HMAS Australia (D-84) [Pre Modernisation]

HMAS AUSTRALIA (D84), launched in 1927, she was a County-class heavy cruiser built for the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). AUSTRALIA was laid down by John Brown and Company of Clydebank at Glasgow, Scotland on August 26, 1925. She was launched on March 17, 1927 and commissioned on April 24, 1928, two months before sister ship HMAS CANBERRA.After World War II began, "The Aussie" (as the ship was affectionately known within the RAN), first fired her main armament of eight 8 inch guns in anger off the coast of Dakar, in late 1940.

During 1941, AUSTRALIA escorted convoys and patrolled the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. Following the onset of the Pacific War, AUSTRALIA was re-deployed to the South West Pacific Area. In May 1942, during the Battle of the Coral Sea, the ship survived a brief but intense attack from Japanese torpedo bombers. On October 21, 1944 in the lead-up to the Battle of Leyte Gulf, AUSTRALIA was hit by a Japanese plane carrying a 200 kg (441 lb) bomb, in what is believed to be the first-ever kamikaze, however the bomb failed to explode. At least 30 crew members died as a result of the attack, including the commanding officer, Captain Emile Dechaineux.

On October 25, AUSTRALIA was hit again and was forced to retire to the New Hebrides for repairs. The ship returned to combat in January 1945; by the end of the war, she had survived being hit by kamikazes on six separate occasions, the most any ship had been hit by kamikazes, which had resulted in the loss of 86 lives.

Following the end of the war, AUSTRALIA served as a training ship. She paid off on 31 August 1954 and sold for scrap to a British Iron and Steel Corporation on 25 Jan 1955.

Customer Reviews: