The history of the Royal Australian Navy traces the development of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) from the colonisation of Australia by the British in 1788. Until 1859, vessels of the Royal Navy made frequent trips to the new colonies. In 1859, the Australia Squadron was formed as a separate squadron and remained in Australia until 1913. Until Federation, five of the six Australian colonies operated their own colonial naval force, which formed on 1 March 1901 the Australian Navy's (AN) Commonwealth Naval Force which received Royal patronage in July 1911 and was from that time referred to as Royal Australian Navy (RAN).John M Wilkins, Australian Naval Reserve publication On 4 October 1913 the new replacement fleet for the foundation fleet of 1901 steamed through Sydney Heads for the first time.
The Royal Australian Navy has seen action in every ocean of the world. It first saw action in World War I, in the Pacific, Indian and Atlantic oceans. Between the wars the RAN's fortunes shifted with the financial situation of Australia: it experienced great growth during the 1920s, but was forced to reduce its fleet and operations during the 1930s. Consequently, when it entered World War II, the RAN was smaller than it had been at the start of World War I. During the course of World War II, the RAN operated more than 350 fighting and support ships; a further 600 small civilian vessels were put into service as auxiliary patrol boats. (Contrary to some claims, however, the RAN was not the fifth-largest navy in the world at any point during World War II.The peak strength of the Royal Canadian Navy was 95,000 personnel on VE Day, whereas the peak strength of the RAN, in mid-1945, was less than 40,000 personnel. While the RAN surpassed the RCN in terms of the number of vessels operated during 1939–45, both navies were dwarfed by the wartime fleets of the US, British, Soviet, Japanese, German, French and probably other navies. ( Rob Stuart, 2009, "Was the RCN ever the Third Largest Navy?", Canadian Naval Review, vol. 5, no. 3, pp. 5–9. ))
Following World War II, the RAN saw action in Korea, Vietnam, and other smaller conflicts. Today, the RAN consists of a small but modern force, widely regarded as one of the most powerful forces in the Asia Pacific Region.
Australia Station
In the years following the establishment of the British colony of New South Wales in 1788, Royal Navy ships of the East Indies Squadron under the command of the East Indies Station would be station in or visit Australian waters. From the 1820s, a ship was sent annually to New South Wales, and occasionally to New Zealand.Nicholls 1988, p. 2.
In 1848, an Australian Division of the East Indies Station was established,Graham 1967, p. 459. and in 1859 the British Admiralty established an independent command, the Australia Station, under the command of a Commodore who was assigned as Commander-in-Chief, Australia Station.Dennis et al. 2008, p.53. The Australian Squadron was created to which British naval ships serving on the Australia Station were assigned. The changes were partially in recognition of the fact that a large part of the East Indies Station had been detached to Australian waters, and also reflecting growing concern for the strategic situation in the western Pacific in general, and in Tahiti and New Zealand in particular. In 1884, the commander of the Australia Station was upgraded to the rank of rear admiral.
At its establishment, the Australia Station encompassed Australia and New Zealand, with its eastern boundary including Samoa and Tonga, its western edge in the Indian Ocean, south of India and its southern edge defined by the Antarctic Circle. The boundaries were modified in 1864, 1872 and 1893.Dennis et al. 2008, p. 54. At its largest, the Australia Station reached from the Equator to the Antarctic in its greatest north–south axis, and covered of the Southern Hemisphere in its extreme east–west dimension, including Papua New Guinea, New Zealand, Melanesia and Polynesia.Blunt 2002, p. 16–17.
In 1911 the Australia Station passed to the Commonwealth Naval Forces (initially under the command of RN officers) and the Australian Squadron was disbanded. The Station, now under nominal Australian command, was reduced to only cover Australia and its island dependencies to the north and east. In 1911, the Commonwealth Naval Forces was renamed the Royal Australian Navy, which in 1913 came under Australian command. The Royal Navy's Australia Station's Sydney based depots, dockyards and structures were gifted to the Commonwealth of Australia. The Royal Navy continued to support the RAN and provided additional blue-water defence capability in the Pacific up to the early years of World War II.
Colonial navies and federation
Before the Federation of Australia in 1901, five of the six self-governing colonies in Australia operated a navy, the exception being Western Australia which did not have a naval force. The colonial navies were supported by the ships of the Royal Navy's Australian Station which was established in 1859. In 1856, Victoria received its own naval vessel, HMCSS Victoria, which in 1860 was deployed to assist the New Zealand colonial government during the First Taranaki War. When Victoria returned to Australia, the vessel had taken part in several minor actions, with the loss of one crew member. The deployment of Victoria to New Zealand marked the first occasion that an Australian warship had been deployed overseas. In the years leading up to Federation, Victoria had the most powerful of the colonial navies. Victoria had since 1870, as well as HMVS Nelson, three small gunboats and five torpedo-boats. NSW had two very small torpedo boats, and the corvette Wolverine. The colonial navies were expanded greatly in the mid-1880s and usually consisted of gunboats and torpedo-boats for coastal defence of harbours and rivers, and naval brigades to man vessels and forts.
On 1 January 1901, Australia became a federation of six States, as the Commonwealth of Australia, which on 1 March 1901 took over the defence forces from the States, to form the Commonwealth Naval Forces. The Australian and New Zealand governments agreed with the Imperial government to help fund the Royal Navy's Australian Squadron, while the Admiralty committed itself to maintain the Squadron at a constant strength. In 1902, the commander of the Australia Station was upgraded to the rank of vice admiral. The boundaries were again modified in 1908.
Formation
A growing number of people, among them Captain William Rooke Creswell, the director of the Commonwealth Naval Forces, demanded an autonomous Australian navy, financed and controlled by Australia. In 1907 Prime Minister Alfred Deakin and Creswell, while attending the Imperial Conference in London, sought the British Government's agreement to end the subsidy system and develop an Australian navy. The Admiralty rejected the idea, but suggested diplomatically that a small fleet of destroyers and submarines would be sufficient. Deakin was not impressed with the Admiralty, and in 1908 invited the United States Great White Fleet to visit Australia. The visit prompted public enthusiasm for a modern navy and led to the order of two 700-ton s. The surge in German naval construction in 1909 led the Admiralty to change its position on an Australian navy, which resulted in the Naval Defence Act 1910 being passed which created the Australian navy.
The first Australian warship, the destroyer , was launched at Govan in Scotland on Wednesday 9 February 1910. Sister ship was launched at Dumbarton in Scotland on Saturday 9 April 1910. Both ships were commissioned into the Royal Navy on 19 September 1910 and sailed for Australia, arriving at Port Phillip on 10 December 1910. The event was marred by the death of Engineer Lieutenant W. Robertson, RN, who suffered a heart attack outside Port Phillip Heads whilst onboard HMAS Yarra, and drowned."Death of a Bluejacket" . Retrieved 24 September 2007.
The British Australia Station passed to the Commonwealth Naval Forces in 1911 and the Australian Squadron was disbanded. On 10 July 1911, King George V granted the title of "Royal Australian Navy" to the Commonwealth Naval Forces, and RAN ships could carry the prefix "His Majesty's Australian Ship" (HMAS). The Station was reduced to cover Australia and its island dependencies to the north and east, excluding New Zealand and its surrounds, which became part of the China Station and called the New Zealand Naval Forces. The Navy was to operate under the authority of the Australian Commonwealth Naval Board, which functioned from 1 March 1911.
At the 1911 Imperial Conference Australia expressed concern about Japan's growing naval power and it was agreed that the British government would consult Australia when negotiating renewal of the Anglo-Japanese Alliance. It was also decided that the Royal Navy would continue to support the RAN and provide blue-water defence capability in the Pacific and that if there was war the ships of the RAN would be transferred to British Admiralty control. Under the Naval Defence Act 1912 (Cth) the power to make the transfer was conferred in the Governor-General. The RAN would become the Australia Squadron of the Royal Navy with all ships and personnel under the direct control of the British Admiralty, while the RAN remained responsible for the upkeep of the ships and training.
In 1913, responsibility for the reduced Australia Station passed to the new Royal Australian Navy under nominal Australian command, with the Australia Squadron of the Royal Navy's Australia Station coming to an end and its Sydney based depots, dockyards and structures being gifted to the Commonwealth of Australia. The first commanding officer was Admiral George Edwin Patey, Rear Admiral Commanding HM Australian Fleet, on loan from the Royal Navy. On Saturday 4 October 1913 the Australian fleet, consisting of the battle cruiser , the cruisers and , the protected cruiser , and the torpedo-boat destroyers Parramatta, Yarra and , entered Sydney Harbour for the first time. The manpower of the fleet stood at four hundred officers and men and, for the next two years, ships were built for the fledgling navy.
The Royal Navy continued to support the RAN and provide blue-water defence capability in the Pacific up to the early years of World War II. In 1958, the boundaries of Australia Station was redrawn again, now to include Papua New Guinea.
World War I
On 3 August 1914, as the prospect of war with the German Empire loomed, the Australian Government sent the following message to the Admiralty.Official History of Australia in the War of 1914 – 1918 Volume XI Chapter 1. The United Kingdom declared war on Germany the next day, and on 8 August, the Australian Government received a reply, requesting that the transfer be made immediately, if not already done. Two days later, on 10 August, the Governor-General officially transferred control of the Royal Australian Navy to the British Admiralty, which would retain control until 19 August 1919.Official History of Australia in the War of 1914 – 1918 Volume XI Chapter 1 Appendix 27.
At the outbreak of war, the RAN stood at 3,800 personnel and consisted of sixteen ships, including the battlecruiser Australia, the light cruisers Sydney and Melbourne, the destroyers Parramatta, Yarra, and Warrego, and the submarines and . The light cruiser and three destroyers were under construction, and a small fleet of auxiliary ships was also being maintained. As a consequence the Royal Australian Navy at the start of the war was a small but formidable force.