HMAS Arunta (I30)

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Royal Australian Navy
HMAS Arunta
period of service
Builder: Cockatoo Island Dockyards , Sydney
Keel laying: November 15, 1939
Launch: November 30, 1940
Commissioning: March 30, 1942
Fate: Decommissioned on December 21, 1956, sunk on February 13, 1969 en route to scrapping.
Technical specifications
Ship type : destroyer
Displacement : 1970  ts standard
2700 ts maximum
Length: 115 m
Width: 11.1 m
Draft : 2.74 m
Drive : 3 Admirality 3-drum steam boiler
Parsons steam turbines with single gear
44,000 WPS on two screws
Speed : 36 kn
Crew : 250
Armament: Commissioning:
6 × 120 mm cannon (3 * 2)
2 × 4 inch -Geschütz (1 * 2)
6 × 20-mm-Oerlikon - Fla - MK
1 × 2-pounder Flak (1 * 4)
46 Depth charges

Reconstruction 1945:
all Oerlikon removed
6 × 40 mm Bofors - flak installed

Conversion 1949:
120 mm twin turret aft, 2 pounder anti-aircraft guns and existing depth charges removed,
2 × 40 mm Bofors and 1 Squid depth charge thrower installed

The HMAS Arunta (I30) (from 1949: D130) was one of three Australian destroyers of the (second) Tribal class . It was used by the Royal Australian Navy during World War II . The name "Arunta" refers to the Arrernte people who live in central Australia and are also called Arunta or Aranda .

history

The Arunta was placed shortly after the war began in Kiel and the end of March 1942, four months after the start of the Pacific War put in service.

After the end of their trials, the Arunta was used from mid-May to early August 1942 for submarine hunts off the Australian east coast. Japanese submarines were active in the area during this period and sank a total of seven ships. In addition, on May 31st, Sydney Harbor was attacked by micro-submarines . This was one of several operations in the Pacific designed to divert attention from the impending Japanese invasion of Midway .

From August 11, the destroyer was used as an escort on the route between Australia and New Guinea , on August 29 there was first contact with the enemy when she tracked down the Japanese submarine RO-33 off Port Moresby and sank it with depth charges. In September, the Arunta in Milne Bay rescued the survivors of the freighter Anshun, which was sunk by Japanese cruisers on the night of September 6th . At the beginning of January 1943, the convoy service was briefly interrupted when the destroyer brought most of the Australian troops remaining on Timor to Darwin . The Allied High Command had decided that the forces used in the Battle of Timor should be better deployed in New Guinea and the Solomon Islands . After an overhaul in Sydney, the Arunta then returned to her job as an escort for New Guinea convoys.

In June 1943, the destroyer was finally assigned to Task Force 74, an association consisting of Australian and US units, whose flagship was the heavy cruiser HMAS Australia . At the end of June, Task Force 74 entered the Coral Sea to support the American landings at Kiriwina . On July 20, the light cruiser HMAS Hobart was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine and then escorted to Sydney for repairs by the Arunta and the HMAS Warramunga . From July to October 1943, further escort duties followed in the South Pacific and another overhaul in Sydney. At the end of October, the Arunta returned to Task Force 74, which supported the American forces in the Battle of the Northern Solomon Islands from Milne Bay . On November 30, the Arunta, together with the destroyers Warramunga , USS Helm and USS Ralph Talbot, shelled Japanese positions near Gasmata in New Britain . In December, Task Force 74 then supported the landings at Arawe and Cape Gloucester . While there was fierce fighting on land, there was little for the ships to do apart from repelling a few smaller air raids, as the Japanese defended New Britain mainly with ground troops and rarely used their fleet. In January 1944, the Arunta was assigned to Task Force 76, which supported the landings of the 32nd US Infantry Division at Saidor, New Guinea on January 2 . For the remainder of the month, the destroyer escorted ships between New Britain and New Guinea.

After a brief overhaul in Sydney, the ship took part again as part of Task Force 76 in the conquest of the Admiralty Islands . It was also used as a troop transport and brought troops and supplies of the 7th US Cavalry Regiment to Hyane Harbor . In April, it supported the Allied landings in the Tanahmerah Bay , Humboldt Bay and Aitape area - again as part of Task Force 74 . In mid-May 1944, the island of Wakde was conquered and on May 27, the landing on Biak . During the fighting, the task force patrolled the island at night to prevent Japanese attempts at reinforcement and supply, and during the day it withdrew towards Hollandia to reduce the risk of Japanese air attacks. On the night of June 7th to 8th, there was contact with four Japanese destroyers who were trying to escape the task force at high speed. There was a chase for several hours at a speed of over 30 kn , which had to be finally broken off, otherwise one would have come too close to the Japanese air bases and thus within the range of the aircraft stationed there. This was followed by operations to support the troops in New Guinea, the landing at Cape Sansapor in July and the operation at Morotai , the last major landing operation of the offensive in New Guinea.

On October 13, 1944, the Arunta ran out as part of the 7th US fleet for the liberation of the Philippines , which began on October 20 with the landing on the island of Leyte . The Japanese decided to use every available major warship to repel this attack to destroy the beachhead - although their fleet was hopelessly inferior to the Allied forces ( 3rd and 7th US Fleet). This desperate endeavor led to four major skirmishes on October 24th and 25th, collectively known as the sea ​​and air battles in the Gulf of Leyte . The Arunta fought as part of the Allied formations under the command of Admiral Jesse B. Oldendorf in the battle of Surigao Street . This was the attempt of the Japanese southern group - consisting of the battleships Yamashiro and Fuso , the heavy cruiser Mogami and four destroyers - to penetrate through the Strait of Surigao into the Gulf of Leyte . On the Allied side, six battleships - four heavy and four light cruisers, 28 destroyers and 39 speedboats  - were available. Due to the imbalance and the technological advantage of radar , the battle developed into a very one-sided battle. On the way through the narrow Surigao Street, the Japanese were attacked first by the speedboats and then by the destroyers with torpedoes . The Fuso and three Japanese destroyers were sunk and the Yamashiro damaged. The Arunta attacked the destroyer Shigure with its torpedoes , but scored no hits. The Shigure was the only Japanese ship to survive the battle; the Yamashiro and the Mogami were sunk by the American battleships and the next morning by air raids. Only one speedboat was lost on the Allied side.

The Arunta during coastal bombardment, Aitape , ( New Guinea ) July 1944

The Arunta remained in service with the Philippines until March 1945, the only damage it suffered when a kamikaze aircraft narrowly missed the ship on January 5, 1945 and crashed into the sea right next to the hull. Two crew members later succumbed to their injuries. After a six-week overhaul in Sydney, the destroyer took part in the landings at Wewak in New Guinea in May 1945 , followed by the landings in Brunei on Borneo in June and the recapture of Balikpapan in July. At the time of the Japanese surrender on August 15, the ship was in dock in Sydney.

Between the end of the war and January 1949, the destroyer was part of the Allied occupation forces in Japan several times before it was decommissioned for a total of four years to modernize the Cockatoo Island Dockyards . After the completion of the work in November 1952, the Arunta mostly carried out exercises in Australian waters to re-train the crew. In 1954, patrol service followed in Korean waters, a consequence of the Korean War of 1950–1953. For the next two years, the destroyer was part of the British Pacific Fleet before it was finally decommissioned on November 21, 1956 and mothballed as part of the reserve fleet. In 1968 the ship was sold to Taiwan for scrapping ; when it was about to be towed there, it sank off the Australian coast on February 13, 1969.

Since 1995 there is again an Australian warship called HMAS Arunta, which has the callsign FFH 151 . The frigate belongs to the Anzac class .

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