slipway for a launching, they used bananas!

• HMAS Latrobe and HMAS Armidale were both launched by a man. Corvettes at Morts Dock in Sydney had to be launched at short notice, because it needed to be done while the dry dock next door was unoccupied – a rare and unpredictable occurence. As a result it was impossible to organise a distinguished lady for the occasion, but the Navy insisted on ceremony. In these two instances, the nearby Anglican clergyman at Balmain was called upon.

• The corvettes were smaller than the Manly ferries on Sydney Harbour.

• The corvettes cost 250,000 pounds each to build.

• While searching the waters off Singapore, HMAS Ballarat rescued (among others) Pilot Officer John Grey Gorton, who later became Prime Minister of Australia.

• HMAS Lithgow was one of the vessels which rescued survivors from the Hospital ship Centaur, sunk by a Japanese submarine in May 1943. The Lithgow’s captain’s sister was one of 12 nurses aboard the Centaur, and one of the 268 people who died in the incident.

• HMAS Ipswitch contributed ten men to the guard of honour for the visit of King George VI to Tripoli in June 1943.

• Three corvettes were lost during the war, all within Australian waters. HMAS Wallaroo sank after a collision with the American Liberty ship Henry Gilbert Costin off Fremantle in July 1942. HMAS Armidale was sunk by Japanese aircraft in the Timor Sea in December 1942. HMAS Geelong sank after a collision with the American tanker York, in October 1944.

• A corvette arrived at Leyte in the Philippines with instructions to deliver important documents to a ship. As it searched for the correct ship amidst the vast American armada, one of the giant aircraft carriers signalled to it, ‘Are you lost little one? Come alongside me and I will hoist you up on my davits’.

• Of the 70 warships in the Australian Fleet at the end of the war, 53 were corvettes.

• HMAS Latrobe conducted one of the longest tows of the Second World War, taking two air/sea rescue boats 3000 km from Townsville to Moratai.

• HMAS Mildura steamed 209,132 miles during the war. This is more than 10 times around the world at the equator.

• In total, corvettes steamed more than 12,000,000 kilometres during the war.


7 APPENDICES 7.1 Corvettes listed alphabetically

Ship name Launch date Ship name Launch Date Ararat 20 February 1943 Horsham 16 May 1942 Armidale 23 January 1942 Inverell 2 May 1942 Ballarat 10 December 1940 Ipswich (I) 11 August 1941 Bathurst 1 August 1940 Junee 16 November 1943 Benalla 19 December 1942 Kalgoorlie 7 August 1941 Bendigo (I) 1 March 1941 Kapunda 23 June 1942 Bowen 11 July 1942 Katoomba 16 April 1941 Broome 6 October 1942 Kiama 9 July 1943 Bunbury 16 May 1942 Latrobe 19 June 1942 Bundaberg 1 December 1941 Launceston (I) 30 June 1941 Burnie 25 October 1940 Lismore 30 Jun 1940 Cairns 7 October 1941 Lithgow 21 December 1940 Castlemaine 7 August 1941 Maryborough 17 October 1940 Cessnock(I) 15 October 1941 Mildura 15 March 1941 Colac 30 August 1941 Parkes 30 October 1943 Cootamundra 3 December 1942 Pirie 3 December 1941 Cowra 27 May 1943 Rockhampton 26 June 1941 Deloraine 26 July 1941 Shepparton 15 August 1942 Dubbo (I) 7 March 1942 Stawell 3 April 1942 Echuca 17 November 1941 Strahan 12 July 1943 Fremantle (I) 15 August 1942 Tamworth 14 March 1942 Gawler (I) 4 October 1941 Toowoomba 26 March 1941 Geelong (I) 22 April 1941 Townsville (I) 13 May 1941 Geraldton (I) 16 August 1941 Wagga 25 July 1942 Gladstone (I) 26 November 1942 Wallaroo 23 June 1942 Glenelg (I) 22 August 1942 Warnambool (I) 8 April 1941 Goulburn 16 December 1940 Whyalla (I) 12 May 1941 Gympie 30 January 1942 Wollongong (I) 5 July 1941


7.2 Corvettes listed by launch date Corvettes were launched as ‘shells’. It could be many months later before they were commissioned and ready for action.

Ship name Launch date Ship name Launch date Lismore 30 June 1940 Bundaberg 1 December 1941 Bathurst 1 August 1940 Pirie 3 December 1941 Maryborough 17 October 1940 Armidale 23 January 1942 Burnie 25 October 1940 Gympie 30 January 1942 Ballarat 10 December 1940 Dubbo (I) 7 March 1942 Goulburn 16 December 1940 Tamworth 14 March 1942 Lithgow 21 December 1940 Stawell 3 April 1942 Bendigo (I) 1 March 1941 Inverell 2 May 1942 Mildura 15 March 1941 Bunbury 16 May 1942 Toowoomba 26 March 1941 Horsham 16 May 1942 Warnambool (I) 8 April 1941 Latrobe 19 June 1942 Katoomba 16 April 1941 Kapunda 23 June 1942 Geelong (I) 22 April 1941 Wallaroo 23 June 1942 Whyalla (I) 12 May 1941 Bowen 11 July 1942 Townsville (I) 13 May 1941 Wagga 25 July 1942 Rockhampton 26 June 1941 Fremantle (I) 15 August 1942 Launceston (I) 30 June 1941 Shepparton 15 August 1942 Wollongong (I) 5 July 1941 Glenelg (I) 22 August 1942 Deloraine 26 July 1941 Broome 6 October 1942 Castlemaine 7 August 1941 Gladstone (I) 26 November 1942 Kalgoorlie 7 August 1941 Cootamundra 3 December 1942 Ipswich (I) 11 August 1941 Benalla 19 December 1942 Geraldton (I) 16 August 1941 Ararat 20 February 1943 Colac 30 August 1941 Cowra 27 May 1943 Gawler (I) 4 October 1941 Kiama 9 July 1943 Cairns 7 October 1941 Strahan 12 July 1943 Cessnock (I) 15 October 1941 Parkes 30 October 1943 Echuca 17 November 1941 Junee 16 November 1943


7.3 Corvettes sunk or damaged

(Not necessarily a complete list) ARMIDALE: Sunk 1 December 1942, off Timor. BALLARAT: Ran aground 24 May 1942. Involved in collision with HMS WHIMBREL,

20 June 1945. BROOME: Ran aground on trials in Brisbane 25 May 1944, causing slight damage to

propeller. Involved in collision with HMAS AUSTRALIA in Seeadler Harbour on 6 July 1944. Starboard propeller damaged.

BOWEN: Touched Arlington Reef, 30 October 1943. Propeller and tail shaft

damaged. BUNBURY: Damaged by accidentally dropped depth charge, 12 November 1943, off

Fitzroy Island. Ran aground on Cape Cretin, 10 April 1944 but undamaged. Involved in collision with HM SUBMARINE SEA ROVER in Gage Roads, Fremantle on 17 December 1944, slightly damaged.

BURNIE: Grounded aft in Tanja harbour, 30 January 1943. Rammed by ML1079 on

26 August 1944, Bombay. CAIRNS: Ran aground in Port Adelaide, September 1945, due to steering defect. No

damage. CASTLEMAINE: In collision with Manly ferry, Sydney Harbour, 11 August 1942. Ran

aground on Tamboona Island, 20 March 1943. CESSNOCK: Damaged in collision with Dhow in Red Sea, 8 May 1943. COLAC: Grounded on Nateara Reef during salvage operation, 26 March 1943.

Damaged by shellfire off Choiseul Island, 26 April 1945. DELORAINE: Damaged in air raid on Darwin, 19 February 1942. In collision with HMAS

GIPPSLAND, Sydney, 7 May 1944. Ran aground Moratai harbour, 25 October 1944.

DUBBO: Slightly damaged in collision with US Submarine, Fremantle,

19 August 1944. FREMANTLE: Slightly damaged in collision with HAMS WILCANNIA 27 July 1944,

Thursday Island. GEELONG: Slightly damaged in collision with Aase Maersk, Brisbane,

11 November 1942. Sunk in collision with American tanker York off Madang, 18 October 1944.

GERALDTON: In collision with American tanker New London in Persian Gulf,

7 December 1943.


GLADSTONE: Grounded with eight ships of convoy on 18 December 1943 on

Bougainville Reef, in Great Barrier Reef. Refloated and proceeded to Brisbane for repairs.

GOULBURN: Slight damage following collision with US Army tug, Finschhafen,

2 September 1944. GYMPIE: Slight damage in collision with SS TULLAHOMA, Darwin,

9 November 1945. KATOOMBA: Rammed by American tanker Pecos off Darwin, 21 January 1942. Towed

to Darwin for repairs. MILDURA: Rammed by SS BERWICKSHIRE, 22 December 1941, off Sydney heads.

Slight damage. PIRIE: Severely damaged, with casualties, during Air attack off Oro Bay, 11 April 1943. STRAHAN: Damaged by mine off Hong Kong, 26 September 1945. WAGGA: In collision with USS KINTORE, Whitsunday Passage, 14 May 1943. WALLAROO: Sunk in collision with American Liberty ship off Fremantle, 11 June 1943. WARRNAMBOOL: Sunk by mine off Queensland coast, 13 September 1947.


8 BIBLIOGRAPHY Walker, F.B. Corvettes – Little Ships for Big Men, Kingfisher Press / Budgewoi NSW, 1995. Admiralty Manual of Seamanship Vol. 1 His Majesty’s stationery Office 1964 8.1 Further reading Nesdale, I. The Corvettes: Forgotten Ships of the Royal Australian Navy, Privately Published, 1982.

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