Scharnhorst, a 31,100-ton Gneisenau class battle-cruiser, was built at Wilhelmshaven, Germany. She was launched in October 1936 and she was commissioned in January 1939. Her first wartime operation was a sweep into the Iceland-Faeroes passage in late November 1939, in which the British armed merchant cruiser Rawalpindi (see base of page) was sunk. In the spring of 1940 the Scharnhorst and her sister, Gneisenau, covered the conquest of Norway. They engaged the British battleship Renown on 9 April 1940 and sank the carrier HMS Glorious and two destroyers on 8 June. http://www.mikekemble.com/ww2/scharnhorst.html View attachment 33
HMAS Canberra. View attachment 35 HMAS Canberra (Heavy Cruiser, 1928-1942) HMAS Canberra, a 9850-ton heavy cruiser of the British Kent class, was built at Glasgow, Scotland. She was commissioned in July 1928 and soon steamed to Australia. Following the outbreak of World War II in September 1939, Canberra mainly operated in Australian and Indian Ocean waters, but also served in the South Atlantic in 1940. In March 1941, she helped to sink the German support ship Ketty Brovig in the Indian Ocean. In early August 1942, the cruiser participated in Operation "Watchtower", the invasion of Guadalcanal and Tulagi in the southern Solomon Islands. During the early hours of 9 August, while on patrol off Guadalcanal, she was badly damaged in combat with a force of Japanese cruisers. HMAS Canberra was scuttled several hours later, becoming one of the first ships sunk in what would soon be called "Iron Bottom Sound". Canberra's wreck was discovered and examined in July-August 1992, almost exactly fifty years after her loss. She lies upright on the sea floor, some 2500 feet deep, with visible signs of shell hits and fire damage amidships. Her turrets are still trained out to the port side, as they were during her brief and fatal engagement with the Japanese.
HMAS Australia View attachment 36 HMAS Australia (Heavy Cruiser, 1928-1955) HMAS Australia, a 9850-ton heavy cruiser of the British Kent class, was built at Glasgow, Scotland. During the first decade of her active career, she mainly served in Australian home waters, but also cruised abroad on occasion. The cruiser was modernized in 1938-39, receiving much improved armor protection plus significant modifications to her forward superstructure, anti-aircraft gun battery, gunfire control systems and aircraft facilities. After World War II broke out in Europe in September 1939, Australia operated in the Indian Ocean and South Atlantic, protecting shipping routes from the threat of German surface raiders. She went to the north Atlantic in mid-1940 and, in September of that year took part in the British Navy attack on Dakar, where she was hit by shells from the French cruisers Georges Leygues and Montcalm. Returning to Australia in 1941, she resumed her shipping protection work in the Indian Ocean. In early 1942, with Japan now at war with the Allies, Australia was flagship of a small task force assigned to protect the south Pacific eastwards from Australia. In that capacity she engaged enemy aircraft in May, during the Battle of the Coral Sea. In August, she participated in the Guadalcanal Invasion. Thereafter, she mainly served as one of the heaviest ships involved in the fight for New Guinea, initially in a covering role. Beginning in late 1943, with the landings at Cape Gloucester, New Britain, Australia provided fire support and surface ship protection for the assault across northern New Guinea. On 8-9 June 1944, she was flagship of the task force that pursued Japanese destroyers off Biak. Australia later participated in the Leyte invasion in October 1944 and the landings at Lingayen Gulf in January 1945. She was hit by a Japanese plane in the former operation, losing some twenty of her crew. No less than five Kamikazes struck her during the Lingayen operation, taking the lives of over forty crewmen, but she remained on her gunfire support station until no longer needed. Subsequent repairs and alterations in 1945-46 reduced Australia's main battery from eight to six eight-inch guns, enhanced her anti-aircraft firepower and generally brought her up to date. She remained active in the post-war era, in her final years as a training ship, until she was paid off for the last time in August 1954. HMAS Australia was sold for scrapping in January 1955. This page features, or provides links to, all our views of the Australian heavy cruiser Australia (1928-1955).
HMAS Hobart HMAS Hobart (Light Cruiser, 1938-1962) and HMS Apollo (British Light Cruiser, 1936-1938) View attachment 37 HMS Apollo, a 7105-ton light cruiser, was built at Devonport, England, the first of a class of three, all of which ultimately served in the Royal Australian Navy. Completed in January 1936, she operated on the North America and West Indies Stations until mid-1938. Transferred to Australia in late September 1938, she was then renamed HMAS Hobart and served in Australian waters during the remaining peacetime months. Following the outbreak of war with Germany at the beginning of September 1939, Hobart cruised off Australia, in the East Indies and in the Indian Ocean to protect troop convoys en route to the war zone and to guard against the threat of enemy surface raiders. In April 1940 she went to the Red Sea, where she operated against Italian forces for several months. The cruiser served in the Mediterranean Sea during the last half of 1941, but was withdrawn when Japan began the Pacific War in December. She spent the rest of World War II in the Pacific. Her activities in 1942 included participation in the Battle of the Coral Sea in May and the invasion of Guadalcanal and Tulagi in August. Hobart also operated extensively in the Coral Sea area, covering the Allies' vital south Pacific supply lines and protecting New Guinea from enemy surface threats. While steaming west of the New Hebrides on 20 July 1943, in company with the heavy cruiser Australia and three U.S. Navy destroyers, she was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine. Her after hull was seriously damaged, necessitating prolonged repairs at Sydney that kept her out of service until December 1944. During the rest of World War II, Hobart served in the Philippines and East Indies, taking part in amphibious landings at Cebu in March 1945 and Borneo in April-July. When Japan surrendered on 2 September 1945, she was part of the fleet anchored in Tokyo Bay to witness the event. Following the end of hostilities Hobart participated in the occupation of Japan, a duty that continued on and off for two years. She was decommissioned in December 1947 and placed in reserve. In 1953, she began conversion and modernization to prepare her for service as the Royal Australian Navy's training cruiser. However, this mission was cancelled in 1956, and she was returned to reserve. HMAS Hobart was sold for scrapping in February 1962 and was subsequently broken up in Japan.
