Naval Base Perth
Naval Base Perth Western Australia | |
---|---|
Coordinates | 31°58′44″S 115°49′15″E / 31.978814°S 115.820889°E |
Established | 1942 |
Time zone | AWST (UTC+08:00) |
Naval Base Perth was a United States Navy base near Perth, Western Australia during World War II. Perth was selected as the site for a U.S. Navy base as it was beyond the range of Japanese long-range bombers. The Bombing of Darwin on 19 February 1942 demonstrated a more southern port was needed. Both existing port facilities and new bases were built at Perth. Naval Base Perth's Fleet Post Office # was 255 SF Perth, Australia.[1]
Seaplane Base Nedlands
The US Navy performed search, combat, rescue, and reconnaissance patrols out of the Perth
Operation Flight Gridiron
One of the longest rescue missions was done from Naval Base Perth by Lieutenant Deede out of Perth with Patrol Wing 10. Deede, Captain Thomas F. Pollock, and one other PBY Catalina flew to
Fremantle submarine base
Southwest of the City of Perth at Fremantle Harbour the US built a larger submarine base, Fremantle submarine base, at the City of Fremantle about 2 miles from the coast.[8] Fremantle submarine base opened on March 10, 1942. Most of the submarines at the base had escaped before Naval Base Manila in the Philippines before it was captured.[9] The submarine operated out of the Dutch East Indies and then Indonesia until these ports were taken over. Fremantle submarine base was a wartime secret, to keep from being attacked as many of the South Pacific patrols operated out of the base. The base closed in September 1945. Fremantle's Fleet Post Office # was 137 SF Fremantle, Australia. Fremantle Fortress protected the base. Charles A. Lockwood was overseeing the bases at Fremantle and Exmouth Submarine Base.[10] However, in August 1945, newspaper reports openly acknowledged the impact of the forces' activity.[11][12]
Auxiliary Albany Submarine Base
Albany Submarine Base was founded on March 17, 1942, as a Fremantle Auxiliary Submarine Base at
Port of Perth
Port of Perth offered excellent fleet anchorage. The Port of Perth is on the wide deep mouth of the Swan River at the City of Perth, about 10 miles inland from the sea. The existing port facilities at Port of Perth were large enough to support the needs of the US Navy. Most US Navy activity was at Fremantle, 12.8748 km (8 miles) away from the port. USS ARD-9, a US Navy auxiliary floating drydock, was at Perth for repairing ships and subs in January 1944, then departed to Naval Base Milne Bay. Some US ships that ported at Perth during World War II: USS Augusta (CA-31), USS Tucker (DD-374), and SS Mariposa.
Airfields
- Maylands Airport for Royal Navy and U.S. Navy
- Perth Airport
- Middle Swan Airfieldfor Royal Navy and U.S. Navy
- Satellite fields: Beverley, Bindoon, Gingin North and Mooliabeenie.
Loses
- The Balao-class submarine USS Bullhead departed the Fremantle submarine base on July 31, 1945, and was sunk by Japanese aircraft in the Java Sea, August 6, 1945, the last US vessel sunk by Japan in the war.[17]
USS Langley (CV-1)
To fight the Empire of Japan in
Vought Kingfisher
On September 12, 1943, a US Navy Vought OS2U Kingfisher No. 2283 with the Scouting Squadron Sixty-One, VS-61, was doing engine test flight. During the test problems appeared and the plane turned upside down and nose-dived into the Swan River. The plane exploded sank killed the two crew members, pilot and Radio-operator. The plane had taken off from the Maylands Airfield.[19]
Post war
- Allied Submarine Plaque. On March 20, 1995, a memorial plaque place to commemorate the submarine base.[20]
- Perth War Cemetery and Annex, Australian Army founded in 1942. First used for those that died at Hollywood Military Hospital.[21]
- Western Australia Aviation Museum at Bull Creek.[22]
- US Submarine USS Bullhead (SS-332) memorial at the Western Australia Aviation Museum. USS Bullhead was the last US Naval vessel, to be lost in World War II, with 84 crew.[23]
- A large memorial to lost Fremantle submariners was built by the periscope project Fremantle War Memorial.[24]
- Memorial Day for US US submariners at Perth is held.[25][26]
See also
- Fortress Fremantle
- US Naval Advance Bases
- Exmouth Submarine Base
- Roebuck Bay Seaplane Base
- US Naval Base Australia
References
- ^ Western Australian Aviation Hall of Famealanblencowe.com
- ^ US Navy VPB-11ozatwar.com
- ^ Seaplane Base Nedlandsozatwar.com
- ^ In the Hands of Fate: The Story of Patrol Wing Ten, Messimer, 1985, chapter 13
- ^ "Bataan and Corregidor". US Navy, navy.mil.
- ^ Escape from Bataan: Memoir of a U.S. Navy Ensign in the Philippines, October 1941 to May 1942, by Phillip Hoffman
- ^ PBY Catalinalanbob.com
- ISBN 978-1-920843-52-6
- ^ "Fremantle was big submarine base". Army News. Darwin, NT. 25 August 1945. p. 3. Retrieved 8 February 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ "Correspondence". The West Australian. Perth. 24 September 1949. p. 26. Retrieved 8 February 2016 – via National Library of Australia. anecdotal correspondence 4 years after 1945 correlating the "secrecy" of the base
- ^ "Submarine base". Kalgoorlie Miner. WA. 17 August 1945. p. 1. Retrieved 8 February 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ "Fremantle base". The West Australian (Special ed.). Perth. 16 August 1945. p. 2. Retrieved 8 February 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ US Submariners Memorial albanyinthistogether.com
- ^ US Base at Port of Albanydefence.gov.au
- ^ Albany Submarines Base ozatwar.com
- ^ Western Australia Submarines Base ozatwar.com
- ISBN 0-313-26202-0.
- ^ Far East Air Force, Curtiss P-40 Warhawk adf-serials.com.au
- ^ Vought OS2U Kingfisher crashozatwar.com
- ^ Allied Submarine Plaquepacificwrecks.com
- ^ Perth War Cemeterypacificwrecks.com
- ^ Perth Western Australia Aviation Museumpacificwrecks.com
- ^ New U.S. Submarine Memorial Unveiled in Perth USA, usembassy.gov
- ^ Kerr, G. A. (Gilbert Armstrong), 1911– (1992), Project periscope : an account of the periscope memorial on Monument Hill, Fremantle, retrieved 16 February 2016
{{citation}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ Memorial Day in Australia - 2005submarinesailor.com
- ^ Submariners remembered at Albany ceremony defence.gov.au