THE HMAS AUSTRALIA [II] STORY: bombed in The Battle of the Coral Sea, Mar - 7, 1942 - MV, SLV.

7010. Celebrated in Australia as a battle that effectively saved the country from invasion, the Battle of the Coral Sea [May 4-8, 1942] was at best a tactical draw, but a strategic Allied victory. Operation MO, as the Japanese plan was named, was intended to strengthen the outer perimeters of their rapidly expanded empire by invading Port Moresby in New Guinea and Tulagi in the Solomon Islands. Only the landings at Tulagi were achieved, and while their aircraft destroyed the great carrier USS LEXINGTON [the world's largest carrier at that time] on the last day of the battle, the damage to Admiral Shigeyoshi Inoue's own fleet carrier SHOKAKU, and aircraft losses from ZUIKAKU, depleted the Japanese forces available for the forthcoming Battle of Midway. Another observation: compared to the disproportionately huge attack force unleashed on the Australian port of Darwin on Feb. 19, 1942 [a clear failure of Japanese Intelligence regarding what forces were in Darwin Harbour] the over-confident Japanese, after five months of unbroken war successes, simply did not deploy enough ships for Operation MO, and relied too heavily on land-based planes from Rabaul. This was the first naval battle in which the offensive actions were fought entirely by aircraft from ships up to 200 kms apart. The role played by the only RAN participants, cruiser HMAS AUSTRALIA [II] and HMAS HOBART [I], together with USS CHICAGO and three US destroyers in RADM John Crace's Task Force, detached from the main fleet as a force blocking the Jomard Passage and approaches to Port Moresby, were secondary. But, without air cover, on May 7 this group, and HMAS AUSTRALIA [II] particularly, was subject to one ferocious low-level and close-in torpedo bombing and strafing attack much like that unleashed on LEXINGTON, as well as huigh level bombing attacks, but escaped without damage. In the photograph here, taken from HMAS HOBART [I] , AUSTRALIA [II] [centre, with destroyer USS PERKINS off to the left] begins to disappear behind a screen of bombing splashes which caused her to disappear from the rest of the the task force for more than a minute, dumping tons of water ion her decks, and briefly leading to fears that she was lost. We're not sure, but in fact this may be the much disputed and denied 'friendly fire' attack on the task force by US B-25 Flying Fortresses from Townsville. Images of the Crace's Task Force 17.3'S actions in the battle are very limited and we gave the best of them - the torpedo bomber attack on AUSTRALIA [II] at Entry 6833, here: www.flickr.com/photos/41311545@N05/11125153956/in/photoli... M.A. Payne's Naval Historical Society of Australia book 'HMAS AUSTRALIA 1928-1955' provides first-hand descriptions of her part in the battle. After several massed aircraft sightings, both US and Japanese, at 1506 on May 7 AUSTRALIA's radar detected aircraft approaching, which turned out to be 12 land-based twin-engined Mitsubishi Ki-21 or 'Sally' naval torpedo bombers from Rabaul, with Zero fighters escorting them. Crace ordered his ships to take independent action, and all opened fire. Each 'Sally' carried two torpedos, which were dropped between 1000 yards and 1500 yards away, and Crace was described their attack as 'most determined but fortunately badly delivered.' Also on the Bridge, the Officer of the Watch said: "Each Torpedo bomber launched two torpedos at extraordinarily close range and then flew straight at us, machine-gunnuing all exposed personnel on the ack-ack guns and on the bridge. It was warm work. It seemed to take us some time on the bridge to realize that the odd buzzing noises about our ears were in fact machine gun bullets. The officer said the attack lasted 10 minutes, and were 'the longest 10 minutes of my life.' Payne reports that 10 of the torpedo bombers were shot down by the Anzac Squadron [as TG 17.3 had earlier been called]. "None of us were hit and it seemed too good to be true,' AUSTRALIA's Officer of the Watch said. "We were greatly relieved when the attack was spent. We relaxed, shook ourselves - then suddenly without any early warning from radar , up through the high patchy cloud base we saw 19 twin engined Japanese bombers. It was too late to do anything and their target was the flagship. Our consorts completely lost sight of us in the gigantic columns of water caused by the bombs when they landed in the sea straddling us perfectly. The weight of that water, as it came down over us on the bridge - and we were 52ft above the waterline - was sufficient to force us to our knees. But again no ship was hit and there were no casualties. We did not even have time to heave a sigh of relief before the next lot arrived. This time they were much bigger bombs, but not so close. There were four American sailors killed in one of the escorting destroyers by a near miss. The 'enemy' claimed to have wiped us out in their de-briefing in Townsville - that 'enemy' was in fact an over-enthusiastic American Air Force Squadron of Flying Fortresses.' Although well-proven by photographs taken from the aircraft, and causing a strong complaint from Admiral Crace, the erroneous bombing was later flatly denied at General MacArthur's HQ by the US Army air commander, who refused any discussion on the matter. Photo: Museum Victoria copy, also held in the State Library of Victoria [La Trobe Library], Australian War Memorial Image NO. 306610/03, RAN Archives, and other reference sources.

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