HMAS Yarra

[herakles]

Most people here know of the courageous HMS Jervis Bay and how she single-handedly took on the enemy to allow her convoy to escape. I have posted this story on the forum.

A similar but less known story concerned HMAS Yarra.

She was a Grimsby class sloop, commissioned in January 1936. Named after the river that flows through Melbourne. She was the second of that name. The 4th and latest is in service now.

Displacement: 1,060 tons (standard), 1,515 tons (full load)
Length: 266 ft (79.8 m)
Beam: 36 ft (10.8 m)
Draught: 7 ft 6 in (2.25 m)
Propulsion: Parsons, steam turbines, 2 shafts. 2,000 shp
Speed: 16.5 knots
Complement: 135
Armament: 3 x 4 inch Anti-aircraft guns, 4 x 3 pounder guns, 1 x MG, 2 x Depth Charge Throwers, 2x twin tubes for 21 inch torpedoes

She saw service in the Middle East and the Mediterranean before returning to Australian waters when Japan entered the war. In January '42 she took 1800 survivors off the stricken troopship Empress of Asia.

In February '42 she was ordered to escort a convoy from Batavia to Fremantle. The first few days were uneventful except that she rescued several exhausted survivors of a Dutch merchant ship.

Early on 4th March she sighted a Japanese heavy cruiser squadron (3 cruisers and 2 destroyers) to the north-east. Her captain Lieutenant Commander R. W. Rankin ordered the convoy to scatter then ordered Yarra to steam straight at the enemy, laying smoke as she went and firing all her guns. She was of course hopelessly out-gunned and out-ranged. The Japs methodically picked off each member of the convoy. Yarra was hit repeatedly yet she was the last to founder. Rankin gave the order to abandon ship and was then himself killed from a direct hit on the bridge. Acting leading seaman Ronald Taylor ignored the abandon ship order and continued to operate a mounted gun as the boat sank.

Survivors from the convoy were later picked up but the rafts holding what was left of the crew of Yarra had to wait until the 13th March when they were rescued by a Dutch submarine. Of the crew of 151, 138 died including the Captain and all officers.

The Australian War Memorial historian Daniel Oakman wrote that the defence mounted by the Yarra was "widely regarded as one of the bravest acts in Australian naval history".

There were 2 survivors still alive in 2004.

[The Sailor]

Terrific post Herk. Don't know what anyone had to do to get a VC at that time but Lieutenant Commander Rankin surely deserved one.

In fact a boatload of survivors from the convoy was picked up by one of the Japanese destroyers but more than 100 others were just left in the water. Amongst those left drifting in Carley floats were 34 of the Yarra crew and by the time they were eventually rescued on 9 March, only 13 of the original complement of 151 officers and men survived. Another 25 RAN ratings and an officer were lost in Anking, one of the other vessels in the Yarra convoy.

A pic below of Lt Com Rankin.

[cissystar650]

Great post again, very informative.

Thankyou !

[herakles]

Good of you to say so cissy.

It's a pity that you seem to be the only non-Australian to post in this part of the forum.

[astraltrader]

I agree with Cissy, Herk - that was both moving and interesting. The story of HMS Jervis Bay I knew well but this was the first time that I have ever learnt about HMAS Yarra. Unbelievably brave - and as The Sailor rightly said - why on earth did Lieutenant Commander Rankin fail to get the VC? Do you know of a good book you would recommend that covers the exploit?

[herakles]

Thanks for your comments Terry. I'll see if I can locate a suitable book. Needless to say, there's much on the internet about the action.

Later:

I have found these:

The Royal Australian Navy in World War II (Paperback) David Stevens (Editor)
A not altogether flattering description of the RAN in WW2 in which Yarra is described.

Their Finest Hour". Story of Leading Seaman Ron Taylor & The Loss of HMAS Yarra, 4 March 1942 Swinden, Lt. Greg

H.M.A.S. Yarra: The Story of a Gallant Ship Parry, A. F.

[astraltrader]

I am probably being old fashioned but when it concerns a subject that i am interested in I will always go for a recommended book first - I often use the net to see if I am interested!

[herakles]

Some more links I have found:

http://deeptrouble.org/2007/04/11/loss-of-hmas-yarra-4th-march-1942/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvYhmeSnjhU (video)

http://www.royal-navy.org/navies/ran/articles/article.php?name=6

[kookaburra]

A rare survivor's story:


An interview with of one of the 13 men who survived the sinking of HMAS Yarra on two rafts is here: 21 others on the rafts were lost.

http://images.google.com.au/imgres?imgurl=http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8a/HMAS_Yarra_(AWM_016263).jpg/300px-HMAS_Yarra_(AWM_016263).jpg&imgrefurl=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMAS_Yarra_(U77)&usg=__Ph_AxqtJBBGmRqIdrn8TTK-1JSI=&h=154&w=300&sz=10&hl=en&start=8&tbnid=li5wGaKEHkZb9M:&tbnh=60&tbnw=116&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dhmas%2Byarra%2B(1)%26gbv%3D2%26ndsp%3 D20%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN




I always thought HMAS Yarra was one of the bravest small ship stories of WW11.

Before the final action described on this thread, like her sister ship HMAS Parramatta, the little Grimbsy Class sloop had a very active service life in the Mediterranean, the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf.

She had a part in the destruction of the Italian submarine Gondor, her depth charges blowing the boat to the surface. In August 1941 she she took part in the securing of Iranian ports and the Abadan oil refineries: at Khoramshar she sank the Iranian sloop Babr, captured two Iranian gunboats while under fire from shore, and later rescued a burning Italian ship Hilda, taking her to Karachi as a prize.

In November of that year, on the Tobruk run, she towed the damaged HMS Flamingo under heavy German air attack, and in February 1942, she was among the escorts of the last convoy out of Singapore, during which she shot down a Japanse aircraft and damaged others, and took 1,804 troops off the burning SS Empress of Asia.


The brave but tragic story of her final hopeless encounter
with three Japanese heavy cruisers, Atago, Maya and Takao, and four destroyers, trying vainly to protect her small convoy by laying a smokescreen and steaming directly at the enemy is already told.

Not often told is the fact the Japanese commander, on Atago I think, brought some captured Dutch civilians and survivors of other ships up on to the bridge to watch the destruction of this single 1060-ton ship with three four-inch guns, pitted against seven totalling more than 40,000 tons, with 30 8-inch guns and many others, as a demonstration of Japan's overwhelming might.

As you can read in the rare survivor's account (link above) Lieutenant-Commander Robert Rankin - after whom the Collins Class sub is named - was killed along with other officers by a shell hit on the bridge.

Yarra was jammed with survivors from another ship, but only 34 men survived the initial action on two damaged rafts, many of them wounded, and virtually without water. Only 13 were still alive when they were picked up by the Dutch submarine K11 south of Java five days later, and taken to Colombo. Their ordeal would have been among the R.A.N.'s most harrowing at sea of the entire war.

Geoff Bromilow, the 86-year-old survivor on the link above, had refused to speak about it for most of his life.

I'm repeating a couple of the previous Yarra photos here, as they appear at a larger size, along with some others, and another portrait of Lt-Commander Robert Rankin.

[John Odom]

A great story Herk! And as was said, a brave little ship. I am so glad to hear such, as They are not told now-a-days as much as they should, especially not here in the USA.

[gunslinger]

Actually, YARRA's story was related here 5 years ago:

http://www.combinedfleet.com/atago_t.htm

with the footnote:

"There have been 1354 recipients of the Victoria Cross since its inception in 1856 through the Falklands War in 1981. For reasons known only within the respective British and Australian naval bureaucracies, no member of the Royal Australian Navy has ever been awarded a Victoria Cross, even though the valor of its members, such as Rankin, seems at least comparable, or superior, to other winners."

IMO, both HMAS YARRA's and USS EDSALL's COs deserve the VC and MOH respectively. It's never too late. The only obstacle is politicans, both in and out of uniform.

[herakles]

I couldn't agree with you more. The matter of Rankin not getting a VC is discussed elsewhere on the forum.

I was quite taken aback at your comment that no member of the RAN has received a VC. On checking, I'm sure you're right.

Only one VC was ever awarded to a member of the RAAF (or Royal Australian Flying Corps) in WW1.

The bias seems heavily in favour of the army.

Yet quite a few VC's were collected by the RN at say Gallipoli.