Cruiser
Page 71
1.3.42
VINNICOMBE
Edmund Samuel Spray
ERA IV
KIA
1.3.42
VIVIAN
Henry Robert Dunne
AB
POW
3.3.42
VOWLES
Cecil Victor
WO Electrician
POW
WALHOUSE
Ronald Henry
Stoker II
POW
WALLACE
Kenneth Sydney
Ldg Telegraphist
POW
WALLER
Hector Macdonald Laws
Captain
KIA
1.3.42
WALMSLEY
Leslie Cornellius
AB
KIA
1.3.42
WALSH
Leonard Percival
Stoker II
KIA
1.3.42
WARD
Edward Douglas
AB
KIA
1.3.42
WARD
Geoffrey Davies
Coder
KIA
1.3.42
WARD
George Richard
Ord. Seaman
KIA
1.3.42
WARD
James Christopher
Ord. Seaman
POW
WARREN
Sydney William
ERA IV
KIA
1.3.42
WATKINS
Charles Sumner
Ord. Telegraphist
KIA
1.3.42
WATKINS
Llewellyn Leigh
Lieutenant-Commander
KIA
1.3.42
WATSON
Frank Rowland
PO Writer
KIA
1.3.42
WATSON
Peter Storey
AB
KIA
1.3.42
WATTS
Thomas Gordon
Stoker
KIA
1.3.42
WEBSTER
Gordon Cave
AB
POW
WEBSTER
Thomas Charles
Steward
KIA
1.3.42
WEETMAN
Ernest George
Signalman
POW
WEGER
Robert
AB
KIA
1.3.42
WELLS
Thomas Charles
Steward
KIA
1.3.42
WEST
Kevin Ernest
AB
KIA
1.3.42
WESTBROOK
Edward James
AB
KIA
1.3.42
WHATSON
Kenneth William
AB
KIA
1.3.42
WHERRETT
Arthur Charles Malcolm
AB
KIA
1.3.42
WHITE
Arthur Robert Glen
AB
KIA
1.3.42
WHITE
John Henry
AB
POW
WHITE
Norman Harold Stephen
Sub-Lieutenant
POW
WHITING
Reginald Paul
Chief EA
KIA
1.3.42
WILKINSON
Harold
AB
POW
1.1.44
WILKINSON
Thomas
Ldg Stoker
KIA
1.3.42
WILL
Phillip Ernest Charlton
Corporal (RAAF)
KIA
1.3.42
WILLIAMS
Colin Raoul
Stoker II
KIA
1.3.42
WILLIAMS
Edwin Plunkett
Ord. Seaman
POW
WILLIAMS
Frank Kingscote
Stoker
POW
WILLIAMS
Leon Charles
AB
POW
WILLIAMS
Robert Alexander
AB
KIA
1.3.42
WILLIAMS
Ronald Keith
AB
KIA
1.3.42
WILLIAMS
Rex Sidney Wood
AB
POW
12.9.44
WILLIS
Geoffrey George
AB
POW
15.9.43
WILLIS
Jack Reginald Edward
Yeoman of Signals
POW
WILSON
Alick Leonard
AB
KIA
1.3.42
WILSON
Leslie Alfred Thomas
AB
POW
12.9.44
WILSON
Maxwell Roland
Ord. Seaman
KIA
1.3.42
WILSON
Roy Allen
Ord. Seaman
KIA
1.3.42
WINNETT
Clifford Isaac
AB
POW
12.9.44
WISDOM
John Geoffrey Hunt
AB
KIA
1.3.42
WITT
John Henry
Coder
KIA
1.3.42
WOLLEY
Thomas Beech
Sub-Lieutenant
KIA
1.3.42
WOODGATE
George Ireland
PO
KIA
1.3.42
WOODHEAD
Brian Stanley
Ord. Seaman
POW
WOODHEAD
John Arthur McDonald
Stoker II
POW
31.7.42
WOODLEY
Claude James
WO Supply
POW
WOODMAN
Cyril Douglas
AB
POW
WOODS
John William
AB
POW
WRAY
Charles William
Wireman
POW
WRIGHT
Frederick Baird
Sick Berth Attendant II
POW
12.9.44
WRIGHT
Terence
Joiner III
KIA
1.3.42
WRIGHT
Thomas King
Air Mechanic II
KIA
1.3.42
WYTHES
James Herbert
Chief ERA
KIA
1.3.42
Key
AB – Able Bodied Seaman
CPO – Chief Petty Officer
EA – Electrical Artificer
ERA – Engine Room Artificer
KIA – Killed in Action
Ldg – Leading
Ord. – Ordinary
PO – Petty Officer
POW – Prisoner of War
WO – Warrant Officer
Roman numerals indicate rate, e.g. II = Second Class
No date in the ‘Death’ column means the crewmember survived the war
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
For all sorts of reasons, people are often reluctant to talk to journalists. Long experience led me to fear that this might be the case when I began to research this book. I knew there would be moments when my questions might awaken painful memories or, worse, intrude
upon private sorrow still raw even after so many years.
My fears were unfounded. Time and again, I was delighted and humbled by the generosity and candour of the people I sought to interview. Everyone I approached did everything to help in every possible way, cheerfully and unstintingly, and I am in deep debt to them all.
First, there were the surviving members of Perth’s ship’s company. When I began to gather my thoughts in late 2006, there were perhaps two dozen of them still with us, all in their late 80s or early 90s. Some were too frail to talk. To my great regret, some died before I could reach them. Others were as mentally sharp and physically vigorous as men half their age. Invariably, those I did speak to were keen for the story to be told, but never with any hint of brag or boast, which would have been abhorrent to them and the many mates they had lost.
In particular, Frank McGovern and Gavin Campbell patiently gave me endless hours of interviews, either at home or over beers at a favourite club. They honoured me with the gift of their confidence and friendship. They were always there to answer an unexpected query, and they took the trouble to read and correct a large part of the manuscript. I cannot thank them enough. Any errors that remain are mine, not theirs.
And I am grateful to their shipmates Fred Skeels and Fred Lasslett, both for the talks we had and their enthusiastic permission to quote from their memoirs. Jock Lawrance, Arthur ‘Blood’ Bancroft, David Manning and the late Julius ‘Judy’ Patching were also generous in granting me long interviews. Basil Hayler, one of Perth’s original commissioning crew, was a mine of information and a tremendous help with photographs and mementos from his files. Off at a slight tangent, my thanks as well to Rear-Admiral Guy Griffiths RAN (ret.) for his memories of the sinking of HMS Repulse and Prince of Wales.
I am also in debt to the families and descendants of Perth sailors. John Parkin, the son of the late chief petty officer Ray Parkin, invited me to stay at his home outside Melbourne while we talked about his remarkable father. I am grateful for his permission to quote extensively from Ray’s diaries and memoirs, most particularly from his three classic works, Out of the Smoke, Into the Smother and The Sword and The Blossom – now republished by the Melbourne University Press as Ray Parkin’s Wartime Trilogy. There has been no more elegant or poignant account of Australians at war. It is a devalued term these days, but Ray Parkin was truly a great Australian. John also permitted me to use some of his father’s exquisite watercolours and sketches here, many of which have not been seen before. I cannot thank him enough.
Margaret Gee, the daughter of the late Allan ‘Elmo’ Gee, was another unceasing supporter, most especially in allowing me to mine nuggets of gold from her delightful family memoir, A Long Way From Silver Creek. John Waller, younger son of the late Captain Hec Waller and himself a former naval officer, kindly took me on trust from his home in the United States and opened his family papers, including his recently published Memorial Book with its evocative family letters and sketches. And the late Brendan Whiting, son of Reg Whiting, also granted me open access to family papers and keepsakes, and to his landmark book Ship of Courage, the moving story of his father’s time in Perth.
Perth’s diarists wrote the first drafts of the ship’s history. For security reasons, sailors were forbidden to keep a diary on board a warship, but a good many of them covertly defied the ban to fill page after page with their observations and reminiscences. Historians must be forever grateful that they did.
My thanks also to: Mrs Edith Bee, widow of Bill ‘Buzzer’ Bee, for permission to quote from her husband’s All Men Back – All One Big Mistake; Lieutenant-Commander Nicolas Bracegirdle RN (ret.), son of Commander Warwick Bracegirdle, for permission to quote from his father’s rollicking war stories, Gentlemen Cordite; Mrs Doris Bracht, widow of Bill Bracht, for an interview and permission to quote from family papers; the late Joan Gandy, for a long interview about her husband Jack Lewis; George Hatfield Jnr, who contacted me out of the blue with the long-forgotten diaries of his father, George Hatfield Senior; Mrs Judy King, widow of Norm King, for permission to quote from Memoirs of a Reluctant Warrior; Commodore Vince di Pietro RAN for information on his grandfather-in-law, Perth’s last Executive Officer, Commander Bill Martin; Ken Nelson, son of Jim Nelson, for a long interview and the use of his father’s invaluable diaries; Paul Redmond and other members of the family of Paul Doneley, for access to their papers and memories; Lieutenant-Commander Tony Reid RAN (ret.), son of Commander Charles Reid, for access to family papers; Jim Sheedy, son of Brian Sheedy, for permission to quote from his memoir The War at Sea; and Mrs Rhonda Wallace, widow of Ken ‘Tag’ Wallace, for permission to quote from Sunda Strait: The Last Day of Summer.
In all, more than a thousand men served in Perth over her short life. It is impossible to mention them all by name, nor have I been able to contact as many of their families as I would have wished. But, be certain, this is their story too.
Mrs Heather Henderson, daughter of Sir Robert Menzies, kindly gave permission to quote from her father’s 1941 diary, published as Dark and Hurrying Days, and from his memoir, Afternoon Light. Menzies comes out in this story much better than I had suspected he would and than his detractors might have wished.
Other authors have written about Perth before me. Alan Payne’s HMAS Perth, Ronald McKie’s Proud Echo and Kathryn Spurling’s Cruel Conflict laid down invaluable port and starboard markers as I left harbour and went to sea. Captain Ian Pfennigwerth’s The Australian Cruiser Perth, written for the Naval Historical Society of Australia, was endlessly helpful, and I am grateful, too, for his suggestions and contacts as I began this book.
At their headquarters at Garden Island in Sydney, and on their splendid website, Captain Paul Martin RAN (ret.) and the volunteers of the Naval Historical Society do a magnificent job of researching and cherishing our naval heritage. They were more than forthcoming in their help and with permission to quote from material in the Society’s archives and published works, most especially Roy Norris’s diaries, published in 2005 as A Cook’s Tour.
Libraries, archives and professional associations were a rich source. The Australian War Memorial in Canberra is a treasure trove, both in stone and mortar and online, served by a painstaking staff. So, too, the Australian National Archive, the New South Wales State Library, and the RAN’s invaluable Sea Power Centre in Canberra, which does great work in preserving the navy’s history and traditions and looking to its future. And anyone who writes Australian naval history must be infinitely grateful to the anonymous toilers at the National Archive who made available, on the internet, the RAN’s personnel records of everyone who wore the uniform from 1911 to 1979. The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade maintains an excellent online archive of historical foreign policy documents – another rich lode of information.
I also acknowledge the US Navy History and Heritage Command, the San Francisco Maritime Museum, the USS Houston Association, and another unsung Trojan of the internet: whoever it was at the US Historic Naval Ships Association who uploaded the entire typewritten patrol logs of the submarines of the US Navy Pacific Fleet from 1941 to 1945.
My thanks also to Commander Stephen Youll RAN (ret.), Darrell Hegarty and Bob Pendal of the HMAS Perth National Association; to Mackenzie Gregory of Ahoy – Mac’s Weblog; and to Bruce Constable, for his terrific website Perthone.com and for help with photographs. Michelle Feuerlicht did sterling work trawling through the records of the Imperial War Museum in London. Kevin Denlay, a specialist diver on naval wrecks, kindly offered pictures of Perth in her last resting place.
Many naval and defence-force officers, past and present, have given me advice and encouragement. Rear-Admiral James Goldrick RAN, who is both a serving flag officer and a naval historian of global renown, is also a good friend who enticed me, many years ago, to forsake Lord Nelson for the study of Australian naval history. He very willingly read the manuscript of this book and steered me away from shoals and torpedoes; he will not agree with all my views, but the book is
immeasurably better for his contribution. I also thank General Peter Cosgrove and Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston, Vice-Admirals David Leach, David Shackleton, Russ Shalders and Russ Crane, and Rear-Admirals Geoff Smith and Davyd Thomas, all of whom encouraged me, at different times and in various ways, to follow in Perth’s wake.
No writer could hope for a finer publisher than I found at Random House in Sydney. Nikki Christer was a rock of friendly support and encouragement, and Kevin O’Brien wrought miracles of editing upon the manuscript, for which I thank them both.
Finally, family: I am grateful to my computer-literate son James Carlton for creating the superb maps and diagrams here. My wife, Morag Ramsay, gave birth to our son Lachlan as I was giving birth to this book; I can never repay her love, patience and understanding while I was hidden away at the keyboard.
REFERENCES
PART 1: LEAVING HOME
Chapter 1: The Autolycus Sails
1 The Sydney Morning Herald, 13 May 1939.
2 Another British cruiser, HMS Shropshire, did join the RAN in 1943, but only as a replacement for HMAS Canberra, which was sunk in the Solomon Islands in 1942.
3 The Daily Telegraph, 13 May 1939.
4 Gee, p. 32.
5 Later renamed Forever England.
6 Gee, p. 122.
7 ‘How to Join the Royal Australian Navy’, booklet by the Navy Office, Government Printer, Melbourne, 1 September 1912.
8 An Aboriginal word meaning ‘open sea’. Pronounced Ting-guy-rah.
9 Joan Gandy (née Flynn), interview with the author, 2006. Joan has since died.
10 Roberts, p. 12.
Chapter 2: Gathering Clouds
1 An astounding 250 warships met at Jutland, including 28 British battleships and 22 German. The Grand Fleet outnumbered the High Seas Fleet in ships and firepower by approximately 4:3, but British tactics had atrophied in the long period of peace, and failures in signalling, gunnery and ship design led to the British defeat. British losses were 6094 men killed and 113,300 tons of ships sunk, including three battlecruisers. The Germans lost 2551 men and two capital ships for a total of 62,300 tons sunk but timidly failed to press home their advantage. The best new account of the battle is in The Rules of the Game, by Andrew Gordon. For rare video footage, google ‘Battle of Jutland’.