Australia Station
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The Australia Station was an association of the British Royal Navy or the Royal Australian Navy . The area of responsibility included the waters around Australia and the British colonial possessions in the South Pacific . It existed from 1848 to 1941.
Since the 1820s, the East Indies Squadron of the Royal Navy sent a ship annually on patrols in the waters of the British colony of New South Wales and New Zealand . With the growing political and economic importance of the Australian colonies, the Australian Division of the East Indies Station was formed in 1848. In 1859 the division was converted into an independent command. From 1884 the station was commanded by a rear admiral. The Australian colonies set up small associations for coastal defense. Armstrong managed to sell five Rendel gunboats in 1884.
A significant increase in the presence of the Royal Navy occurred in 1891 with the formation of the Australian Auxiliary Squadron , which was financed by the colonies, and on September 5, 1891 with the five cruisers HMS Katoomba , Wallaroo , Tauranga , Ringarooma , Mildura of the Pearl class (of which are usually out of service two should) and the two torpedo gunboats Boomerang and Karrakatta the Sharpshooter class in Sydney arrived. The "normal" station of the Royal Navy only had a modern combat ship with the cruiser 1st class HMS Orlando , 5600 tn.l., which had been the station's flagship since 1888 and remained until the end of 1897. In addition, there was only one older corvette, three sloops, two of which only performed surveying tasks, three gunboats and the schooner HMS Dart .
On June 1, 1906, the 1st class cruiser under Vice Admiral Sir Wilmot Fawkes did the 14,200 tn.l. large HMS Powerful , three cruisers 2nd class ( HMS Challenger , Encounter , both 5880 tn.l., and the older, 4360 tn.l. large Cambrian ) and five cruisers 3rd class ( HMS Psyche , Pegasus , Prometheus , Pioneer and Pyramus , all of the Pelorus class , 2135 tn.l.) as well as the 960 tn.l.-large sloop HMS Torch Dienst.
On October 4, 1913, soon after the establishment of the Royal Australian Navy in 1912, the station became their responsibility. The Australian fleet included the battle cruiser HMAS Australia , the light cruisers HMAS Sydney and Melbourne , the acquired cruisers Encounter and Pioneer , and the River-class destroyers HMAS Parramatta , Warrego and Yarra . When the command changed, the Royal Navy remained responsible for New Zealand , where the HMS Psyche took over the duties as a station cruiser and was subordinate to the China Station of the Royal Navy and was converted into the New Zealand Station in 1921.
During the time of its existence, the area of responsibility of the station comprised 1/6 of the earth's surface, with the exact limits shifting from time to time. Before the start of the Second World War , the area of responsibility of the station included the waters around Australia, eastern New Guinea and extended south to Antarctica .
With the establishment of the Eastern Fleet on December 8, 1941, the Australia Station went into this.
literature
- Tom Framel: No Pleasure Cruise: The Story of the Royal Australian Navy , Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 2004
- Ian McGibbon: The Oxford Companion to New Zealand Military History , Oxford University Press, Auckland (2000), ISBN 0195583760
Web links
- Adrienne Blunt Key Resources Guide on Australian Maritime Strategy (en)
Individual evidence
- ↑ AUSTRALIA'S FIRST FLEET The Sydney Morning Herald, September 5, 1891
- ^ Australian Fleet Arrival in Sydney The Brisbane Courier, 6 October 1913
- ↑ McGibbon, p. 45