1 May 1940
At least 7 Royal Australian Navy (RAN) ships, and hundreds of personnel, took part in the Battle of the Atlantic. It was a long campaign fought by Allied forces against German submarines that had been targeting war materiel crossing the Atlantic Ocean. Though typically remembered as a British and American operation, the Australian contribution was significant.
Australian ships protected convoys of merchant ships crossing from the United States to the United Kingdom with vital supplies. One of the most notable was the heavy cruiser HMAS Australia (II), which began escorting convoys off the west coast of South Africa in May 1940. It remained in the Atlantic until February 1941, operating as far south as the Cape of Good Hope and as far north as Bear Island, inside the Arctic Circle.
Australia was also involved in an unsuccessful operation to install a Free French Government in Dakar in September 1940.
The 5 Australian N-class destroyers served in convoy duties in the Atlantic before going to other theatres:
- HMAS Norman
- HMAS Napier
- HMAS Nepal
- HMAS Nestor
- HMAS Nizam.
Nestor was part of the hunt for the German battleship Bismarck in May 1941, and later that year sank U-127 off Portugal’s Cape St Vincent.
Australian naval personnel were also closely involved in crewing non-Australian ships. They also trained Allied personnel in anti-submarine warfare (ASW). The Dominion Yachtsman Scheme was one initiative that recruited Australian volunteers to serve on Allied warships, mostly on convoy escort missions.
Many Australians were given command of ships converted for ASW. This included Lieutenant Commander Arthur Callaway. He was in command of HMS Lady Shirley when it became the first British vessel commanded by an Australian to destroy a U-boat. Another group of Australian sailors served in the Atlantic on British merchant ships. They operated guns that had been installed to offer some defence against enemy attack.
Many, if not all, Australian personnel who fought in the Atlantic were trained at the RAN’s anti-submarine school, HMAS Rushcutter. RAN personnel trained at Rushcutter were transferred to Royal Navy ships. This was due to the need for trained ASW specialists in Britain, and because Australia lacked ASW ships.
By the end of 1943, around 1,119 RAN officers and sailors were serving in British ships. Indeed, some calculations estimated that 20 per cent of ASW men involved in the Battle of the Atlantic were trained at Rushcutter. From Australia, the RAN helped maintain Allied sea communications around the world.