History of the Royal Australian Navy

[8][9] The changes were partially in recognition of the fact that a large part of the East Indies Station had been detached to Australian waters, and also reflecting growing concern for the strategic situation in the western Pacific in general, and in Tahiti and New Zealand in particular.

[10] At its largest, the Australia Station reached from the Equator to the Antarctic in its greatest north–south axis, and covered 1⁄4 of the Southern Hemisphere in its extreme east–west dimension, including Papua New Guinea, New Zealand, Melanesia and Polynesia.

A growing number of people, among them Captain William Rooke Creswell, the director of the Commonwealth Naval Forces, demanded an autonomous Australian navy, financed and controlled by Australia.

In 1907 Prime Minister Alfred Deakin and Creswell, while attending the Imperial Conference in London, sought the British Government's agreement to end the subsidy system and develop an Australian navy.

The event was marred by the death of Engineer Lieutenant W. Robertson, RN, who suffered a heart attack 8 miles (13 km) outside Port Phillip Heads whilst onboard HMAS Yarra, and drowned.

[19] At the outbreak of war, the RAN stood at 3,800 personnel and consisted of sixteen ships, including the battlecruiser Australia, the light cruisers Sydney and Melbourne, the destroyers Parramatta, Yarra, and Warrego, and the submarines AE1 and AE2.

On 30 August 1914, the AN&MEF left Sydney under the protection of Australia and Melbourne for Port Moresby, where the force met the Queensland contingent, aboard the transport HMAHS Kanowna.

[33] The RAN's losses had also been modest, only losing the two submarines AE1 and AE2, whilst casualties included 171 fatalities – 108 Australians and 63 officers and men on loan from the Royal Navy, with less than a third the result of enemy action.

The speed at which the flu spread, coupled with the cramped mess decks and poorly ventilated living spaces on early 20th century warships, created a favourable environment for the disease.

The Commonwealth Naval Board was aware of the worsening situation in the region; the sloop HMAS Fantome reported its first case on 11 November 1918 while stationed in Fiji, with half her complement eventually affected.

[38] Spanish flu was rampant in Suva; Captain Thring implemented a strict quarantine, placed guards on the wharf, and ordered that coaling be carried out by the crew instead of native labour.

The Great Depression of 1929 led to another reduction of manpower; although reduced in size, the available posts were easily filled as many men were unemployed and the offered pay was greater than most jobs.

[68] On 6 September 1940, HMAS Australia was ordered to sail to Freetown, Sierra Leone to join Operation Menace, the invasion of Vichy French-controlled Dakar in French West Africa.

[86] Whilst escorting convoys between Australia and New Guinea, HMAS Arunta attacked and sank the Japanese Kaichu type submarine Ro-33 off Port Moresby on 24 August 1942, killing all 42 men aboard.

By the end of World War II, the RAN's combat strength numbered 150 ships with an additional 200 auxiliary craft with the service reaching its peak in June 1945, when it ranks swelled to 39,650 personnel.

[68] Ten RAN vessels were present at the signing of the Japanese surrender in Tokyo Bay on 2 September 1945; HMA Ships Ballarat, Cessnock, Gascoyne, Hobart, Ipswich, Napier, Nizam, Pirie, Shropshire, and Warramunga.

Instead, the Australian government chose the United States-built, steam turbine-powered Charles F. Adams-class destroyer, armed with the Tartar missile as the basis for its Perth class, the first major US warship design chosen for the RAN.

With the retreat of British forces west of the Suez Canal in the 1960s, the RAN began to take a more defensive role, and in co-operation with the United States, allied though the ANZUS treaty.

[98] In 1955, the Far East Strategic Reserve was created as a concentration of Commonwealth military forces (primarily British, New Zealand, and Australian) in Malaya for the protection of that nation from communist threats.

[98] Training for the potentiality of war was the main occurrence for ships deployed to the Strategic Reserve, with RAN personnel gaining experience in working as part of a larger naval organisation.

[98] Between 1955 and 1960, eleven other ships of the RAN operated with the Strategic Reserve: Anzac, Melbourne, Quadrant, Queenborough, Quiberon, Quickmatch, Sydney Tobruk,Vampire, Vendetta, and Voyager.

[110] The two commissions caused great anguish in the hierarchy of the RAN, which was not accustomed to such tight scrutiny, and led to the eventual dismantling of the Naval Board's isolation from the civilian world.

The Australian government responded by creating the Defence Cooperation Project (DCP), to provide suitable patrol vessels, training and infrastructure to island nations in the region.

[125] In 1987, the Hawke Government's Defence White Paper called for the RAN to become a more self-reliant two-ocean navy with major fleet bases in New South Wales and Western Australia.

The rationale behind the policy included the possibility of savings in fuel and maintenance that would result from Indian Ocean deployments beginning their journey from Western Australia rather than New South Wales.

HMAS Anzac provided gunfire support to Royal Marines during fighting on the Al-Faw Peninsula and the Clearance Diving Team took part in clearing the approaches to Umm Qasr.

Twelve Australian sailors were deployed to Umm Qasr, Iraq between January and October 2004 to join the multi-national training team working with the Iraqi Coastal Defense Force.

The Royal Australian Navy deployed the Amphibious Ready Group, including the ships; Kanimbla, Manoora, Tobruk (until approximately 8 June), Balikpapan, Tarakan and Success (until 28 May).

[139] On 24 July 2003, HMAS Manoora arrived off Honiara, marking the beginning of Operation Anode, Australia's contribution to the Regional Assistance Mission to the Solomon Islands (RAMSI).

The evacuation of Australians was deemed unnecessary, and vessels of the task force began arriving back in Australia on 17 December, with Kanimbla docking in Townsville, and both Newcastle and Success returning to Sydney.