7 August 1915
The 1st Royal Australian Naval Bridging Train (RANBT) was initially intended to be a horse-drawn engineering unit that could support operations on the Western Front. A ‘train’ was a series of wagons that carried a unit’s building materials and the other equipment needed to build roads, railways and bridges.
Formed in February 1915, the RANBT comprised members of the Royal Australian Naval Reserve. There were no available billets for them in RAN ships.
Lieutenant Commander Leighton Seymour Bracegirdle RAN commanded the unit. He was one of about 50 men in the 300-strong RANBT who had recently returned from service in New Guinea with the Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force.
The RANBT sailed from Melbourne in June 1915. The unit’s first task was to provide engineering support for the landings at Suvla Bay, north of Anzac Cove, on the Gallipoli Peninsula. Early on 7 August, the RANBT landed under fire at Suvla Bay. The men quickly constructed a pontoon pier to better move supplies and reinforcements ashore.
Camped at Suvla, on Kangaroo Beach, the RANBT:
- built and maintained wharves and piers
- unloaded stores from lighters
- controlled the supply of fresh water to frontline troops
- built a light railway for stores movement
- carried out repairs in an open-air workshop.
They were under frequent enemy artillery fire and occasional air raids. During the 5 months at Suvla Bay, enemy action killed 2 RANBT men and wounded more than 30. Many became sick in the unsanitary conditions, with 2 men dying of illness.
The campaign stagnated, and in December 1915, British commanders decided to abandon the Gallipoli peninsula. Allied troops began evacuating under the cover of darkness. During the evacuation, the RANBT men busily repaired the damage caused by this constant use and enemy action. The last men of the unit departed in the early morning of 20 December 1915, the final Australians to leave Gallipoli.
The RANBT spent 1916 maintaining and operating the bridges over the Suez Canal. Men from the unit took part in the amphibious assault on Ottoman positions at El Arish. In 1917, some participated in the abortive First Battle of Gaza.
Australian authorities disbanded the unit on 27 March 1917, and 127 men transferred to the Australian Imperial Force (AIF). A number of others transferred to other British and Australian services, while some elected to return to Australia for discharge. Eleven RANBT men died as a result of active service.