RANCBA REUNION EXPRESSION OF INTEREST

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HMAS YARRA SERVICE

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Queensland Naval Memorial Committee
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Tribute to Aussie Submariners

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NAA Newsletter - Articles about LEEUWIN ans the LEEUWIN Memorial

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THE FAIRMILE ASSOCIATION

FAIRMILE CLASS PATROL BOATS AND KIN SHIPS: A BRIEF HISTORY.

The Fairmiles of the Second World War were the RAN’s first purpose built patrol boats. During this period of hostilities the range and scope of the operations of the wooden construction Fairmiles and their kin ships, Harbour Defence Motor Launches and Air Sea Rescue boats was both numerous, geographically great and diverse.. Known by number and not by name, the fast and manoeuvrable Fairmiles, named after their design establishment, were well armed and served all across the southern Pacific and adjacent waters and in the North Sea, the English Channel. the Mediterranean, around Burma, Canada and on both coasts of Africa.

Fairmiles take their name from the Fairmile Marine Company of Cobham, Surrey which was established behind his cottage by Albert Noel Campbell (later Sir Albert) Macklin who had served in the First World War in the British Army and then the RNVR in small vessels on the Dover Patrol. Anticipating the need for such vessels in the event of war, in the late 1930s he devised a system for the construction of small wooden ships by which parts of vessels were fabricated at sawmills and furniture factories and such like and the assembly completed at small boatyards and yacht builders, thus relieving the pressure on conventional ship builders. He took this concept to the Admiralty in 1939 with a design for a 110 foot hard chine petrol motor powered vessel. While his concept was agreed, and it flourished greatly, his "A” class Fairmile design proved to be not particularly useful and a redesign was taken in hand by Mr W J Holt, Naval Architect and Chief Constructor at the Admiralty.

His design became the highly successful “B” Class Fairmile, of which about 630 were built, or assembled, in 43 British boatyards and in twelve other countries .The Fairmile Company co-ordinated everything from preparing the drawings, placing orders for components with many small manufactories and arranging delivery of these to the many boat assembly enterprises..The first Fairmile was commissioned into the Royal Navy in 1940, and eventually they were used in a much greater number of operations than their initially envisaged anti-submarine role. Their varied service in the near Atlantic, the North Sea, the English Channel and the Mediterranean, including commando raids on Europe highlighted the value of such vessels to the RAN. In early 1942 the Australian Government decided to build Fairmiles in Australia and in November 1942 the first, ML 813, built by Halvorsens on the Parramatta River was commissioned into the RAN and it was the first of 35 to be built in Australia. Twenty of these were built by Concrete Constructions Ltd and eleven by Lars Halvorsen Sons Pty Ltd, both on the Parramatta River, Sydney, and four by Norman Wright and Sons at Bulimba, on the Brisbane River.

The Fairmile “B” class had a round bilge hull, was 112 feet long with a beam of 18 feet, weighed 90 tons full load and had a draught of six feet. Powered by twin US built Hall Scott “Defender” 630 horsepower aviation gasoline fuelled engines, with 2500 gallons of fuel they had a range of 1500 nautical miles at 12 knots and a top speed of 20 knots. The Admiralty arranged for the RN and the Commonwealth navies to have the entire production of this engine from the Hall Scott Company throughout the war, under the terms of the Lend- Lease Agreement.

The armament on Fairmiles varied during the war. The original armament was a Rolls Royce single shot two pounder gun forward, two bridge mounted Vickers machine guns with a third amidships, an Oerlikon 20 mm anti-aircraft gun aft and eighteen depth charges, As the war continued the Rolls Royce was replaced by the far more suitable magazine fed Bofors 40mm gun, the midships Vickers by a second Oerlikon and the bridge guns by twin Vickers gas operated air cooled aircraft type machine guns. Most Fairmiles operating around Papua New Guinea equipped themselves with numerous “unofficial” 50 calibre Browning heavy machine guns from wrecked US aircraft with plentiful ammunition available from US Navy and Air Force sources. This increase in armament, every gun being an automatic, gave the boats a very considerable amount of firepower and practically everyone on board had done a gunnery course, official or unofficial. During Action Stations in the writer’s boat, from a crew of seventeen, the only persons not on guns were the CO and the helmsman on the bridge and two men in the engine room.

Living conditions on board were spartan, as most of the hull space was taken up by engines, fuel tanks and magazines. The three officers shared a small wardroom aft, the Petty Officer Motor Mechanic and the Leading Seaman Coxswain shared a tiny cabin and the 12 other ratings had to share a small mess deck for their eating, sleeping and off watch living. There was no cook and cooking was done, largely unwillingly, on a dreadful and inflammable kerosene operated four burner Primus kerosene stove. There were no showers and only three hand-pumped toilets In recognition of the difficult living conditions crews were paid a modest “hard lying allowance” of one shilling per day and whomever could be cajoled into doing the cooking was paid an additional shilling per day for “heat stress”. The concentration of so much avgas and ammunition in a wooden boat always made crewing on board a Fairmile a hazardous occupation.


The Harbour Defence Motor Launches were designed by the Admiralty just before World War 11, originally for protecting shipping in harbours and for patrolling estuaries and shallow coastal waters, but in the event they performed nearly every type of inshore marine operations except patrol harbours. They proved to be as versatile in their role as were the Fairmiles in theirs. 28 HDMLs were commissioned into the RAN; three came from Britain, sixteen from USA and nine were built in conventional boatyards in Australia, in Hobart, Launceston and Birkenhead, South Australia. The Australian built boats were eighty footers and the others seventy two footers. They were diesel powered with a range of 2000 nautical miles at 10 knots. The British and Australian built boats were fitted with an antiquated, (1890s) Hotchkiss single shot low angle three pounder gun forward, an Oerlikon amidships, twin Vickers either side of the bridge and some depth charges.
The US built boats had twin 50 calibre water cooled Brownings forward in lieu of the Hotchkiss and an Oerlikon amidships. This armament largely remained unchanged throughout their wartime life. The nine Australian built boats had a very long post war naval service. HDMLs had a crew of two officers and nine ratings, living in accommodation even more cramped than that of the Fairmiles.

The early air sea rescue boats were mainly requestioned civilian craft or Naval Auxiliary Patrol vessels but in 1944 the RAN ordered twenty 63 foot “Miami” class rescue boats from USA and these were delivered to Sydney in July 1944. They were of wooden construction with twin Hall Scott 630 HP petrol engines giving a top speed of 31.5 knots. They were armed with twin 50 calibre Brownings either side of the bridge but their role was defensive rather than offensive. The crew comprised one officer, usually a Sub Lieutenant and six or seven ratings. One peculiarity was that some had two RAAF air crew Wireless Air Gunners as part of the complement. Unlike the Fairmiles and HDMLs, each was given a name as well as a pendant number, eg HMAS Air Guide, HMAS Air Faith etc. Being rescue specialised, most were stationed near RAAF forward airfields at Darwin, Horn Island, and in New Guinea, New Britain, Bougainville, and the Netherlands East Indies at Morotai and the Halmaheras.

The wartime services of each class of boat in the RAN varied greatly. A few remained stationed on the east and west coasts of Australia, and several were based at Darwin, on operations to Timor but the majority operated around the Papua New Guinea complex of islands ,and the Solomons, Dutch New Guinea (as it was then known), the Halmaheras and Borneo in the Netherlands East Indies and even the Philippines. HDML 1074 (a72 footer) sailed from Manus Island to Leyte, to carry out inshore hydrographic surveys prior to the landings signalling the return of the US forces to the Philippines. It sailed through a typhoon en route, during which a USN destroyer knocked off part of its bow but carried on, arrived at the beaches and performed its duties. It was commanded by Hydrographic Service Lieutenant Stan Robertson RAN who was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for its gallant achievements. It may have been the smallest vessel to have been commanded by a Permanent Service officer of the RAN.

The Fairmiles and HDMLs performed convoy escort work, patrolled enemy waters, bombarded enemy camps and installations, covered Army landings, carried out hydrographic surveys and many other operations in support of the Allied campaigns in the islands. A few had silenced engines and were engaged in covert operations with Allied Intelligence Bureau units such as “Z” Special Force and the Far Eastern Liaison Office, being used to land and recover commandos and coast watchers in enemy territory. With their heavy automatic armament they were highly effective in the gunboat role in supporting Army operations in New Guinea, New Britain and the Solomons.
Two Fairmiles were lost in operations during the war and most of the rest saw very hard service and by the end of the war were quite worn. The RAN’s Fairmiles, HDMLs and ASRs were to be found anywhere and everywhere in the southern Pacific and adjacent seas during the war. On the West Coast of Australia, MLs 812, 824 and 826 and HDMLs 1340 and 1352 were deployed from the East Coast to Fremantle and ML 815, after an eventful period on Darwin-Timor operations, sailed to Fremantle for a refit and remained in operations around Western Australia.

The Fairmile Association is an Australian Ex-Service Organisation (ESO) whose members served in the Fairmile class, Harbour Defence Motor Launches and Air Sea Rescue boats and similar vessels in all of the theatres of operations where RN, RAN and other Commonwealth navies operated. It has members in all States and the ACT and has produced and published two volumes of “Fairmile Ships of the RAN”, a history and narrative of their operations .The Association, following an initiative of the Australian War Memorial has designed a Commemorative Plaque, which is cast in bronze. Plaques have been laid up in Dedication Ceremonies at the Australian War Memorial, Canberra, the Shrine of Remembrance, Melbourne the Ship Memorial Precinct at Garden Island Naval Base, Sydney, at the Naval Memorial Park in Ulverstone, Tasmania and in the Navy Club in Fremantle, Western Australia. To complete this programme, a similar plaque will be laid up at a Dedication Ceremony at the Queensland Maritime Museum in Brisbane, Queensland in early 2012.

Each August the Association holds its Annual Church Service in the historic Naval Chapel at Garden Island Sydney and follows this on the next day with its Annual General Meeting and Luncheon at the NSW Parliament House. The Association has a newsletter “Dits and Dahs” (a Morse Code term) which is produced and distributed quarterly.

With the exception of Lieutenant Stan Robertson DSC RAN, all of the officers of the RAN’s Fairmiles and their kin ships held wartime commissions, either in the RANR or the RANVR. Some of these “Hostilities Only” officers were offered permanent commissions in the RAN following the end of the war. One is known to have reached the rank of Captain and another to that of Commodore.


RHJ Thompson
Honorary Secretary
November 2011





DIAMOND JUBILEE MEDAL

On the 6th February Queen Elizabeth II will celebrate her Diamond Jubilee. As part of the celebrations to mark the occasion the British government has announced that a Diamond Jubilee Medal will be issued to those who have met the following criteria:

• Members of the Armed Forces (Regular and Reserves) who have completed five full calendar years of service on 6 February 2012;
• Emergency services personnel who have been in paid service, retained or in a voluntary capacity, who have to face the prospect of dealing with emergencies as part of their conditions of service, and have completed five full calendar years of service on 6 February 2012;
• Operational prison services personnel who are regularly exposed to difficult and sometimes emergency situations and have completed five full calendar years of service on 6 February 2012;
• All Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) who are in service on 6 February 2012 and have completed five full calendar years of service;
• Living holders of the Victoria Cross and George Cross; and
• Members of the Royal Household.

The Canadian government has also announced the issue of a Diamond Jubilee medal to 60,000 Canadians.
Here in Australia the parliamentary secretary to the Prime Minister, Senator Kate Lundy,
has been tasked to decide on whether a Diamond Jubilee Medal will be issued by the Australian government, and if so what the criteria will be.
After a year that saw the ADF and emergency services around the country perform their duties superbly in difficult circumstances, the awarding of a Australian Queen’s Diamond Jubilee medal with the same criteria as the UK medal would be a fitting mark of respect to those in uniform that serve us.
If you think this is a worth cause, you can help by forwarding this email to those that can help, and by contacting Senator Lundy directly at:
www.katelundy.com.au/contact/
or
www.facebook.com/pages/Kate-Lundy/101978497999?sk=wall
Also by signing the petition below:
https://www.petitionbuzz.com/petitions/diamondjubilee





The RAN in Malaya, Malaysia and Singapore 1948 1971
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NEW PRODUCT

The H.M.A.S. Sydney & VLSVA (Vic Inc), are now able to offer a limited number of
H.M.A SHIPS Crests, on timber wall plaques.

More will added to the list soon.

Please take a look at the price - it is more than competitive.

Details available on our website: www.hmassydney.com

David (Speed) Dwyer
Hon Sec., Marketing
and Membership Manager


Women in Combat

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HMAS KUTTABUL COMMEMORATION PROJECT

Next year is the 70th Anniversary of the sinking of HMAS Kuttabul. In brief, three Japanese midget submarines attacked vessels in Sydney Harbour on 31 May 1942. As a result, the converted ferry HMAS Kuttabul was struck by a torpedo and 21 men were killed.

Findmypast is looking for the descendants of the men that perished on this vessel. On 31 May 2012 it is planned that a commemoration ceremony will take place to remember the 21 men who lost their lives on this day. We would like to connect the descendants with the organisers so that they can be involved in this special event.

Please email us if you are a descendant of one of these men or have any information.

To the right is an image of Horace Charlton Beazley who left the Kuttabul just before midnight on 31 May 1942 to take up watch at Garden Island. The second torpedo fired by the Japanese submarine M24 ran ashore near where he was stationed but fortunately it failed to explode. He passed away on 12 November 2010 aged 90 years. He was very lucky to have survived and lived to such a good age!




HMAS VENDETTA POLO SHIRTS FOR SALE

Hi All,

We have received a number of enquiries for a generic Vendetta Veterans Association shirt. In response to the requests we have gone back to the supplier who manufactured the polo shirts for the 2009 reunion and they still have all the art work.

The new shirt will be similar to the 2009 reunion shirt with all reference to the reunion removed with the crest and Association name remaining. The shirt has a white front and back with navy blue side panels and a navy blue collar (the reunion shirts had grey collars) with HMAS Vendetta woven into the collar fabric. These shirts are made from good quality drip-dry material.

If you are interested in purchasing the new shirts they will be $35.00 each plus $2.50 postage and handling for each shirt ordered. Please complete the attached order form and return with your payment - or pay via EFT and advise.


Cheers
Bill K



HMAS LEEUWIN BOOK

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ROGUES YARN

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