However, as the whereabouts of Von Spee’s squadron was still unknown, strict orders were received from Rear Admiral Sir George Patey in the RAN flagship HMAS Australia (Captain SH Radcliffe, RAN) that the expedition was not to proceed north of Palm Island without a strong naval escort.Īt that time Patey was involved in Australia’s first coalition operation in company with HMAS Melbourne (Captain M L’E Silver, RAN) HMS Psyche, HMS Philomel, HMS Pyramus and the French cruiser Montcalm. It had at first been intended that the Berrima should be escorted by Sydney and Encounter to Port Moresby where she would be joined by SS Kanowna carrying a contingent of 500 volunteers from the citizen force’s Kennedy Regiment. However, the submarine group was delayed and only Aorangi arrived as expected. Palm Island was also the intended rendezvous point for the supply ship Aorangi (Lieutenant G Crawshaw, RANR), the submarine tenders Protector (Lieutenant Commander LAW Spooner, RAN) and Upolu (Lieutenant T Moore, RANR) and the submarines AE1 (Lieutenant Commander TF Besant, RN) and AE2 (Lieutenant HHG Stoker, RN). Sydney then continued on to Townsville, arriving the same day, to take on provisions before returning to Palm Island on 26 August and resuming escort duties. There Sydney handed over the escort responsibility for Berrima to the light cruiser HMAS Encounter (Acting Captain C LaP Lewin, RAN) which had arrived the previous day. From there the two vessels proceeded in company to Palm Island, situated to the north of Townsville, where they arrived on 24 August.

On leaving Sydney she shaped a northerly course to Brisbane, stopping briefly in Moreton Bay before rendezvousing with the light cruiser HMAS Sydney (Captain JCT Glossop, RN) off Sandy Cape on 22 August. Shortly after noon the following day, Berrima steamed out of Farm Cove, proudly flying the White Ensign as she made her way through the harbour toward Sydney Heads. The light cruiser HMAS Sydney joined Berrima off Sandy Cape Queensland on 22 August, escorting her safely to Palm Island and then on to Port Moresby. Although many of those who volunteered for the infantry component had little or no experience in the military, the men of the naval forces were, in comparison, disciplined, well drilled in musketry, cutlass skills, field gun use and general field work, all of which was to place them in good stead for their impending mission. It comprised eight companies of infantry, designated ‘A’ thru ‘H’, while 500 naval reservists and time-expired Royal Navy seamen drawn from Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia made up six companies of the Royal Australian Naval Reserve placed under the command of Commander JAH Beresford, RAN. To achieve this objective a volunteer force known as the Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force (ANMEF) was hastily raised in early August 1914. Based in Tsingtao in China, the enemy squadron comprised the armoured cruisers SMS Scharnhorst and SMS Gneisenau and the light cruisers SMS Emden, SMS Nürnberg and SMS Leipzig.Īustralia’s major effort was consequently directed at seizing German interests in New Guinea, and in particular New Britain which formed part of the German wireless network. The British War Office considered it essential that Vice Admiral von Spee's East Asiatic Squadron of the Imperial German Navy should be denied the use of German facilities which represented a formidable network capable of providing intelligence, communication and logistic support to von Spee.

The first task of the RAN following the declaration of war was to seize or neutralise German territories in the Pacific stretching from the Caroline and Marshall Islands in the north, to New Britain and German New Guinea in the south. The naval reserve forces provided a further 1646 personnel. The permanent strength of the RAN at that time comprised 3800 personnel, of whom some 850 were on loan from the Royal Navy. The Commonwealth also possessed some ageing gunboats and torpedo boats from the former colonial navies. The diverse events that took place during 11-14 September 1914, although now largely forgotten in the annals of Australia’s military history, formed the cornerstone on which the RAN's enduring tradition of achievement has since been built.Īt the outbreak of war in August 1914 the Australian fleet comprised the battlecruiser HMAS Australia, the light cruisers Melbourne, Sydney and Encounter, the small cruiser Pioneer, the destroyers Parramatta, Yarra and Warrego, and the submarines AE1 and AE2. Less than a year after the arrival of the Australian Fleet Unit in October 1913, the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) was to make a substantial and significant contribution to Imperial security in the Pacific region.

Surrender naval actio