The Royal Australian Navy, though small, had spared every ship possible to assist the British Fleet. The personnel were highly trained. Gunnery practice is in progress on board this Australian warship in home waters. An Admiralty communiqué was issued on January 22, 1941, dealing with the co-operation of the Mediterranean Fleet in the battles of the Libyan desert, said: "Units of the Royal Australian Navy have played a conspicuously successful part in these operations"
Hi There is hardly any thing heard about Australian involvement in World War. Further, it will be interesting to see how it was there in World War.
I had a look around for this ship CHARON in the forum, has anyone got information about it and the troops that it may have carried to the islands. From what I have read on my fathers record he embarked on it at Port Moresby 24/03/44 and disembarked at Sydney 02/04/44. The following is from a post in Ships Nostalgia forum CHARON (2) was built in 1936 by Caledon Ship Building & Engineering Co. at Dundee with a tonnage of 3703 grt, a length of 336 ft, a beam of 51 ft 2 in and a service speed of 12 knots. Sister of the Gorgon she was built for the Ocean Steam Ship Co. and West Australian Steam Navigation's Co's joint operation between Singapore and Western Australian ports. She was only ordered when the Australian Steam Navigation Co. lost the Minderoo in 1935. In 1936 she became fully owned by the Ocean Steam Ship Co. when the West Australian Stem Navigation Co. pulled out of the trade due to fierce competition. During 1943 she played a very important wartime role when she kept the Australian base at Milne Bay supplied. She made 30 round trips between Sydney and New Guinea without any damage whatsoever. This class of ship had specially strengthened bottoms which enabled them to call at ports where they were required to settle on the mud at low tide. She was sold to Malayan Ship breakers Ltd of Singapore in 1964 for demolition but before she actually faced the torch in August 1965 she was sold several times at one time being renamed Seng Kong No.1. Thanks in advance. Brian
Brian, The Charon is mentioned on p.104 of Volume 2 of Series 2: Australia in the War of 1939-1945 - Royal Australian Navy 1942-1945: There is no other specific mention of the vessel. Try contacting the AWM (awm.gov.au) to see if they are able to give some guidance on finding information. Mark
Mark, by the looks of this "CHARON" would it have been used as a troop carrier as well, do you think. My fathers record shows that he embarked at Port Moresby 24/03/44 disembarked Sydney 02/04/44 at the time he held rank of acting Sgt. He then spent some time in Brisbane and flew to Hollandia (no plane name) and embarked on "Boulekoe" (spelling not legible) and disembarked Morotai April '44. Brian
Brian, Yes, the Charon would have probably been used as a troopship as well. A quick search of the AWM site has yielded the following: Advanced Search | The Australian War Memorial Again I suggest contacting them, as they may have more information. Also looking at the National Archives Australia site, has yielded this page of results: Session expired | RecordSearch | National Archives of Australia. Some of the results are irrelevant to you, but some may be gold mines. Mark
Thanks Mark, I had a quick look at the archives site there are plenty of entries for her so I check it out when I can. Very helpful Cheers Brian
