Fighting the U-boats

Allied Navies

Royal Australian Navy

The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) did not participate as much in the Battle of the Atlantic as the other allied navies. This has its obvious reasons of course (the Pacific war being somewhat closer and no less important to Australia).

The RAN did however take a part in the battle and is credited with sinking one U-boat. They hunted the Bismarck and took also part in the D-Day landings.

In 1939 its strength was a mere 7 ships (1 heavy cruiser, 3 light cruisers, 1 destroyer and 2 sloops) and one destroyer in reserve. When the war ended they had a fleet of 1 heavy cruiser, 3 light cruisers, 11 destroyers, 6 frigates, 2 sloops, 53 corvettes, 1 minelayer and 73 other vessels.


Losses

The RAN lost 2,176 men and women during the war. This was 5,5% of its peak strength on 30 June, 1945 of 39,650 personnel. Among the ships lost were HMAS Canberra, HMAS Sydney, HMAS Voyager, HMAS Yarra and HMS Perth.

The sloop Parramatta was sunk by U-559 on 27 Nov, 1941 with the loss of 139 lives.


Victories

The RAN destroyer HMAS Nestor sank the U-127 on 14 Dec, 1941. HMAS Wollongong also helped sinking the U-617 on 12 Sept, 1943. RAN forces also sank 2 Italian and 3 Japanese submarines.


Running the Gauntlet

Satchell, Alister


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Books dealing with this subject include:

Australia's Colonial Navies. Gillett, Ross, 1982.
Hospital Ships. Goodman, R. D., 1992.
Ofredens hav - Östersjön 1939 - 1992. Linder, Jan and Lundberg, Lennart, 2002.
Running the Gauntlet. Satchell, Alister, 2001.
The USS Flier. Michael Sturma, 2008.
Valiant Occasions. Macdonnell, James Edmond, 1977.


Allied Navies