King George V granted the title of 'Royal Australian Navy' (RAN) to the Commonwealth Naval Forces in 1911. At the same time, formal control passed to the Commonwealth Naval Board, ending British control over the RAN.
The RAN played a crucial role in World War I, but the Australian Government cut funding after the war despite the naval successes. When global tensions erupted in September 1939, the RAN only had around 5,000 personnel.
Throughout World War II, the RAN really 'came of age', and sea warfare evolved. Working with the Allies, the RAN served many roles, including defence of shipping and rescuing survivors. As Japan entered the war in the Pacific, the RAN's role in defending our island nation became clear.
At its peak during the war, the Navy had:
- 337 vessels of all categories (from cruisers and destroyers to motor launches and other small craft)
- 36,976 officers and personnel
- 2,617 officers and personnel from the Women's Royal Australian Naval Service (WRANS)
- 57 Nursing Sisters.
By the end of the war, the value of naval forces to Australia's strategy was clear, but peace was costly. Some 2,170 naval personnel died of all causes during the war.
Interwar years
The RAN played a crucial role in Australia's defence in World War I. However, Australian Army successes overshadowed those of the Navy with the rise of the Anzac Legend.
More than 410,000 people enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) during World War I, with some 213,000 casualties and around 46,000 dead. By comparison, the Navy had a regular force of about 4,000 personnel at the start of the war, which only grew to about 5,200.
The feeling that the creation of a powerful navy had heralded the nation’s coming of age had been displaced by the growing ANZAC mythology, whereby the nation’s independence had been bought with blood on the shores of Gallipoli.
[Lieutenant Commander Glenn Kerr, RAN, The Decline of Australian Naval Deterrence 1919-1939]
After 1922, the Australian Government reduced spending on all armed forces. This was largely due to the desire for global disarmament. Military funding remained low during the Great Depression from 1929 to 1939.
RAN budgets suffered further as the Army and the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) fought to retain their budgets, arguing for their relevance over naval defence.
However, at the London Naval Conference in 1935, the United Kingdom (UK) defended the need for capital ships (the largest, primary warship) over the priority of the air force. At the time, the Washington Naval Treaty limited the expansion of naval arms.
The British government understood the value of a strong naval force, having built its empire on naval superiority. By the mid-1930s, Italy and Japan withdrew from the Washington Treaty, and Germany withdrew from the Treaty of Versailles. They all began re-investing in their naval forces.
As another war began to look likely, the Australian Government turned to the neglected RAN. With seaborne trade protection in mind, it ordered 3 light cruisers, 2 destroyers and 4 sloops.
At the onset of World War II, the RAN had various support and ancillary craft, plus:
- 2 heavy cruisers
- 4 light cruisers
- 5 destroyers
- 3 sloops.
Rather than being a formidable fleet as it was at the outbreak of World War I, the RAN began the war as a limited trade protection force.
Throughout the war, working with the Allies, the RAN served many roles:
- defence of commercial shipping
- supplying troops, weapons and equipment
- acting as convoys
- assisting with anti-submarine warfare
- rescuing survivors.
One of the Navy's first tasks, however, was building its capacity and capability.
Recruitment
At the outbreak of war in late 1939, there were around 5,000 permanent personnel in the RAN. The British Admiralty soon looked to the RAN for personnel to serve with the Royal Navy to defend British waters.
In the early stages of the war, the threat in the Pacific Ocean was seen as secondary to the immediate threat in the Atlantic and Mediterranean. And initially, Australia lacked training facilities and instructors. So, the Australian Naval Board agreed to provide naval volunteers to serve with the Royal Navy.
A call out for personnel was hugely successful. All new personnel joined through the Royal Australian Navy Reserve (RANR), signing an agreement for the duration of the war. New officers and potential officers entered as members of the RANR(S), the sea-going reserve, or the Royal Australian Naval Volunteer Reserve (RANVR), a class of professional seafarers.
Around 500 Australians were sent on loan with our British allies in the Royal Navy at the start of the war, and of those, 400 came from the RANVR.
As Australian ships arrived and began operating from British ports, the number of RAN personnel overseas grew. Around 2,500 RAN personnel served in HMA ships based in British ports within the first 3 years of the war. After Japan entered the war, they were recalled to the Pacific to defend against the Japanese.
Dominion Yachtsmen Scheme
In May 1940, the British Admiralty asked the Australian Government to create the Dominion Yachtsmen Scheme to enlist recruits for the British Royal Navy and the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve (RNVR).
Volunteers for the scheme were recruited in 2 groups:
- Class A – men aged 30 to 40 who held or passed navigation tests for the Board of Trade Yachtmaster's (Coastal) Certificate
- Class B – men aged 20 to 30 who could serve as ordinary sailors (ratings) in the RNVR with the possibility of a commission.
Class A recruits were immediately commissioned into the RNVR as temporary probationary sub-lieutenants. They had to serve 3 months of sea time after their training.
Some 500 scheme recruits were sent to the UK for training in the Royal Australian Naval Volunteer Reserve (RANVR). Once trained they would be deployed to the Royal Navy.
The ‘yachties’, as they called themselves, served in battleships, carriers, destroyers, cruisers, minesweepers and special forces. Many became officers, and some even commanded Royal Navy ships.
The yachties served in varied roles. Most of them served on convoy duty in the Atlantic Ocean, the North Sea, the Mediterranean or the Indian Ocean at some time. Most were assigned to small vessels, including motor launches, trawlers and landing craft.
Ordinary Seaman Ian Laurie Rhodes was recruited through the Dominion Yachtsmen Scheme. He was awarded the Conspicuous Gallantry Medal for his actions on HMS Kashmir during the Battle of Crete in May 1941. As the damaged Kashmir was sinking, Rhodes fired an Oerlikon gun at a Junkers Ju 88 aircraft that was machine-gunning survivors. The plane was destroyed.
RAN Recruit Training School
As the war developed, the RAN grew.
The RAN Recruit Training School operated out of Jervis Bay on HMAS Cerberus. Between September 1939 and January 1946, some 26,000 recruits were trained by the school. From 1941, those entering to serve in the war came via the RAN Reserve. They were admitted directly to the fleet after just 20 weeks of training.
By July 1945, the number of serving members had increased to nearly 37,000 of all ranks, with some 337 vessels.
Women’s Royal Australian Naval Service
By April 1941, there was a shortage of telegraphists in the RAN. The Women’s Royal Australian Naval Service (WRANS) was established to fill this need.
The first recruits to join the WRANS were highly trained volunteers from the Women’s Emergency Signalling Corps (WESC).
The founder of WESC, Florence Mackenzie, was the first Australian woman to graduate as an electrical engineer. She saw the need for skilled communications specialists and trained 3,000 women in Morse code and wireless telegraphy. One-third of these women joined the WRANS.
Recruitment for the WRANS increased following Japan's entry into the war. WRANS personnel were employed in various positions, including top-secret, high-pressure roles.
We studied the geography of the Pacific and we studied Kana [Japanese equivalent of Morse code] Morse and eventually we went on watch as enemy intercept operators. Very shortly after that I was chosen to do an officer’s training course when they needed women officers, but I couldn’t be spared because of the work I was doing, and I wasn’t spared until much later. During my naval career I spent most of the time at HMAS Harman outside Canberra which was the main source of information for the west from the rest of the world at that time. I also spent time during my officer’s training course at Flinders Naval Depot and Navy Office Melbourne and also at the big American, very sensitive area in the navy where they broke the codes and did all that sort of thing.
[Patricia Dow, (2004) Australians at War Film Archive, UNSW Canberra]
Members of WRANS quickly proved themselves indispensable and were soon accepted by male colleagues.\
More than 3,000 women served in the WRANS during World War II.
Learn more about Australian women who served in World War II.
Evolution in sea warfare
World War II brought new challenges for the RAN, which helped to reinforce its value within the sphere of the Australian armed forces. The RAN was finally ‘coming of age’.
In late 1940, Operation Judgement deployed aircraft from HMS Illustrious and attacked the Italian fleet in Taranto Harbour. The combination of air and sea warfare damaged 2 destroyers, the cruiser Trento and 3 battleships - Caio Duilio, Conte di Cavour and Littorio (later named Italia after the fall of Benito Mussolini).
Admiral Sir Andrew Cunningham, Commander-in-Chief of the Mediterranean Fleet, RN, later recalled:
Taranto, and the night of November 11 to 12, 1940, should be remembered for ever as having shown once and for all that in the Fleet Air Arm the Navy has its most devastating weapon. In a total flying time of about 6-and-a-half-hours—carrier to carrier—20 aircraft had inflicted more damage upon the Italian fleet than was inflicted upon the German High Sea Fleet in the daylight action at the Battle of Jutland.
[Herman Gill, Second World War Official Histories, Australia in the War of 1939-1945: Vol 2 - Navy]
Second World War Official Histories recorded, ‘It was doubtless remembered by Admiral Yamamoto as an inspiration for the Japanese air attack on the American fleet in Pearl Harbour in the early morning of Sunday, 7th December 1941.’
Later, in May 1942, the Battle of Coral Sea was the first major sea conflict where opposing surface forces didn’t get within sight or striking distance of each other. Aircraft deployed from naval carriers were responsible for all attacks.
Australian vessels and RAN personnel took part in the Battle of the Coral Sea. They were also involved in a subsidiary operation for Operation Judgement, north of Otranto and past Valona. These pioneering sea battles shaped the way the RAN operates today.
Significant conflicts
Throughout World War II, units of the RAN served in operations in the North, West and South Atlantic, the Caribbean, the Mediterranean, the Indian Ocean, Persian Gulf and Red Sea. Closer to home, the RAN fought alongside Allied navies in the battles of Java Sea, Sunda Strait, Coral Sea, Savo Island and Lingayen Gulf.
Battle of the Atlantic
The Battle of the Atlantic is one of the best-known naval struggles of World War II. It was a series of engagements over 5 years where Allied and Axis naval and air forces sought to retain control of sea lanes crossing the Atlantic Ocean.
The Atlantic shipping lanes between North America to Europe were vital to the UK’s success. Without them, it would not have been able to take delivery of essential supplies, equipment and troops that contributed to the Allied victory.
The Battle of the Atlantic was the longest campaign of the war.
Some of the more experienced RAN officers were given their own commands in trawlers converted specifically for anti-submarine warfare.
In March 1941, Lieutenant Commander Arthur Callaway, RANVR, took command of the British vessel, HMS Lady Shirley. One of his crew included Lieutenant Ian Boucaut, RANVR, who had joined the navy via the Yachtsmen Scheme.
Lady Shirley was the first British vessel under Australian command to destroy a German U-boat. South-west of the Canary Islands on 4 October 1941, Lady Shirley engaged the U-111 with depth charges and gunfire. One of Callaway’s crew was killed in the action.
For their service in this engagement, Callaway received the Distinguished Service Order (DSO), and Boucaut received the Distinguished Service Order (DSC). Tragically, when the trawler was attacked by U-374 in the Strait of Gibraltar in December 1941, both officers and the rest of the crew lost their lives.
Read more about the sailors in the Battle of the Atlantic.
Battle of the Mediterranean
Naval surface ships, submarines and aircraft of both the Allies and Axis fought the war in the Mediterranean. Besides the warships, there were merchant ships that transported essential cargo and men.
The Mediterranean was the RAN’s first designated war station of operations. The first Australian ships began arriving in Malta in late December 1939. Some of the destroyers were old and often referred to as the Scrap Iron Flotilla.
The RAN distinguished itself in the Mediterranean. On 10 June 1940, Italy's Benito Mussolini declared war on the Allies. Italy had a formidable naval force with a larger military presence (ships, bases and aircraft) than the Germans in the Mediterranean.
On 28 June 1940, the HMAS Sydney detected 3 enemy destroyers by aerial reconnaissance and took pursuit. One of the vessels, the Italian Espero, was crippled by Sydney. Despite taking gun and torpedo fire, Sydney destroyed the enemy vessel with its 6-inch guns.
Espero keeled over and sank, but the Australians spent the next 2 hours searching for survivors. Even when it became too dark to continue the search, the commander arranged for one of his boats to be provisioned and left behind to rescue every survivor.
The enemy personnel were well looked after. When the prisoners were to disembark in Alexandria, many asked to stay onboard Sydney rather than go to the prisoner-of-war camp.
HMAS Sydney continued her success with the notable destruction of the Italian cruiser Bartolomeo Colleoni. Unfortunately, Sydney and its entire crew were lost in a battle against a German cruiser in late 1941.
Learn more about the Navy in the Mediterranean.
Battle in the Pacific
When Japan entered the conflict in December 1941, the war became a reality for most Australians. Within months, the mainland came under direct attack from Japanese aircraft. Then in May 1942, Japanese submarines attacked Sydney and Newcastle.
The RAN formed the first line of defence for our island nation.
The war in the Asia-Pacific region lasted 4 years, with Australian ships and personnel serving alongside other Allied navies.
Before the outbreak of conflict in Malaya (now Malaysia) in December 1941, the RAN had 6 corvettes stationed at Singapore. When Japanese forces invaded Malaya, the cruiser HMAS Hobart, the destroyer HMAS Vampire and the sloop HMAS Yarra were ordered back to Australian waters.
HM Ships Prince of Wales and Repulse engaged the Japanese fleet in Malaya, but the ships sustained significant damage. HMAS Vampire brought rescued survivors from both ships back to Singapore.
The Japanese occupied Malaya and the Netherlands East Indies (now Indonesia) and turned their attention to northern Australia. Eight ships were sunk, including the destroyer USS Peary. Then the Darwin township, airfield and harbour were attacked from the air on 19 February 1942. The hospital ship Manunda was also damaged.
Harry Dale was on the HMAS Karangi near Darwin when the first Japanese planes dropped their bombs.
We have all ducked for cover, shrapnel is falling everywhere. The Manunda, the hospital ship, is only a few hundred yards off our port bow. Here comes a Kittyhawk, its belly light is flashing 'dot dash' all the time. There's a bloody Zero after the Kitty. The Nip is firing all guns. They have just hopped over the Manunda (looks like the Manunda was strafed by the Nip as he flew past). The Kitty is headed straight along our port side... The Japs' bullets are raking along the Karangi's side. I'm hiding behind a stanchion. The Jap planes have disappeared. The bridge calls down to see if anyone is injured. All on the gun deck are present, some one yells, 'where's Murphy'. He bobs up out of the winch house. Don't hold out much hope for the Kitty pilot.
[Tony Frame, Royal Australian Navy in the Atlantic and Mediterranean]
After conquering the islands north of Australia, the Japanese turned to the east – to Solomon Islands and Port Moresby. The Japanese planned to capture territories around Australia and interrupt the trans-Pacific lines of communication from which the Allies shared intelligence. Japan also wanted to create a naval blockade to stop incoming supplies.
The Japanese advanced south, sending a naval fleet to capture Port Moresby in New Guinea. But Allied forces intercepted and deciphered radio messages about the attack.
The Australian cruisers HMA Ships Australia and Hobart supported the United States (US) in the Battle of the Coral Sea from 4 to 8 May 1942. The fighting took place in the waters south-west of Solomon Islands and east of New Guinea. It was an air-naval engagement with attacks on enemy ships via aircraft launched from the ships.
Two Australians were wounded, but none were killed.
The Battle of the Coral Sea has since been hailed as ‘the battle that saved Australia’ because it led to Japan's seaward advance on Port Moresby being turned back.
By that stage of the war it was fairly obvious that you didn’t go into action in the navy if you could, without air cover. Because it was the air that was sinking ships all over the Mediterranean and the rest of the world. And here, suddenly, although we had two carriers with lots of nice aeroplanes, we had been sent away from them without any air cover… So we were very lucky to survive, actually.
I still swear to this day, although I think I might be inventing it now, that I could hear the torpedoes going past, in my spot down below. And with the high level bombers that came over then, the captain would watch them, he’d see them actually drop their bombs, he would calculate where he thought they were coming, and he would go, “Hard of starboard, full ahead port. Half a turn starboard.” And he would turn the ship and the bombs would drop in our wake. There was one photograph taken from the Hobart of us, where you can’t see us at all. We were completely surrounded by the tall bomb bursts in the water. Somewhere in the middle was the Australia.
[Dacre Smyth (2004), Australians at War Film Archive]
Command of RAN units
The situation at the beginning of the war differed from the situation in World War I. While RAN ships were under Australian command, there was also a long-term loan agreement in place between the RAN and the Royal Navy. This allowed them to gain valuable experience in all areas of sea warfare.
The agreement meant that, while some individual vessels were commanded by Australian personnel, RAN ships based in British waters came directly under Admiralty command.
After Japan entered the war in 1942, the RAN recalled its larger ships to home waters in defence of Australia.
Initially, RAN ships served as part of a unified force under American–British–Dutch–Australian Command (ABDACOM). The RAN commander of the British-Australian naval forces was Commodore John Collins, KBE CB, under the overall command of British General Sir Archibald Wavell.
Collins commanded the cruiser HMAS Sydney in the Mediterranean campaign and led the Australian Naval Squadron in the Pacific. After the fall of the Netherlands East Indies, ABDACOM was disbanded.
RAN ships also served as part of the ANZAC Squadron, an Allied naval warship task force formed on 12 February 1942. The joint Australian, New Zealand and US squadron was made up of cruisers and destroyers under the command of Rear Admiral John Gregory Crace. Crace was an Australian-born Royal Navy officer.
The force was tasked with defending north-east Australia and the surrounding areas. The combined naval forces in the South West Pacific Area were commanded by US Navy Vice Admiral Herbert Fairfax Leary.
On 22 April 1942, the ANZAC Force was absorbed into South West Pacific Area (SWPA) under US General Douglas MacArthur. MacArthur ignored orders from his superiors to appoint Australians to his staff, which meant Australia lost some control of the strategic direction of the offensive operations. However, Australian General Thomas Blamey was MacArthur's second in command, in charge of Allied land forces. US officers were given command of the Allied air and naval forces.
Key ships involved in the war
RAN in British waters
Many Australian vessels served in British Waters during World War II. Two notable vessels were 2 County-class cruisers:
HMAS Australia served in the South Atlantic and western Atlantic, mostly escorting convoys. It also served a brief period with the Royal Navy's Home Fleet. In the Pacific, Australia was the flagship vessel in Task Force 44 in the ANZAC Squadron.
HMAS Shropshire commissioned into the RAN in 1943 and was a replacement for HMAS Canberra (lost in 1942). The ship served briefly in the Atlantic Ocean escorting a convoy to Gibraltar. Then it was transferred to Australian waters.
There were also N-class destroyers and 2 Q-class destroyers, including:
RAN vessels in the Mediterranean
Some of the RAN’s vessels that served in the Mediterranean were:
HMAS Sydney initially patrolled the Western Australia coast and into the Indian Ocean in 1939, before being deployed to the Mediterranean, where it gained a reputation as a clean and efficient ship.
HMAS Hobart was a cruiser that operated in the Mediterranean from July until December 1941. It returned to Australia and then operated in South-East Asia.
Read more about the Navy in the Mediterranean.
RAN in the Pacific
The RAN operated across multiple campaigns and regions in the Pacific. These are some of the vessels that operated in the Indian Ocean and South-East Asia.
HMAS Voyager served in the Mediterranean, before rescuing over 2,000 survivors from the damaged ships in Malaya. Voyager was later lost in the Battle of Timor.
In February 1942, joint ABDACOM force met Japanese invasion in Java Sea.
HMAS Perth and USS Houston fought and survived. But in March, both ships attempted to move through Sunda Strait and found it blocked by the main Japanese invasion fleet from western Java. Both the Perth and Houston were sunk.
HMAS Arunta was a new destroyer that served in the waters around Papua and New Guinea. Arunta sank the Japanese submarine R033 off Port Moresby, which was crucial in removing the Japanese threat to logistical support needed for Australian troops.
In Australian waters, RAN vessels repelled Japanese submarines patrolling and laying mines. Three such vessels were the corvettes:
RAN in the Philippines, Australian forces provided naval and air support to the US and Filipino forces. This included ships from the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) and units from the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). Some of the vessels involved were:
Learn more about the experiences of RAN personnel.
Life at sea
Serving at sea brought its own challenges, such as seasickness and cramped conditions where crew were to live and work.
She wasn’t a good ship, she had no running water. You had a 44 gallon drum with the lid cut out of it in the bathroom and you had to wash yourself with a dipper and the stoker, we’d call him the tankie, was responsible for filling it. She had very limited water capacity so you had to be pretty careful. She had been changed from coal-burning boilers to oil-fired, probably when she became a RAN ship or at some stage. She still had the original reciprocating steam engines, they were piston engines. She had very little armament, she had anti submarine equipment so she was a rough ship. We were paid hard line money, we got an extra one shilling and sixpence a day for living on her.
[Alfred Johnson (Gordon), Australians at War Film Archive]
The nature of their work meant that members adjusted to the customs and language of working on a vessel. Did you know, the term, 'chock-a-block' (meaning full), is a naval expression? Learn more about naval slang.
Those who served on cruisers or destroyers needed to come to terms with long stints at sea, unsure of where they would end up or if they'd return home alive. Also, the ships were not designed for the conditions in the tropics.
Sailors posted to corvettes needed to come to terms with being in a small ship without a large amount of room for supplies. And the corvettes didn't handle the rough weather well.
Crew needed to be prepared for action at a moment's notice. Every ship was vulnerable to submarine or air attack, and it was vital to have someone on watch all the time.
Sailors not involved in staffing the ship's guns were tasked with firefighting, evacuation and medical duties. Most of the recruits were young men who had never been to sea and away from their friends and families for so long. Many weren't sure where they were headed, and the war and its horrors were new experiences for them.
HMAS Australia came under heavy fire from Goree Island off Dakar, West Africa. One sailor recalled what he saw:
Our superstructure shuddered as we roared reply to the challenge. Salvo after salvo, and high up on the skyline, through rifts in the smoke, we saw earth and concrete flying as the heavy shells silenced a fort. Around us was growing a rumble of heavy guns. The squadron roared into action, a thunderous symphony ... now we were fighting forts, a battleship, cruisers, destroyers, submarines and dodging mines. To complete the inferno that went on, the bugler sounded 'Repel Aircraft'.
[Tony Frame, Royal Australian Navy in the Atlantic and Mediterranean, 2008]
Casualties and commemoration
Some 2,170 members of the RAN lost their lives during World War II.
Ship losses during the conflict were also substantial. Those lost included the heavy cruiser Canberra, the light cruisers Sydney and Perth, the destroyers Nestor, Vampire, Voyager and Waterhen, the sloops Parramatta and Yarra and nearly 30 other RAN vessels.
On 3 March 1986, Queen Elizabeth II dedicated the National Memorial to the Royal Australian Navy. RAN battle honours are listed on plaques on either side of the memorial. You can visit the memorial on Anzac Parade in Canberra.
Sources
Alfred Johnson (Gordon) oral history interview (2003) Australians at War Film Archive, UNSW Canberra, https://www.australiansatwarfilmarchive.unsw.edu.au/archive/1080
Australian War Memorial (2020), 'Darwin Air Raids', Memorial Articles - Encyclopedia, last updated 22 Sep, https://www.awm.gov.au/articles/encyclopedia/air_raids/darwin
Dacre Smyth oral history interview (2004), Australians at War Film Archive, UNSW Canberra, https://www.australiansatwarfilmarchive.unsw.edu.au/archive/1348
Frame, Tony (2008), Royal Australian Navy in the Atlantic and Mediterranean, Department of Veterans' Affairs, Canberra, https://anzacportal.dva.gov.au/resources/royal-australian-navy-atlantic-and-mediterranean
Herman Gill, G., Second World War Official Histories, Australia in the War of 1939-1945: Vol 2 - Navy (1st edition, 1968), https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C1417375
Kerr, Glenn (undated), 'The Decline of Australian Naval Deterrence 1919-1939', Feature histories, Royal Australian Navy, https://www.navy.gov.au/history/feature-histories/decline-australian-naval-deterrence-1919-1939
Patricia Dow oral history interview (2004) Australians at War Film Archive, UNSW Canberra, https://www.australiansatwarfilmarchive.unsw.edu.au/archive/1701
Stevens, David (undated), The RAN - A Brief History https://www.navy.gov.au/history/feature-histories/ran-brief-history
Royal Australian Navy (undated), A Brief History of the Royal Australian Naval Reserve, https://www.navy.gov.au/brief-history-royal-australian-naval-reserve
Williams, Peter (2015), United Kingdom: Australians in World War II, Department of Veterans' Affairs, Canberra, https://anzacportal.dva.gov.au/resources/united-kingdom
Wikipedia, History of the Royal Australian Navy, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Royal_Australian_Navy
Wikipedia, American-British-Dutch-Australian Command, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American-British-Dutch-Australian_Command
Glossary
- Admiralty
- Allies
- Axis, the
- battleship
- corvette
- cruiser
- destroyer
- sloop