lifeasdaddy

lifeasdaddy - Max Shean helps me to identify this rare World War II photograph.

Here's a series of rare photographs of a Royal Navy midget submarine taken in Subic Bay, Philippines during World War II.  These photographs were taken from the deck of HMAS Shropshire.

The first and second photograph show three crew members on the deck.

The next photograph shows the submarine at periscope depth.  to see the periscope, look carefully in the foreground.

The history of British midget submarines during World War II is now perhaps little known.  It is a history of incredible bravery, and certain heroism.

Australians played a part in crewing some of the midget submarines.

A brief history of the actions of the British midget submarines can be found here on Ahoy - Mac's weblog.

More information about the Royal Navy midget submarines (X-craft and XE-craft) can be found here,    here,  here,  and here, 

Some internet resources state that both midget submarines XE-4 and XE-5 were present in Subic Bay.

XE-4 and crew were assigned Operation Sabre - cutting the Japanese telecommunications cable  off Saigon, east of the Mekong river mouth.

XE-4's crew was:

Lt. Max H. Shean, RANVR
ERA V. "Ginger" Coles
Sub-Lt. Ben Kelly, RNVR
Sub-Lt. A.K. "Jock" Bergius, RNVR
Sub-Lt. Ken. M. Briggs, RANVR

XE-5 and crew were assigned Operation Foil - cutting the Japanese telecommunications cable in Hong Kong bay.

XE-5's crew was:

Lt. H.P. Westmacott, RN
1st. Lt. Beadon Dening, RNVR
ERA Clifford Greenwood
Lt. B.G. Clarke, RNVR
Sub-Lt. D.V.M. Jarvis, RNVR

Today I was able to speak to Mr. Max Shean ( DSO and Bar, Bronze Star ).  For a comprehensive summary of his midget submarine actions in WWII go here.   

Mr. Shean kindly consented to answer my questions about the photographs.  He said that the midget submarine he commanded, XE-4, was never in Subic Bay, and instead was launched from Brunei Bay for its mission off Saigon. 

He further stated that XE-5 was launched from Subic Bay, and that one of the crew members visible on deck in the photograph was most likely "Pat" Westmacott , commander of XE-5 for its mission in Hong Kong Bay.. A New Zealander who joined the Royal Navy.

So, the midget submarine in the photograph is XE-5, in Subic Bay prior to Operation Foil.

Stan Nicholls has written a  comprehensive book about HMAS Shropshire, and in Chapter 8 he states that Shropshire entered Subic Bay on 26 July 1945, and exercised in the surounding area for the next several days.

The interesting sidebar story here is that I was able to speak to Mr. Shean at all.     I was looking for searching online for information about Subic Bay + midget submarines, and saw links to stories about Max Shean.  I also noticed that as late as 2005 he was very active in the area of Fremantle, Western Australia and lived closeby the Fremantle Sailing Club.  Then with the whitepages online telephone directory it was a cinch to find him, "Hello, may I speak to Mr. Max Shean please ..."

I hope I'm as active and as alert when I'm 88 years old.

[ These photographs are from a private collection and may not be published elsewhere without the express permission of the author of this blog.  Enquire to lifeasaddy  <at > gmail dot com   ]

lifeasdaddy - HMAS Shropshire. Part 5: Robert Slatyer's interview and HMAS Shropshire's radar.

Robert Slatyer was a Sub-Lieutenant, Assistant Radar Officer on HMAS Shropshire during 1943-1945 and granted an interview to the Australian War Memorial's oral history programme in 2005.  The interview is conducted by Edie Swift. 

(AWM ID no. of the interview is S03756)

I recently listened to the fascinating interview.  Slatyer gives a brief account of his life leading up to  his enlistment for war service in 1942 after completing his studies in industrial chemistry.  This scientific background no doubt earmarked him for training in the use of the emergent secret radar technology.  He was sent to Sydney University with other selected RAAF and RAN students to study radio physics under Professor Victor Bailey  (see AWM photograph ID P03943.002).  All the RAN sailor students were subsequently commissioned Sub-Lieutenant in the Royal Australian Navy Volunteer Reserve and sent for further radar training.

He was eventually posted aboard HMAS Shropshire and in the intervew details the use of radar in the early detection of enemy ships and significantly enemy aircraft.  This became very important in defence against the Japanese kamikaze aircraft attacks.  Slatyer also details during the interview the use of radar with an integrated naval gunnery fire control system.

[ An excellent overview of the use of radar on HMAS Shropshire is given in Mackenzie Gregory's Ahoy weblog HERE.  ] 

Slatyer goes into some detail in the interview about shipboard life including various actions and operations performed by HMAS Shropshire and her company over the lsat two years of WWII.  He also goes into some ephemeral social history details of the time recounting his rare time of home leave, and the social and family occasions he attended.

Which enables me to introduce a couple of rare photographs.

Robert Slatyer mentions one humorous incident which occurred after shore leave on Tawi-Tawi.  Apparently some of the ratings smuggled a monkey on board ship, which had to be put off ASAP to avoid monkey-business.

Here's a picture of the monkey with a chook on board HMAS Shropshire:

He also mentions the 7th Australian Division landings on Balikpapan (then part of Borneo, now part of Kalimantan provine, Indonesia) and the part HMAS Shropshire played in support of that with shore bombardment from the ship's guns.

Slatyer mentions the huge palls of smoke from the oil refinery fires on Balikpapan, and here's a photo taken from HMAS Shropshire of the smoke:

[ Balikpapan was of obvious strategic importance given that it was an oil refinery town, but the battle to take it became controversial, due to the subsequent dropping of the Atomic bombs and the end of the war.  Here's an overview of the infantry battle. Here's a Navy view. ]

Here's another official Australian government webpage reviewing the history of such amphibious landings, and it includes a photograph of HMAS Shropshire's 8-inch guns bombarding Balkipapan on 30 June 1945

It would be great if the Australian War Memorial could put some of these interviews on iTunes as podcasts for download.

[ These photographs are from a private collection, and may not be published elsewhere without the express permission of the blog author.  Want to use the photo?  Contact lifeasdaddy <at> gmail dot com ]

lifeasdaddy - HMAS Shropshire. Part 4: More naval gunnery

HMAS Shropshire firing a broadside was shown here.     Here's her 8-inch guns during night firing:

Here's one of her 4-inch gun batteries night firing:

Here's HMAS Shropshire's 4" gun crew at drill:

Reloading a 4" gun:

..

[ These photographs are from a private collection, and may not be published elsewhere without the express permission of the blog author.  Want to use the photo?  Contact lifeasdaddy <at> gmail dot com ]

lifeasdaddy - HMAS Shropshire. Part 4: The Ship's company

Mac Gregory has sent me a picture of the HMAS Shropshire ship's company taken in January 1945.

It's a fine photograph, and Mac appears in the second row, seated in the chair at right.

Here's the story of the making of the photograph.

lifeasdaddy - HMAS Shropshire. Part 3: Firing a broadside.

Mac Gregory has sent me a photo of HMAS Shropshire firing an 8-inch gun broadside in Lingayen Gulf during January 1945.

Thanks Mac.

lifeasdaddy - HMAS Shropshire. Part 2: What was her tonnage?

Part 1 was here.

On the cover of each monthly book of the Ship's Log was space to inscribe the vital statistics of the ship.

Navy Unit Description, tonnage, horse power and guns.

This revealed a curiosity regarding the tonnage of HMAS Shropshire.

From the time of the ship entering service with the Royal Australian Navy in August 1943 until February 1944 the Ship's log gave the tonnage as 10,000 ( an unusually round figure).  From the next month, March 1944, onward the tonnage was given as 14,283 (an unusually exact figure).

Various sources available on the internet give varying figures for the Shropshire's tonnage, none as high as 14,283 tons.

Here are some examples:

Wikepedia (in this case the least reliable) gives it as 9,750 tons standard and 13,220 tons full load

Sea Power Centre Australia (Official R.A.N. history site)  gives it as 9,850 tons.

The Australian official history: Royal Australian Navy 1942-1945 by G. Hermon Gill (1985 edition) on page 103 gives the figure 10,000 tons.

How to get an accurate answer, if there is one?

I discovered that Mackenzie Gregory runs a great website called AHOY  devoted to World War II naval history, and that he served on HMAS Shropshire. He lives in Melbourne, and his webmaster is Terry Kearns of Atlanta, Georgia.  So I sent him an email with my query.

Here's his answer:

"When the ship was built she was completed at a trials displacement of 10,032 tonnes in July of 1929, and also carried out trials at a full load of 12,7000 tons,

also in 1929.

At that time her AA armament was 4 by single 4 inch guns, plus 4 single barrel pom poms.

In the Pacific War I do not believe any cruiser would have survived the Kamikaze attacks with that limited AA armament.

In the 1943 refit to turn her over to the RAN the AA armament changed to: 8 by 4 inch guns in 4 twin mountings, 2 twin 8 barreled pom poms  ( a 4 fold increase )

2 single 20mm oerlikons, 5 power operated twin 20mm oerlikons. Projector rockets 12, 2 inch VP fitted to A turret.

In late 1944 at Manus, the Gunnery Officer swapped two cases of Scotch for 13 40mm single Army Bofors with an effective range of 5,000 yards, and we ditched

all the oerlikons whose range was but 1,000 yards.

At the refit 3 by 36 inch searchlights replaced 2 by 36 inch and 1 by 18 inch.

By now the torpedo tubes had been removed to cut down on top weight, and the aircraft had gone.

In the 1943 refit, modern Radar was fitted and all the extra weight of Aerials, fitted high up in the ship etc added to tonnage.

The ships original deep draft was 18 feet aft, with all the new guns, ammunition, supplies,  radar, and extra crew to man them, the new deep draft was 22.5 feet.

In my ... time in the ship, her crew numbered about 1,280, by contrast Canberra when we were sunk carried a crew in the 800' s.

So, the 14,263 figure in 1944 would reflect all those changes, Captain Nichols also loaded extra 8 inch ammunition, and a single 8 inch shell comes in at 256 pounds.

I would not have been suprised to learn we topped 15,000 when fully loaded .

I hope this helps a little."

Thanks Mac, that's a big help.

So, the answer is that HMAS Shropshire fit for war displaced around 15,000 tons.

[All photographs in this blog post taken by Robert Meade and all content of photographs sourced from National Archives of Australia, SP551/1, Bundle 502]

Copyright permission granted by the National Archives of Australia to publish here.

lifeasdaddy - Last week I touched history: HMAS Shropshire's ship's logs. Part 1.

Last Thursday I touched history.

I went to the National Archives of Australia's reading room in Sydney and examined the Ship's log of the heavy cruiser HMAS Shropshire for 1944 and 1945. 

A reminder of what was happening in 1944 and 1945.  Australia and our allies were at war with Japan and Germany and their allies.  Near our corner of the world was The War in the Pacific.

I'm doing some research about the wartime service of HMAS Shropshire and her crew. She was one of the Royal Australian Navy's finest fighting ships.

HMAS Shropshire was a County Class Heavy Cruiser (like HMAS Australia) and was a gift from the British Government after the tragic loss of HMAS Canberra and eighty-two  84 of her officers and men in the Battle of Savo Island.

Shropshire joined Task Force - 74 in the Pacific in October 1943. Subsequent actions were at: Arawe, Cape Gloucester, Admiralty Islands, Tanahmera Bay, Wake Island, Biak, Aitape, Cape Sansapor, Morotai, Leyte Island, Battle of Surigao Strait, Lingayen Gulf, Corregidor, Brunei Bay, Balikpapan - and was present in Tokyo Bay for the Surrender Ceremony

The National Archives of Australia has a website which makes an extraordinary amount of resources on our history and heritage available to the public and researchers.

I registered online for a Reader's Ticket, and two weeks ago submitted an online request to view the 1944 HMAS Shropshire Ship's logs.  The next morning I received a telephone from an Archives Officer checking the details of my request and the exact date upon which I would attend the reading room.  She stated that she would order up the records from storage for that date.  NAA records are usually unique, and as such may only be personally viewed at an official reading room, although an increasing amount of their collection is usefully available for viewing online.

When I arrived at the Chester Hill reading room location a few small formalities were completed, including my request for permission to take digital photographs and a familiarisation with the reading room rules.  Then into the secure reading room.

After checking the details of my request, the helpful staff member retrieved the relevant box from the adjacent storeroom.

The photo at right shows how they are stored in archive boxes. Citation: (National Archives of Australia AA: SP1251/1, Bundle 502)

The logs are comprised of monthly books with one day per page of records.  They are excellently preserved, and yellowed with age.  The ink inside is slightly faded, but still quite readable.

You can see the current readability of the log in the photographs below which happen to be part of the entry for 25 October 1944.  That's an important date in Naval History.  Here's what happened between 0035 hours and 1014 hours.

[I took both digital photographs and their citation is (National Archives of Australia: SP551/1, Bundle 502) ]

This entry relates to The Battle of Surigao Strait, part of the larger Battle of Leyte Gulf. That was the last great sea surface battle, and probably the largest in naval history.  HMAS Shropshire was at this time attached to the US Seventh Fleet - Task Force 74 for the purpose of the liberation of the Philippines.

The enemy ship referred to in the log being attacked by HMAS Shropshire and other US ships in the battle group is the Japanese battleship Yamashiro.

At 0356 hours, according to the log, Shropshire commenced firing broadsides with her eight-inch guns.  32 broadsides were fired until 0409 1/2 hours.  That's all of Shropshire's eight  8-inch guns pointed to one side of the ship and firing simultaneously.  Thirty-two times.  In thirteen and a half minutes.  That's once each 25 seconds.

Want to see what a broadside looks like?  Here's some video of the battleship USS Missouri doing a firepower exercise off Sydney in 1988.  The video's a bit scratchy, but you'll get the idea. Here's the video.    It's a ship with much larger guns than Shropshire.  Mighty Mo's 16-inch guns compared to Shropshire's 8-inch guns.

As an aside, I remember seeing the USS Missouri (BB-63)docked in Sydney Harbour in 1988.  It was in port as part of the celebrations for Australia's Bicentenary.    It was stunningly broad in the beam, which is for the purpose of stability when firing such broadsides.

Here's a youtube video of USS Wisconsin's 16" guns firing. 

So you get the idea.

After I had perused the HMAS Ship's logs for 1944, I then needed to view the logs for 1945.  I submitted my request on the spot, and twenty minutes later the efficent and helpful staff were placing them on my desk.

That's an encouragingly high level of service.

I'll have some more highlights from these logs to post here over the next few days.

[All photographs in the blog post taken by Robert Meade, and all content in photographs sourced from National Archives of Australia, SP551/1, Bundle 502]

Copyright permission to publish these photographs here granted by the National Archives of Australia.

Added:  Thanks to Mac Gregory for pointing out my error in stating the number of lives lost in the sinking of HMAS Canberra.  As a survivor of that sinking he knows better than most that 84 officers and men perished.

lifeasdaddy - HMAS Shropshire Part 2 is here.