Gunboats and Monitors

HMS Walney Ex USS Sebago

 

(March 1944)
PG-51 USS Charleston

 

Harbour Defence Motor Launches (HDMLs)

28 boats, HDMLs 1074, 1129, 1161, 1321 - 1329; 1340 - 1347; 1352 - 1359 (some sources add two more boats - HDMLs 1338 and 1339).
Specifications
Round-bilge wooden boats, copper sheathed, 300 hp diesel engines. Dimensions varied, depending on the builder. 1074, 1129 and 1161 were built in Britain; 1321-1329 in Australia; and the others in a variety of American yards. Australian built boats were the biggest, measuring 72 feet o/a, beam 15 feet, draft 5.5 feet max, displacing 47 tons standard, 58 tons battle-weight. Complement - 10-12. Performance - 11.5 knots at 260 BHP. Armament - extremely varied. As per the original British design they carried a 2-pounder forward and two twin machine-guns; but a common later Australian configuration was one 2-pounder or 40 mm Bofors AA gun forward, one 20 mm Oerlikon gun aft, plus sundry machine guns and depth charges.


The HDMLs were a numerous class of British-Admiralty-designed boats intended originally to patrol harbours and estuaries. As with every other type of ship, the Australian Navy stretched these possibilities to the limit. From the time the first, HDML 1074, was commissioned into Australian Service on 7th October 1942, these craft were employed on routine patrols, convoy escorts, running special forces in and out of Japanese-held areas, and a hundred other vital tasks, sometimes humdrum, sometimes exciting. Proof of the basic soundness of the design is the saga of HDML 1074. This boat survived a storm on the open sea and collision with a destroyer to join action at Morotai and - still unrepaired - re-charted the harbour after it was secured from the Japanese. HDML 1353 engaged in survey duties in Torres Strait in late 1944 as part of TU 70.5.2. 1359 took part in the surrender ceremony at South Borneo; 1343 at Sandakan; 1322, 1324 and 1329 at Timor. The Australian-built boats were retained for service in the post-1945 RAN.
"Royal Australian Navy in World War II; fleets, ships, Australian warships, second world war, Australian cruisers, County class cruisers, Amphion class cruisers, Birmingham class cruisers, Chatham class cruisers; destroyers, Tribal class destroyers,

 

HMA Ships Kuru, Tiger Snake, River Snake, Black Snake, Sea Snake, Grass Snake, Diamond Snake, Mother Snake, Taipan, Krait, Kuru, Alatna, Karina, Nyanie, Misima, Motor Work Boats (AM) 1830, 1629, 1983, 1985, 2003, 2004.

The activities of "Z" special Forces and the Services Reconnaissance Department (SRD) have become as much part of Australia's military history as Gallipoli and Tobruk. "Z" special Force were Australian Army Commandos; SRD was a grab-bag of boats of all shapes and sizes crewed by the RAN, and it was their task to assist "Z" Special Forces with transport, reconnaissance, supply, insertion and so on. Operations saw various parts of the force involved in raids into Singapore Harbour, the Celebes, Timor and Borneo, the pace of operations increasing steadily towards the end of the war.
In the hard times of 1942 and 1943, when the Australians, British and Americans were struggling to contain Japanese expansion, some vessels became little legends in their own right. Kuru, a minute motor-boat of just 55 tons, made a hero of herself on the "Timor Ferry Service" in early 1942; along with the auxilliary patrol vessel Vigilant, she ferried refugees, comandos, stores and equipment between Fremantle and small, dark bays on the Timor coast - a round trip of more than 6,000 kilometres. But perhaps the best known was Krait, originally the Japanese Kofoku Maru, a 70-foot wooden motor fishing vessel of 1920 vintage. She was seized at Singapore and sailed away before the place fell to the Japanese on 15th February 1942. An excellent type of vessel for raiding, she was taken into service and carried out many daring intrusions into enemy territory. The most famous was Operation "Jaywick", the successful insertion of canoe-borne Commandos into Singapore Harbour (26th September 1943).
Alatna, Karina, Nyanie and Misima were "AM"s - army launches transferred to Naval service, each of 62 feet and capable of 20 knots, bearing a couple of machine guns by way of armament and with considerable capacity for shifting large amounts of cargo. They first came into service at the beginning of 1944. They were officially tenders, but in practice were used as fast supply boats - "fast supply" meaning running guns and stores across five thousand kilometres of open ocean into enemy-held areas and delivering them to the commandos operating behind enemy lines.
By the end of 1944, three vessels were being used as depot ships by these raiders. Taipan was a junk, captured and converted; Anaconda and Mother Snake were big "mother ships" for the raiders, of 550 tons displacement, 125 feet overall, with a large crew of 14 to 19. Anaconda carried a single 20 mm Oerlikon gun, while Mother Snake was a floating anti-aircraft battery by comparison, sporting a 40 mm Bofors gun and two Oerlikons.

The "Snake" boats came early in 1945, and in their way are a clear indication of the resources becoming available, and of the heights to which Australian Naval organisation was ascending. The "Snakes" were purpose-designed commando-carriers - trawlers of 66 feet and 80 tons, equipped with sail as well as motors, mounting at most an Oerlikon and a few machine guns, usually concealed. They looked very much like Malay fishing boats or Chinese junks - a deliberate design feature. They also carried one very special piece of equipment, the "S" phone. This invention of the British SOE (Special Operations Executive) was a short-range radio set which sent its signal down a narrow directional beam. Since it could only be received by someone the transmitter was pointing at, it was almost undetectable to conventional listening apparatus. It was thus very useful in smuggling spies across beaches. With the end of the war came the end of a need for Commando insertions - none of these boats had been lost in service, and all were turned over to civillian use, or in the case of the ex-army boats, returned by the Navy to their original owners. Sadly, Alatna was sunk in a collision within six months of the the war ending.

"Royal Australian Navy in World War II; fleets, ships, Australian warships, second world war, Australian cruisers, County class cruisers, Amphion class cruisers, Birmingham class cruisers, Chatham class cruisers; destroyers, Tribal class destroyers,

 

HMS Moonstone

 

The A/S Trawler HMCS Liscomb

 

Vorpostenboot

Vorpostenboote (patrol boats) were the workhorses in the costal operations of the Kriegsmarine. Used for patrol duty, escort or submarine hunting those smal vessels were used at all costal areas where the Kriegsmarine was operating.
Due to the lack of "real" warships, several kind of existing boats were modified to serve in the role of a Vorpostenboot - harbor boats, yachts and mainly fishing boats. Escepcially fishing boats could be found in huge numbers, either at the German coast or the coasts of occupied territorys. Equipped with 8,8 cm guns and anti-aircraft guns of various kinds and numbers, those boats could harm enemy motor gun boats which they engaged in the British Channel, but were outgunned it they encountered destroyers or bigger warships.
The drawing and the technical data shows a typical Vorpostenboot based on the design of a pre-war fishing boat.

Vorpostenboot Information

 

Flugsicherungsschiff Richthofen 1943

Flugsicherungsschiffe were originally planned to support float planes in areas where no costal bases were available. The history of the ships in German services can be lead back to those ships used in the 1920s to enable float plane traffic across the South Atlantic for mail services. Some of those early ships were still used by the Kriegsmarine in World War II.
Equipped with a huge crane, those ships could take the float planes on board, refuel them or do some maintenance duty. Some larger ships also had a large catapult to launch the float planes with a higher fuel load that would be possible if the planes would start by themselves. Flugsicherungsschiffe were used in their traditional role in Norwegian waters where they launched float planes for reconaisance duties over the arctic sea.
During the last years of the war, these ships were also used in different roles, like escort ships, depots etc.
The Richthofen was the second ship of a class of five. Only two of them, the Richthofen (which first planned name was Mölders ) and the Hans Albrecht Wedel were completed, the 3 other ones were cancelled in a very early phase of construction.



Richthofen Information

 

Gunboat Lepanto in China

 

US Navy "Q-Ship" USS Atik (AK-101)

 

Hinged flaps aft of the anchor hid 3" guns aboard USS Anacapa.

 

One of the strangest ships in US Naval History was the USS Atik (AK-101). The Atik started its life as the 6,610-ton, steel-hulled, single-screw steamer Carolyn. The Carolyn was laid down on 15 March 1912 at the Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company, Newport News, Virginia, for the A.K. Bull Steamship Lines. She was launched on 3 July 1912 and completed later that same year. The ship was approximately 382 feet long and 46 feet wide and had a top speed of 9 knots.

For its first 30 years, the Carolyn carried freight and passengers from the West Indies to various ports on America’s eastern seaboard. During World War I, the Carolyn was given a 3-inch and a 5-inch gun to defend itself from German U-boats, along with a detachment of Naval Armed Guard to operate the guns. But the Carolyn did not encounter any German submarines during the war.

After the United States entered World War II, though, there was yet another concentration of German U-boats off the coast of America. In January 1942, the Germans unleashed Operation “Paukenschlag,” or “Drumbeat,” its U-boat offensive against the United States. The sea routes to England had to be kept open, but the US Navy was desperately short of ocean-going escorts for its merchant ships. President Franklin Roosevelt, therefore, decided to establish a “Q-ship” program for the US Navy to help combat the U-boat threat.

The “Q-ship” was one of those naval oddities that, when it worked, it worked very well. But when it failed, it usually spelled disaster for the crew of the Q-ship. The Q-ship was a standard merchant ship that was armed with guns. But these guns were hidden under fake bulkheads and crates, giving the illusion that the ship was just a normal merchant ship. The Q-ship would act as a decoy and try to lure a U-boat to the surface and steam as close to the German submarine as possible. The Q-ship would then uncover its guns and fire on the unsuspecting U-boat, hopefully sinking it. This whole theory also depended on the assumption that the submarine would actually come to the surface and not just sink the Q-ship with a torpedo while it was submerged. The Royal Navy created the program during World War I and it met with some success, although the cost of these operations was very high. Many Q-ships were severely damaged or sunk and only a few German submarines were damaged or destroyed. But President Roosevelt thought that the concept still had some potential and so encouraged the US Navy to develop its own Q-ships.

The Carolyn was acquired by the US Navy on 12 February 1942 and was sent to Portsmouth, New Hampshire for conversion into a Q-ship. The Navy also acquired another old steamer, the Evelyn, for this same purpose. Both ships were given “AK” or cargo ship designations and the Carolyn was renamed the USS Atik (AK-101) and the Evelyn became the USS Asterion (AK-100). On the outside, the two steamers looked like ordinary merchant ships, but they had, in reality, been armed with several guns that were hidden from view. The Atik was armed with four 4-inch guns, four .50-caliber machine guns, four .30-caliber Lewis machine guns, and six depth charge projectors. The Atik also was given a crew of 141 officers and men. The Atik was commissioned on 5 March 1942, Lt. Commander Harry Lynnwood Hicks in command. The Asterion, which received a similar armament, was commissioned on 23 March 1942. Both ships left Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and went their separate ways.

From the start, the US Navy didn’t think either ship would last more than a month after starting their assignments. Atik’s holds were packed with pulpwood, in hopes that after she was torpedoed it would help keep her afloat. The Atik began steaming along the East Coast, hoping to lure a U-boat into attacking it. Because the situation was so desperate, the US Navy basically told the captains of each Q-ship that there was no help to send them if they were actually attacked by a U-boat. Every available escort was already committed to convoy duties, so the Q-ships were, basically, on their own.

Several days after the Atik left Portsmouth, she was spotted by the German submarine U-123. The U-boat happened to be steaming on the surface when she spotted the Atik at 2200 on 26 March 1942. The submarine shadowed the cargo ship for a while and then fired a torpedo at the Atik shortly after midnight on 27 March. The torpedo hit the Atik on her port side, underneath the bridge. The explosion caused a fire to break out and the ship started to list. The Atik sent out a distress signal that was picked up at radio stations at Manasquan, New Jersey, and at Fire Island, New York. The Atik stated that she was approximately 300 miles east by south from Norfolk, Virginia, and that there was a “Torpedo attack; burning forward; require assistance.”

The U-123 moved around the stricken freighter’s stern and noted that a lifeboat was being lowered from the starboard side of the ship. But the Atik had not given up the fight. When U-123 turned to starboard, the Atik began firing her guns at the German submarine. The Atik’s cannon shots fell short of the submarine, but her .50-caliber machine guns scored a number of hits on the U-boat, killing a young midshipman who was standing on the bridge. The U-boat gradually moved away from the Atik and submerged. At 0229, the U-123 fired another torpedo at the Atik and scored a hit. But the tough merchant ship stubbornly clung to life. Even though she had settled by the bow and her single screw was out of the water, the Atik still would not go down. The U-123 surfaced at 0327 to see why the Atik was still afloat and at 0350 a huge explosion ripped through the merchant ship. What was left of the Atik went down, taking the bulk of her crew with her.

Shortly after this battle, a strong storm blanketed the area, preventing ships and planes from searching for survivors. No survivors from the Atik were ever found. The U-123 left the area after burying its only casualty at sea. It was not until after the war that translated German documents from the U-123 showed what had actually happened to the Atik.

In one of those many ironies in military history, the Atik’s sister ship, Asterion, was steaming in the same area when she heard the Atik’s distress call. The Asterion’s captain, Lt. Commander Glen W. Legwen, Jr., tried to come to the Atik’s assistance, but with a top speed of only 10 knots there was no way the Asterion could get there in time. By the time the Asterion got to the Atik’s last reported position, the battle was long over. The Asterion searched the area for 24 hours before a mechanical problem with her steering gear forced her to return to Hampton Roads for repairs.

The Asterion continued working as a Q-ship for a few more months but never encountered a German U-boat. On 14 October 1943, the entire program was officially canceled. The Asterion was assigned to the US Coast Guard and converted into a weather ship. The US Navy, along with President Roosevelt, decided to cut their losses and terminate this program, placing a greater emphasis on constructing more ocean-going escorts, such as destroyers, destroyer escorts, and corvettes. Unfortunately, this decision did not come in time to save the Atik or her crew.

Naval Warfare: USS Atik (AK-101)

 

PG 54​

 

USS Eagle 56 (PE-56)

 

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HMA Ships Bingera, Birchgrove Park, Bambo, Bonthorpe, Burrabra, Heros, Kingbay, Kybra, Viti, Vigilant (renamed Sleuth (1944) and Hawk (1945)), Wyrallah (renamed Wilcannia), Yandra.
All these ships were taken up in 1939 or 1940, except Burrabra, which was requisitioned in 1942. Kybra, Bingera, Yandra and Wilcannia were fitted out as anti-submarine escorts from the start. As with other auxilliaries, many were elderly coal-burners but otherwise they differed widely from each other.

The tiny Vigilant, described as looking like a miniature destroyer, was built in 1938 displacing only 106 tons, and sported an old 3-pounder gun; the largest, Whyralla, was 1049 tons and carried a 4-inch gun. The slightly smaller (990 tons) Yandra was even more heavily armed, with both a 4-inch and a 12-pounder. Bingera was almost a heavyweight by comparison, with a 4-inch, a 2-pounder, a 40 mm Bofors, two 20 mm Oerlikons and her depth charges. They were originally intended as anti-submarine patrols; Yandra depth-charged a submarine during the midget attack on Sydney Harbour (31st May 1942). Eventually their war careers were as varied as every other small ship which served with the RAN. King Bay was a 237-ton motor ketch requisitioned in July 1940. She served as an examination vessel at Fremantle, a tender to a shore establishment and helped clear the harbour at Broome of wrecks after Japanese air-attack. She was finally handed over to the Army who called her "AV 708" and used her for their own purposes in northern waters. Heros became a tug, and part of the search party which went looking for survivors from the cruiser Sydney.
Bingera, Wilcannia and Yandra also carried out search and rescue for survivors of the Sydney - Kormoran fight. Vigilant had a very exciting six-months during 1942 smuggling commandos and equipment in and out of Timor on the "Timor Ferry Service". Bambo and Bingera eventually became stores-carriers.





Royal Australian Navy in World War II - Auxilliaries fighting ships

 

HMS Leith, the 3" gun forward of the Bridge can be seen clearer here with the weather screens removed. The Quarterdeck carries mine sweeping gear, depth charges were only fitted after the outbreak of war.

 

Types of small armed craft used by the US Navy during WWII,

Submarine Chasers: Patrol Craft (PC), Patrol Craft Control (PCC), Patrol Craft Escort (PCE), Patrol Craft Escort Communications (PCEC), Patrol Craft Escort Rescue (PCER), Submarine Chaser (SC), and Submarine Chaser Control (SCC).

Patrol Vessels: Yard Patrol (YP), Yacht (PY), and Coastal Yacht (PYc),

Minesweepers: Fleet Minesweeper (AM), Patrol Craft Sweeper (PCS), Fleet mine sweepers (AM, ex PC and ex SC), and Auxiliary Motor Minesweeper (YMS).

Gunboats: Motor Gunboats (PGM, ex PC and ex SC).

Coast Guard Cutters: Submarine Chaser (WPC), and Submarine Chaser (WSC).