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General => Armed Forces => World War Two => Topic started by: trish251 on Wednesday 09 July 08 13:41 BST (UK)
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The WWII Oz navy records consist of 2 cards only. The one for my uncle has the headings
Royal Australian Naval Reserve
Record of Mobilized Service
He served from 31 Jan 1941 until discharge in 1946.
Does this mean he would have been in the Naval reserve? He lived nowhere near the sea prior to enlisting. Is Mobilized service similar to being "called up". I am a definite novice in all things military despite having many of my male relatives serve in the two WWs. None of them ever talked about it (well not to me).
thanks
Trish
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This may give you a bit of background Trish !! :)
http://worldatwar.net/article/australiannavyreserve/
Can you give us a name ?? if not ... try this !
http://www.ww2roll.gov.au/
Annie :)
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I can post some of the image Annie - no worries - I'm happy that I know about his service - I just wondered about the "Reserve" and being mobilized - doesn't sound like a volunteer!
His name is Clarence Edward Roche (very fancy name - known all his life as Pat :D)
Trish
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He wasn't an officer as per one of your links Annie - he was a Stoker and then a leading Stoker - and then went back to being a farmer :)
Trish
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Hi Trish
What you have there is a generic form - in some cases, those mobilized would have enlisted much earlier than their mobilization but were sent to await the next training session etc.
He seems to have served in Australian coastal waters - ML (Motor Launch) 807 was a British Fairmile "B" motor boat used for harbour defence, coastal convoy escorts and some air seaq rescue work; Orara was a minesweeper; and, both Air Cloud and Air Spray were Air Sea Rescue Ships (more launches than ships really)
K
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Hi K
Thanks for that - so he may have applied some time earlier? That makes sense, as does the description of his service.
I have a newspaper cutting related to his service (kept by his mother for 50 years) which details when the minesweeper Wallaroo, a corvette, was sunk off Western Australia - collided with a merchant ship (which doesn't appear to be named). There were at least 3 deaths and I gather the remaining crew were rescued some hours later.
Reading your quick review, I could get interested in learning more about the ships/boats :)
Trish
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Heres a photo of the crew of HMAS Orara ... can you see Pat on here ?? ( your family liked that name huh ?? :D :D )
http://users.bigpond.net.au/elliget/ausran/wecosh/photos/wec50001.jpg
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K will tell me if I'm wrong ::) ... but I think these are the right Air Sea Rescue Ships Trish !! :)
HMAS Air Cloud (924) was built by Harbour Boat Building Co., USA. It was launched in 1944 and commissioned on 20 October 1944.
924 HMAS Air Cloud was the first Air Boat to go to West Bay, No.58 OBU to replace HMAS Coongoola, which then returned to Darwin. HMAS Air Cloud suffered propeller damage on a reef and therefore had to return to Darwin so was replaced by 912 HMAS Air Foam (it is believed). Later 926 HMAS Air Sailor and 923 HMAS Air View" took up Station at West Bay (RAAF Truscott) in the Kimberlies of W.A. During that period the Marine Section Officer was FLGOFF Stewart Brownson.
It was paid off on 20 February 1947.
It was transferred to the RAAF in 1949.
HMAS Air Spray (911) was built by Harbour Boat Building Co., USA. It was commissioned on 13 February 1945. It transferred to the RAAF in 1945 and returned to the RAN in 1965. It was re-commissioned as HMAS Cerberus (Y259) and was subsequently sold on 28 August 1969.
http://home.st.net.au/~dunn/ran/asrboats.htm
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Heres a photo of the crew of HMAS Orara ... can you see Pat on here ?? ( your family liked that name huh ?? :D :D )
http://users.bigpond.net.au/elliget/ausran/wecosh/photos/wec50001.jpg
Gosh Annie - you do zip around the net - at a glance I can't see him, but I will study further :)
Trish
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Well done Annie, it's more than I was able to trackdown yesterday. A lot of the "little" ships are rather difficult to find histories for, so that is good info. The NAA may have a file on her and the other ships but I haven't had a chance to check yet.
As for the Wallaroo, she collided with the American Liberty ship HENRY GILBERT COSTIN. Three of the Wallaroo's crew were killed:
Joseph John Clarke
Daris Leo Bernard Cowen
George William Garratty
Details of the ship and a picture:
http://www.navy.gov.au/spc/history/ships/wallaroo1.html
K
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ML 807's files haven't been digitised but can be ordered. There are a number of reports on fuel, armament etc, but this seems to be the most likely/useful one:
http://naa12.naa.gov.au/scripts/ItemDetail.asp?M=0&B=490300
None of the logs for Orara have been digitised either, and they seem to be divided into monthly sections. Not sure how useful they would be, but if you wish to order them for the relevant months then I can list the file numbers
The same for Air Spray and Air Cloud
K
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Hi K
Thank you for all the links. On the newspaper cutting I have, 2 folks were killed and one (Joseph Clarke) was missing. I attach my little personal paper report - my grandmother never kept the details of paper or date, but she had many newspaper cuttings in a little notebook she kept for many years.
I don't think I want to order anything yet, but will check the archives and think about it - I've spent too much on certificates lately.
many thanks
Trish
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I found this Trish .........
Wallaroo - AMS. Collided with US Liberty Ship and sank off Fremantle 11/6/43
Then I found this ....... with a bit more information !! :)
11 June 1943
HMAS WALLAROO, (minesweeper) sank in a collision with the American merchant ship HENRY GILBERT COSTIN 60 miles west of Fremantle WA. 3 ratings lost their lives.
12 June 1943
The minesweeper HMAS DUBBO, (LEUT N. G. Weber, RANR(S)) picked up survivors from HMAS WALLAROO sunk in a collision west of Fremantle WA. Three of WALLAROO’S complement were lost in the sinking.
Sorry K ... I didn't read your post properly !! ::) ::)
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Hi Annie
The main newspaper cutting I have was only a day or two after the accident and they were still hoping to find one of the missing men (sadly they never did). I don't quite know why they didn't mention the name of the merchant ship. They were all supposed to be rescued within 2 hours of the sinking - which was 4-5 hours after the collision, so perhaps the time my Uncle spent in the water has been somewhat exaggerated. Family stories (of which I have so many ::) ) said that he swallowed much oil, which caused him many health problems thereafter. He was only about 45 when he died.
Trish
I still get amazed that one small query and/or event in a life can generate so much information :)
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One more thing then I'll shut up !! :D ::)
HMAS Rushcutter (training establishment & reserve depot Edgecliff Sydney)
Pass by the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia buildings and the adjacent marina, although if the D’Alobora Marina is open, there is a café and a fascinating test of your sea legs amidst hundreds of millions of dollars worth of boats on the floating walkway which half crosses Rushcutters Bay. Next up are the disused slipway and two interesting ochre‐yellow corrugated iron buildings and a brick cottage which represent the remains of former HMAS Rushcutter, once the oldest RAN base It is so old that it was originally a base for the NSW Navy at the time of Federation. Its wonderful two‐storey drill hall is even older, being transferred to the site when Fort Macquarie at Bennelong Point was demolished. It was recently renamed the ‘Sir David Martin Reserve Drill Hall’ after the popular Rear‐Admiral who was Governor of NSW 1989‐90. Used as a training and administrative depot, the base was named ‘Rushcutter’ in 1940 by which time it was a base for anti‐submarine warfare and radar training as well as for WRANS, the womens’ service. Harbour defence vessels were also based here. The base was decommissioned in 1968 and handed over to the state government in 1979, but the RAN Sailing Association
still uses part of the site
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For what it's worth a couple of years from these posts, the Lieut. N.G.Weber mentioned in the newspaper article was my grandfather and he did speak about this rescue on a few occasions. Kath