AUSTRALIA'S FLEET AT SEA
TWO YEARS' OF ACTIVE SERVICE.
BOMBARDMENTS & PATROLS
A splendid record of efficient and varied sea service is contained in the story ol the work performed. by Australia s young navy during the second year of the meat war (says the Melbourne Age"). Since August, 1914, the Australian warships have been widely scattered throughout the oceans of the globe. Their work during the first twelve months of the war, including the destruction of the Emden and the driving of the German Pacific cruisers to defeat off the Falkland Islands, is already well known. For the first time Ihe Age 5 ' is now enabled to publish official particulars of their work 'since August, 1915. Hitherto the ships have gone their ways behind a necessary veil of secrecy. Now, however, the veil can be lifted somewhat, and it is apparent that they have been all the while doing fine service for the Empire; have patrolled under tropical suns and in. icy northern waters; have bombarded German defences, and have safeguarded trade routes. Incidentally, the idea of an efficient Australian navy plainly rankled in the minds of Germans in the "United States, who actually set on foot a plot to blow up the Sydney—which fortunately proved futile. As yet official particulars can only supply a bare outline of the doings of the fleet, as the publication of details is not permissible, but these particulars are sufficient to show that the navy, as well as the Expeditionary Force, is playing its part well on active service: The following is the official sketch of the fleet's work:— Useful but not Spectacular, Although the work of Australian warships during this second year of the war has been less spectacular than before, its importance and value to the Empire have in no way diminished. In naval war, just as in land vars of the older type, fighting occupies a comparatively small part of the war's' duration. Duding the wars with France from 1793 to 1815, for instance, the number of engagements—-even counting engagements between single ships—averaged about one per year. The real work of the navy, persisteut, arduous, usually monotonous, is blockading, patrolling, occasionally convoying; preventive rather than destructive, and in this sort of work Australian ships and crews havo for tho last year taken their' full share. In most cases tho work has been done 'in tropical climates; it has produced few palpable results in prizes or ships destroyed; it has necessitated long periods of 'continuous steaming at sea, apparently objectless sentry-go, which try "both ship and crew more severely, than does the excitement of actual fighting. Zut a fence; is all the more satisfactocy when nobody tries to climb it, and the patrol devoid of incidents is probably all the more effective. H.M.A.S. Australia, which reached England on January 28, 1915, and was at once attached to the Grand Fleet in the North' Sea,' has since then been engaged in assiduous patrolling as flagship, of Vice-Admiral Pakenham, in command of'the' Second Battle Cruiser Squadron. She was by ill-luck unable to, take part in the Jutland battlo. As she has been visited by correspondents, whom tho Admiralty permitted to publish accounts of their visits, more is probably known about the conditions under which her crew , is serving than about .any other ship of the Australian navy, so that nothing more need be said here. ■ The Sydney and Melbourne. The two light cruisers, H.M.A.S. Sydney and H.M.A.S. Melbourne have been engaged on more varied service. They were attached, on arriving in European waters, to a squadron under the command of Vice-Admiral Patcy, ant! havo since been employed 'in patrols and investigations, which have taken them as far south as Monte Video, and as far north as Halifax, in Nova Scotia. This has meant not only, an unusual amount of sea time—by the end of last year, for instance, the Sydney had steamed well over 100,000 miles during her commission, nearly three-quarters since the outbreak of the war-'-but. life in climates varying, often sharply, from the cold of a Canadian winter to the perpetual moist heat of the Gulf of Mexico. More than half of the Sydney's sea time has been spent in the tropics. In Canada the Press laid some stress on the fact that warships belonging to one of the great Dominions of the Empire were alloted to patrol off tho shores of a sister Dominion at. the other side of the world. An interesting episode in , this section of the Australian navy's work was provided by the threat of certain German sympathisers in the United States to revenge themselves on tho Sydney by blowing her up on the anniversary of the day when she fought the Emden. A careful watch was kept, but the threat was not carrictl out, though something happened that, futile as it was, may have been meant for an attempt. When the course of events admitted of it, the two ships paid visits to several British possessions in the Atlantic and , the Gulf, and the crews were welcomed with a great deal of hospitality. The Pioneer in Action. While the two newest cruisers were on this duty in tlie Atlantic, H.M.A.S. Pioneer was engaged in somewhat similar work in the Indian Ocean. Klie was attached to the squadron that blockaded German East Africa, and took an actiru part in many of its more exciting operations.. From the of her arrival 0.. the African coast she was employed, in company with other ships, in watching the mouth of the Kufigi itiver, up whicu the cruiser Konigsberg had taken refuge, and when, nil Juiy 1915, the monitors sent out from England entered the shallow river, and succeeded in blowiug u t . the enemy ship, the Pioneer was employed in shelling German land defences at the river mouth. Later on sliel visited Cape Town, and has since been used on regular patrol work, also taking part in several visits to, and attacks on, coast towns in the German colony. Of the work of the second Australian submarine AE2 in passing the Dardanelles and entering the Sea of Marmora, as much as may be said at present has already been published, and ,-lie is mentioned here simply to complete the record. The remaining ships of the squadron— H.M.A.S's. Encounter, Wan-ego, Purramatta, Yarra, and Una, along with the ?6yche and I'lmlome, temporarily at- ! taohed. by the Admiralty to the Australian Navy, and manned by Australian crews, have been effectively and continuously employed nearer home in guarding the routes by which Austin lian trade and Australian, convoys traverse tlie neighbouring oceans. In the course' of this work they have covered liugo mileages, mainly in tropical waters under conditions of much discomfort. I They have entered many harbours pre- | viously little known and rarely visited, and thus havo added to the world's permanent stock of maritime knowledge. And the quality of their work has beeu praised by Imperial officers, to whose commands some of them have on occasion been attached. The tasks set them have been, on the whole, moro monotonous and less diversified with incident than those allotted to tho ships serving in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. But they have been factors in the solution of an important problem, and Australia has every reason to be satisfied with the way in'which they have done their share. Work on the Transports. Besides the warships of' the squadron tho Navy Office has under its ■ chargo many other ships, a flqet of transports, and another of cargo vessels, as well a'< colliers, oil ships, and supply ships for. tho use of tho fighting fleet. Of thesn naturally little can be said, except that they have throughout the year performed their allotted duties steadily and well. Besides carrying to the various seats of war the several Australian contingentsmen, horses, and gear—tho transports have carried to Europe Australian produels—wool, wheat, meat, etc.—to tho amount of ISO,OOO tons. Another 55.000 tons havo been carried in the cargo vessels. Tho Commonwealth, indeed, has Ceconie the biggest shipping firm in Australasia. It employs a 101-al tonnage of about KSOTOfIO, and uses for its 'ships other Ihaii war ships during the year:
more than 420,000 tons of Australian coal. Tho ships recently purchased by Mr. Hughes will add to the work done in this direction.
The whole of this mass of traffic has moved securely through the oceans under tlie protection of the Imperial Navy, whose squadrons imprison the German I'igh Seas Elect, deny to German trade the Atlantic trade routes, blockade German coasts in the Indian Ocean, «iud keep, the Western Pacilic'free from German raiders and gun runners. In each of these tasks some Australian warship is taking its part as usefully and creditably as, if less conspicuously than, Australian troops are taking theirs in the n;ar on land and of all, by land or sea, Australia may bo equally and gratefully proud.
Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/DOM19160807.2.57
Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka
Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2843, 7 August 1916, Page 8
Word count
Tapeke kupu
1,482AUSTRALIA'S FLEET AT SEA Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2843, 7 August 1916, Page 8
Using this item
Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi
Stuff Ltd is the copyright owner for the Dominion. You can reproduce in-copyright material from this newspaper for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International licence (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0). This newspaper is not available for commercial use without the consent of Stuff Ltd. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this newspaper, please refer to the Copyright guide.