February 1st - On This Date - Royal Australian Navy

1887

RADM Henry Fairfax, CB, appointed Flag Officer Commanding Australia Station. His flagship was HMS NELSON

1917

The German Government ordered unrestricted submarine warfare against Allied shipping.

SBLT R. S. Dallas, an Australian serving with the RNAS, shot down a German Aviatik aircraft over France. Dallas was flying a Sopwith triplane.

1942

Twenty Australian built corvettes, (or ocean minesweepers), were in commission with the RAN. The 650 ton ships were being launched at the rate of one a month.

1943

Brisbane-based USS Greenling, (submarine), landed a party of Coastwatchers on the east coast of Bougainville.

HMS WELSHMAN, (minelayer), was sunk off Crete. LCDR L. Gellatly, DSC, RAN was serving in the ship when she was lost, but he survived the sinking. He had been awarded the DSC for service in WELSHMAN in 1942 and was later MID for his fortitude and devotion to duty when the vessel was sunk.

The Bathurst class minesweeper, (corvette), HMAS SHEPPARTON, (CMDR C. G. Little, RN), was commissioned at Melbourne. Lady Goudie, (Wife of the Commissioner of Public Works, Victoria), performed the launching ceremony. SHEPPARTON was laid down in Williamstown Dockyard, Melbourne, on 14 November 1941, and launched on 15 August 1942.

The anti-submarine training ship/target ship HMAS BURRA BRA, was commissioned. BURRA BRA was laid down in Mort’s Dock, Sydney, in 1908, as a passenger ferry. She was requisitioned for the RAN on 13 March 1942, and converted for naval service by Poole & Steel Ltd, Sydney.

1952

RADM A. K. Moncrieff, (Flag Officer, Second in Command, Far Eastern Fleet), on board HMS BELFAST, (cruiser), signalled HMAS MURCHISON at the conclusion of the Han River operations in Korea: “I dislike the thought of continuing the war without MURCHISON but I will have to accept it now as a fact. You have been a tower of strength and your good name will always be associated with the infamous Han. No ship could have done better. For fine seamanship and steadiness under fire you have proved yourselves beyond reproach. Good luck in all your sailings and a happy homecoming to you all.”

1962

HMAS COOTAMUNDRA, (minesweeper), was sold out of service for breaking up.

1970

HMAS PERTH (guided missile destroyer), apprehended and boarded a fishing vessel off Phu Quoc Island and escorted it to port for interrogation. The Vietnamese crew claimed it was carrying an offer of surrender from Viet Cong forces.

1974

HMAS CAIRNS, (Shore Establishment in Cairns), was commissioned.

1992

HMAS WOLLONGONG, (patrol boat), apprehended the Indonesian fishing trawler SEKEWAN INDAH, poaching in the Australian fishing zone.