Talk:HMAS Australia (D84)

How many Kamikaze hits?

The article states she was hit on 6 different occasions, representing the most hits a ship took from kamikaze attacks.

Did any of these occasions include multiple hits? The USS Laffey was hit by 6 kamikazes and would be tied with the HMAS Australia if each of these 6 different occasions represented just 1 kamikaze hit. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.71.220.47 (talk) 05:02, 29 September 2009 (UTC)

HMAS Australia was hit with what is claimed as the first ever Kamikazi attack on "Trafalgar Day",21st October, 1944, at approx. 0600. She had completed her initial bombardment task for the invasion of Leyte and had pulled out of line and anchored with another Australian 'County' class cruiser, HMAS Shropshire. They were both attacked by the Kamikazi which ended up crashing into the bridge area of 'Aussie'. Her Captain, Emile Dechaineaux, and 29 other officers and men were killed and 76 others were wounded or burned.

At 1735 hrs on January 5th, 1945, at the Lyngayen Gulf invasion, HMAS Australia was hit by a Kamikaze, resulting in 25 killed and 30 wounded. Again at 1734 hrs on January 6th she was hit by a Japanese 'Val' Kamikazi, whose 15" or 16" bomb was found to have been a British Naval shell left at Singapore after the surrender of the Allied forces there in 1942. This time there were 14 killed and 26 wounded. 'Aussie' was hit by further Kamikazis for the third and fourth times at Lingayen Gulf at 0730 hrs and 0739 hrs on Jamuary 8th, the last blowing a 14'x8' hole in her port side. Luckily there were no casualties from these attacks. Both suicide planes here were twin-engined 'Dinah' aircraft.These attacks resulted in a reduction in HMAS Australia's speed to 15 knots.

HMAS Australia was hit by a Kamikazi at Lingayen Gulf for the final time at 1311 on January 9th, 1945, "which touched a mast strut and swung the plane into the foremost funnel and over the side" This caused damage to her boilers which again, slowed her down. She was a real mess after all this and left the invasion force for repairs which saw her eventually arrive in England for a complete refit. She never fired her guns in real anger again!

So HMAS Australia was hit by Kamikazis once at Leyte and five times at Lingayen Gulf-Six different occasions.

References

JD47 (talk) 11:06, 31 July 2010 (UTC)

Under the heading 'Acquisition and construction' the last paragraph states:- Australia and sister ship HMAS Canberra (also constructed by John Brown) were the only County class vessels constructed in Scotland.

It cites the John Bastock bookas a reference, but HMS Berwick was constructed at Govern and and HMS Shropshire of the London class was constructed at Dalmuir, both of which are in Scotland. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.112.61.202 (talk) 15:24, 9 February 2012 (UTC)

In addition...

http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/sh-fornv/austral/aussh-ag/austr2.htm

Makes it sound like only 6 hits, which represents a tie with the USS Laffey. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.71.220.47 (talk) 05:09, 29 September 2009 (UTC)

Misidentified photos?

I'm throwing a query out to the community regarding some images that may have mis-identified a ship as Australia. The US Navy Naval Historical Center images File:Mk_VIII.jpg and File:Hudson River view towards Christopher.jpg (among others at [1] and [2]) claim to be of Australia during a visit to New York City in 1932 andor 1933. However, according to all the sources I've looked at during a rewrite, Australia operated in home and south-west Pacific waters during those years.

Is it possible that somewhere along the line, the identity of the ship has been mistaken, and that the vessel visiting in these photos is another warship (most likely another County class cruiser)? Or, less likely in my opinion, have they muddled up the dates (Australia did visit in 1928 and 1945)? Any help would be appreciated. -- saberwyn 22:35, 9 November 2010 (UTC)

Ask Sturmvogel, I think he has Whitley's Cruisers of World War II Ed ^{[talk] [majestic titan]} 00:14, 10 November 2010 (UTC)

I do think that it's either Canberra or Australia because the funnels seem to be a bit taller than the rangefinder on top of the rectangular upper bridge structure, unlike the rest of the Kent-subclass, but I cannot positively confirm that as I didn't copy the photos in Raven and Roberts' British Cruisers of World War 2. But it's definitely a pre-war photo. There's a photo in Whitley on p.17 that's from the same angle and identified as Australia, albeit at sea.--Sturmvogel 66 (talk) 02:53, 10 November 2010 (UTC)

HMAS Australia crew photo with Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh

I have 1954 photo of the Queen sitting in front of the crew of HMAS Australia in 1954 and thought that it would look great in this article as well as the Royal Australian Navy wikipedia page and the Monarchy of Australia page. I don't know how to upload it though and wondered whether anyone here would like to add it to these articles if I emailed it to them? Because it is over 50 years old it will be in the public domain. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Alextonkin133 (talk • contribs) 10:37, 10 August 2011 (UTC)

I'd be interested in seeing the photograph; please go to my user page and use the "email this user" link in the left hand Toolbox menu to establish communication (but note I'll have to respond to your email before you can send any attachments to me). However, although this image is in the public domain in Australia (having been before the current pre-1955 threshold) United States legal mumbo-jumbo leads me to believe that the photograph is not public domain in the United States, where Wikipedia and related servers are hosted (my not-a-lawyer understanding is that the image had to enter the public domain before 1996 - either by being taken pre-1941, or by specificly being released into the public domain by the copyright holder). More information on the provenance of the image (i.e. where it came from) would help clarify this. -- saberwyn 10:26, 11 August 2011 (UTC)

Potential sources

Some potential sources that may contain useful information for this article:

• Naval warfare 1919-45: an operational history of the volatile war at sea by Malcolm H. Murfett: mentions the friendly bombing incident
• Fire from the Sky by Robert C. Stern: includes a chapter on Aussie II re: kamikazes

-- saberwyn 10:00, 1 September 2011 (UTC)

Wrong ensign displayed

The wrong naval ensign is displayed in the article (under the photo of the ship).

What is shown is the Royal Navy's flag. NOT the Royal Australian Navy's ensign

I'm not that skilled at editing, or I'd do this myself.

Montalban (talk) 00:43, 26 October 2011 (UTC)

Australia operated with the ensign shown in the infobox. The RAN used an ensign identical to the British one from its foundation in 1911 until 1967, when the current ensign was introduced (read Australian White Ensign for more info). -- saberwyn 01:58, 26 October 2011 (UTC)

Ah, that's what the navy says too. [3] I didn't know, because the red ensign's been around since 1901. Montalban (talk) 02:52, 26 October 2011 (UTC)

Something to do with the late 1800/early 1900 British thinking of the Dominion navies (like the RAN) as semi-independent components of the RN, and the Dominions more than happy to roll with it. -- saberwyn 03:30, 26 October 2011 (UTC)

File:HMAS Australia Oct 1937 SLV straightened.jpg to appear as POTD

Hello! This is a note to let the editors of this article know that File:HMAS Australia Oct 1937 SLV straightened.jpg will be appearing as picture of the day on April 25, 2015. You can view and edit the POTD blurb at Template:POTD/2015-04-25. If this article needs any attention or maintenance, it would be preferable if that could be done before its appearance on the Main Page. Thanks! — Crisco 1492 (talk) 01:41, 5 April 2015 (UTC)

Picture of the day

HMAS Australia was a County-class heavy cruiser of the Royal Australian Navy. Laid down in Scotland in 1925, the ship entered service in 1928. She served predominantly in the South-West Pacific until the beginning of World War II, when she was tasked to the northern Atlantic. In 1942, Australia was reassigned as flagship of the ANZAC Squadron, where she supported US naval and amphibious operations throughout South-East Asia. A series of kamikaze attacks during the invasion of Lingayen Gulf led to Australia being recalled for repairs in the United Kingdom, where she remained until the end of the war. In her later years, Australia served as part of the British Commonwealth Occupation Force in Japan and as a training ship. She was sold for scrap in 1955.Photo: Allan Green; restoration: Chris Woodrich

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