DANGEROUS WORK

Wairarapa Times-Age, 8 April 1942, Page 4

DANGEROUS WORK

GALLANT MINESWEEPERS. LAST SHIPS FROM SINGAPORE. The last ships to leave Singapore, a flotilla o£ Australian-built and Australian- manned minesweepers, have arrived in an Australian port. They have been in the Pacific war zone since the first Japanese attacks. Lightly armed for the job they had to do, and possessing only moderate speed, these ships have come through Japanese bombings in dangerous waters where they were constantly outnumbered. They have not been damaged and have suffered no casualties. ■ Before December, four of the minesweepers were 'based on Singapore for minesweeping and local patrols. Three others had their headquarters at Darwin, but not long after Japan’s entry into the war they also went to Singapore, where the flotilla was engaged in keeping the sea routes to Batavia clear. Aerial attacks were frequent, but, although the Japanese bombing was described as accurate, all the minesweepers 'escaped with “near' misses.' After leaving Singapore, some of the flotilla went to Batavia and others to Palembang. The ships at Batavia patrolled the Sunda Straits, working by night and anchoring by day. The object of the patrols was to intercept landing barges and parties, but they met none. Each day 27 bombers visited the straits. Superior enemy forces compelled a further withdrawal, and the seven ships formed up again at Merak, in north-western Java, but they were compelled to disperse because of continual Japanese bombings. Two of the ships took part in the evacuation of Oosthaven, in Sumatra. Others went to Tjilajap, on the southern coast of Java, and were the last ships to leave there. During operations in these waters, one of the minesweepers picked up survivors from a torpedoed ship.