HMAS Albatross (1928)

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
For other ships with the same name, see HMAS Albatross and HMS Albatross.

HMAS Albatross with one of her aircraft overhead
History
Australia
BuilderCockatoo Docks and Engineering Company
Laid down16 April 1926
Launched23 February 1928
Completed21 December 1928
Commissioned23 January 1929
Decommissioned26 April 1933
Stricken1938
Motto"Usque Ad Nubes Prolem Emitto"
FateTraded to Royal Navy as part payment for HMAS Hobart
United Kingdom
Acquired1938
Decommissioned3 August 1945
Honours and
awards
  • Atlantic 1939–42
  • Normandy 1944
FateSold for commercial use 19 August 1946, scrapped 1954
BadgeOn a Field Barry wavy white and blue an Albatross volant proper.
Greece
Stricken12 August 1954
FateScrapped in Hong Kong
General characteristics
TypeSeaplane tender until 1944, then repair ship
Displacement4,800 tons (standard)
Length443 ft 7 in (135.20 m)
Beam
  • 58 ft (18 m) moulded
  • 77.75 ft (23.70 m) at sponsons
Draught
  • 1930: 16 ft 11.5 in (5.169 m)
  • 1936: 17.25 ft (5.26 m)
Propulsion4 × Yarrow boilers, Parsons Turbines, 12,000 shp (8,900 kW), 2 shafts
Speed22 knots (41 km/h; 25 mph)
Range
  • 4,280 nmi (7,930 km; 4,930 mi) at 22 knots (41 km/h; 25 mph)
  • 7,900 nmi (14,600 km; 9,100 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph)
Complement29 RAN officers, 375 RAN sailors, 8 RAAF officers, 38 RAAF enlisted
Armament
Aircraft carried9 aircraft (6 active, 3 reserve)
Aviation facilities3 recovery cranes

HMAS Albatross (later HMS Albatross) was a seaplane tender of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN), which was later transferred to the Royal Navy and used as a repair ship. Albatross was built by Cockatoo Island Dockyard during the mid-1920s and entered service at the start of 1929. The ship experienced problems with the aircraft assigned to her during her career: the amphibious aircraft she had been designed for were retired just before the ship entered service, the replacement aircraft could not be catapult-launched from the ship, and a new plane designed specifically to work with the ship began operations after Albatross was demoted from seagoing status in 1933.

After five years in reserve, Albatross was transferred to the Royal Navy to offset the Australian purchase of the light cruiser Hobart. Although the British had little use for a seaplane carrier, the ship found a niche after two aircraft carriers were sunk by the Germans early in World War II. Albatross was initially based in Freetown, Sierra Leone for patrol and convoy escort duties in the southern Atlantic, then was relocated to the Indian Ocean in mid-1942. From late 1943 to early 1944, the vessel underwent conversion into a "Landing Ship (Engineering)" to support the Normandy landings, and was used to repair landing craft and other support vessels off Sword and Juno Beaches. Albatross was torpedoed in October, but survived to be towed back to England and repaired. After repairs completed at the start of 1945, she served as a minesweeper depot ship, but was decommissioned after the war's end.

Albatross was sold into civilian service in August 1946, and after several changes of hands was renamed Hellenic Prince in 1948 and converted into a

Mau Mau uprising, but was broken up
for scrap a year later.

Design and construction

In 1925, Governor-General

British Admiralty supply a basic design for a seaplane carrier, with the conditions that the ship have a top speed of 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph), and cost under 400,000 pounds if built in a British shipyard.[1]

The ship

saluting guns, four .303-inch Vickers machine guns, and twenty .303-inch Lewis machine guns (ten singles and five twin mounts).[3] The ship's company consisted of 29 RAN officers, 375 RAN sailors, 8 RAAF officers, and 38 RAAF enlisted.[2]

The launch of Albatross in 1926

Development of the ship from the Admiralty sketch design was based around the

Fairey IIID seaplane being operated for the RAN by the Royal Australian Air Force's No. 101 Flight.[3][4] Albatross could carry up to nine aircraft—six active and three in reserve—in three internal hangars; their incorporation inside the ship's hull resulted in an unusually high freeboard in the forward half of the vessel, and forced the propulsion machinery, accommodation, and bridge to all be located in the aft half.[3][4] Three recovery cranes were used to manipulate the aircraft.[3] The Faireys were removed from service shortly before Albatross entered service, and were replaced by the Supermarine Seagull Mark III.[4] The Mark IIIs were unsuited for operations aboard Albatross, particularly as the aircraft were not durable enough to withstand catapult launches.[4] Specifications for a new aircraft design were drawn up to the RAN and RAAF, and Supermarine designed the Seagull Mark V (later to be called the Walrus) specifically for Albatross, although the design was later adopted by the Royal Navy.[5] Albatross was removed from seagoing service in 1933, two months before the Mark Vs entered service, although the aircraft were operated from the vessel while she was at anchor.[6] In addition, the new Seagulls were too tall to manoeuvre around inside the hangars, although this problem was worked around by placing the aircraft, with undercarriage retracted, on specially designed trolleys.[7]

Albatross was

launched by the wife of the Governor-General of Australia, Baron Stonehaven of Ury on 23 February 1928.[3] Albatross was completed on 21 December 1928, and commissioned into the RAN on 23 January 1929.[3] She cost 1,200,000 pounds to construct.[2]

Operational history

Royal Australian Navy

HMAS Albatross began her first cruise a week after commissioning, visiting Tasmania and Victoria.[2] On 11 April 1929, the ship was sent from Sydney to off Wyndham, Western Australia to search for Sir Charles Kingsford Smith and the Southern Cross, which had disappeared while en route to England.[2] Before the ship could reach the area, Smith was found, having made an emergency landing near the Glenelg River.[2][8]

A Seagull III amphibian being manoeuvred towards the hangar hatch following recovery

In November 1931, the ship's engines were damaged by sabotage.[9] This occurred again in September 1932.[9] The acts of sabotage were attributed to widespread unrest among the sailors at the time; the RAN claimed at the time that Communist influence was the cause, although Tom Frame and Kevin Baker ascribe it to Depression-era pay cuts and retrentions, which were more likely to be forced onto sailors than officers.[9]

From December 1931, Albatross was refitted, recommissioning as a gunnery training ship early in 1932, and on 19 March 1932, took part in the ceremonial opening of the Sydney Harbour Bridge.[10]

Albatross in 1938

On 26 April 1933, Albatross was decommissioned into reserve and anchored in Sydney Harbour, although seaplanes continued to operate from the ship.[2][11] In 1938, with the Australian government experiencing difficulties in funding the purchase of the light cruiser Hobart, the Admiralty agreed to accept Albatross as part payment for Hobart (266,500 pounds was credited against the cruiser's purchase price).[2] The seaplane carrier was recommissioned on 19 April for the voyage to England, and departed on 11 July,[2] with the ship's company transferring to Hobart on arrival.

Royal Navy

There was originally little need for a seaplane carrier in the Royal Navy, as several aircraft carriers were operational, and most warships from

Accommodation ship.[10] However, the loss of the aircraft carriers Courageous and Glorious early in World War II created scope for the ship's use.[2] Albatross was assigned to Freetown in western Africa, where she and her aircraft were used for convoy escort, anti-submarine warfare, and air-sea rescue in the Atlantic.[2]

In May 1942, Albatross was transferred to the Indian Ocean to bolster trade protection there with the

Bombay). Albatross then returned to Britain, where, in September, she was paid off.[12]

From October 1943 until early 1944, Albatross underwent major conversion, to a

Thames estuary as part of the deceptions to divert enemy attention away from Normandy, but on 8 June 1944, she was moved to Gooseberry 5, off Sword Beach at Ouistreham to provide repair facilities and supply anti-aircraft and bombardment support.[12] Her allocation immediately followed the assault and coincided with the "great storm" that disrupted Allied plans.[12] Her repair duties at Sword saved 79 craft from total loss and returned 132 more to service off the beachhead.[12] In July, Albatross returned to Portsmouth for replenishment and to rest her crew and, on return to Normandy, she was reallocated to Juno Beach.[12]

On 11 August, while off

paid off into reserve on 3 August 1945.[12]

Post-war

Hellenic Prince photographed between 1949 and 1951

Albatross was sold to a British company on 19 August 1946 for commercial use.

Prince Charles on that day, and his Greek heritage.[13][15] The vessel was converted into a passenger liner at Barry in Wales.[15]

In 1949, she was chartered by the

displaced persons from Europe to Australia.[15] On 5 December 1949, Hellenic Prince arrived in Sydney Harbour with 1,000 passengers.[15]

In 1953, Hellenic Prince was used as a troopship during the

Mau Mau uprising.[15] The ship's career finally ended when she was scrapped at Hong Kong on 12 August 1954.[13][15]

Citations

  1. ^ a b ANAM, Flying Stations, p. 16
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Cassells, The Capital Ships, p. 12
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Cassells, The Capital Ships, p. 11
  4. ^ a b c d ANAM, Flying Stations, p. 17
  5. ^ ANAM, Flying Stations, pp. 18–20
  6. ^ ANAM, Flying Stations, pp. 18–19
  7. ^ ANAM, Flying Stations, p. 19
  8. ^ Molkentin, Flying the Southern Cross, p. 172
  9. ^ a b c Frame & Baker, Mutiny!, p. 125
  10. ^ a b Hobbs 1996, p. 207
  11. ^ ANAM, Flying Stations, p. 18
  12. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Mason, HMS Albatross
  13. ^ a b c Royal Australian Navy, HMAS Albatross (I)
  14. ^ Cassells, The Capital Ships, pp. 12–13
  15. ^ a b c d e f Cassells, The Capital Ships, p. 13

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