October 2018
PATRON: Major General B. W. (Hori) Howard AO MC ESM (Ret’d.)
REMEMBRANCE DAY – BRISBANE
President Don cordially invites all Association members and partners to a gathering in Brisbane City on Sunday 11 November to mark the Centenary of the 1918 Armistice.
The program for the day is as follows:
10.30 Gather near the Flame of Remembrance, Anzac Square (Ann Street entrance
11.00 Watch the official Remembrance Day Service conducted by the RSL Qld Branch. Don will apply to lay a wreath to honour our deceased servicemen from the Second World War and later.
11.45 (after the service) walk across the street to the Grand Central Hotel for drinks and lunch (Main courses $20 to $25 approx)
Organiser Greg Ivey needs numbers for the Lunch Table by 7th November.
1.00 – 1.30 Don and members discuss current and future Association projects
1.30 approx. Optional – those interested could walk to the Remembrance Day Concert in the City Botanic Gardens (starring Kate Ceberano etc.). Free tickets can be ordered online now to ensure your place at this public concert starting at 2.30 pm at the River Stage. Places are limited and BYO chair recommended.
PRESIDENT PROFILE – MAJOR DONALD GRAHAM (Retd.)
We are privileged to have Don as our President and so Armi Nius has decided to present a profile of him and his career highlights.
Don was born in Grafton, NSW into a military family. His father and three uncles saw active service in World War 2 and Korea. Don attended the King’s School, Parramatta and the combination of family background and school led him to choose a military career.
He was commissioned as an Army Career Officer in the Infantry and had regimental, operational and staff appointments throughout Australia, PNG and Asia – Borneo, Malaysia, Singapore and South Vietnam.
Don has had many brushes with the famous (or later-to-be famous), most notably, HM Queen Elizabeth 2 and actor Peter O’Toole.
Among his closest friends, Don counts General Sir Peter Cosgrove AK, the current Governor-General of Australia and Major General Philip Michael Jeffery AC CVO MC the 24th Governor-General of Australia and the 30th Governor of Western Australia.
Don now resides at the Gold Coast with his wife Barbara and actively carries out his role as President of this Association.
President Don and Barbara with Chief of Army Lt Gen Angus Campbell (his father was a contemporary and former PIR Officer).
Don (foreground) in South Vietnam filtering drinking water while on patrol 1964
Don with his PIR Platoon in TPNG
Don’s fishing party.
THE AE1 STORY
We thank Greg for his well-researched and well-compiled contribution.
At Ruth Whitfield Park, Kallangur, Qld a well-kept memorial honours Australia’s first submarines and their crews. Built together, commissioned together, record makers together, AE1 and AE2 were separated only by the mysterious disappearance of one. Today they lay decaying in opposite hemispheres; each lost for years but now found, one a war grave, the other a scuttled wreck. Now a plaque at Kallangur tells the story of AE1 and her crew while a model representation of AE2 is visually arresting to visitors and passers-by. This story concerns AE1.
Painting of AE1 by Dennis Adams
In 1911 the Commonwealth Naval Force became the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). Within months, two submarines ordered by the Australian Government were laid down and under construction at Barrow-in-Furness, England. Designated AE1 and AE2, they were each 55 metres long, 7 metres across the beam and capable of diving to 30 metres. They were the very latest British design. Launched in mid 1913, they underwent sea trials with crews drawn from the Royal Navy (RN) and the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). Their commissioning on 28 February 1914 was a low-key event possibly because very senior officers held submarines in poor regard within the RN. When First Sea Lord Admiral Sir Arthur Wilson VC RN was heard to mutter that submarines were “underhand, unfair and damned un-English,” his opinion echoed that of many navy personnel.
Under light cruiser escort in three stages to Colombo, to Singapore, and finally to Sydney, AE1 and 2, departed Portsmouth on 2 March 1914. Escort duties included carrying personal gear, spare crew, and submarine ordnance. In addition, the escort ship towed the submarines when required, allowing each submarine to carry out maintenance while under tow.
The voyage to Sydney was troublesome at times, for the submarines and the submariners. Issues which caused most concern included excessive engine room heat, oil overheating, steering malfunctions, damage to propellers and wireless/telegraphy technology problems. Two incidents were almost catastrophic. In Singapore Harbour, AE1 became stuck in mud while undergoing a diving trial. With the air supply running dangerously low, she pulled free, surfaced and human tragedy was averted. There were repeated problems during towing, none more serious than in the Lombok Strait. Here the towrope between the escort HMAS Sydney and AE1 parted. Not under full power, AE1 drifted across the path of AE2, missing her by a mere one metre.
83 days after departing Portsmouth, the submarines completed a record-breaking 13,000mile voyage – 9,000 miles self-powered. Fittingly, it was Empire Day when they entered Sydney Harbour giving the citizens of Sydney further cause to feel patriotic. It mattered little that less than half the crews of AE1 and AE2 were Australian and that the commanding officer of each submarine was British. On the contrary, the coalescing of nationals, of RN and RAN personnel, mirrored the endearing ties with the then “Mother” country.
The two Submarine Commanders, Lt Besant and Lt Stoker, submitted their reports. They were less than glowing. Stoker believed that the human factor more than the quality of manufacture had resulted in the successful completion of the voyage.
Political tensions in Europe escalated dangerously after the assassination of the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne. On 5 August the Admiralty advised that Great Britain and Germany were at war. On the same day, the Australian Prime Minister followed suit. Under command of Rear Admiral Patey RN, the Australian Fleet was directed to secure German colonies in New Guinea and the Western Pacific. Two weeks later an RAN fleet comprising in part five warships and a troop carrier departed Sydney Harbour. This force, designated the Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force (AN&MEF), was ordered to destroy wireless stations in German New Guinea, capture the German colonial capital of Rabaul and eliminate resistance on land and sea. AE1 and AE2 were still having refits after their record-breaking journeys but were able to join the fleet near Palm Island, North Queensland.
In convoy, AE1 and 2 proceeded to the Gazelle Peninsula, East New Britain. No German warships were sighted during transit. On entering Simpson Harbour (Rabaul), it was found to be empty of German shipping. However, the nearby principal target, Bita Paka wireless station was heavily defended. After a fiercely-fought battle, a 50 strong amphibious force of the AN&MEF captured the station. The victory was won at the loss of several lives, the first Australian force fatalities in World War 1. Subsequent action officially ended German occupation of New Guinea. On 13 September at 3pm, the British flag was hoisted over Rabaul.
In Simpson Harbour, maintenance on the AE1 was delayed by poor servicing arrangements. However, eager to join in the search for enemy shipping, Lt Besant successfully assured Admiral Patey that AE1 was seaworthy. With orders to patrol the St George’s Channel east of the Duke of York Islands, Besant took AE1 out of Simpson Harbour. It was the morning of 14 September 1914. AE1 did not return that evening and for the next 103 years her whereabouts would remain a mystery.
Location where AE1 was last sighted.
How AE1 came to be “lost at sea” is unknown. What is known is that she rendezvoused with HMAS Parramatta at 8am near Herbertshohe (Kokopo). At 9am off Cape Gazelle, Parramatta signalled that she would search to the south. AE1, as per orders, advanced in a north-easterly direction. Visibility was patchy. Not wanting to lose sight of the submarine for too long, the Parramatta turned northwest. At 2:30pm with 5 miles visibility, Parramatta was within sight of AE1. At 3:20pm, unable to sight AE1, Parramatta conducted a brief unsuccessful search. That night and for the next two days, the search continued. AE1 had vanished without trace. Searching vessels could find no oil slick.
Many questions have been asked and theories proposed about the final hours and minutes of AE1 and her crew. While afloat, she was an unarmed vessel for she had no deck gun and could only fire torpedoes when submerged. (A later version of the E Class was fitted with a 12-pounder deck gun.) In hazy conditions, signalling may have been futile. Combined with continuing wireless/telegraphy problems, Besant may have had no means of advising Parramatta of trouble or to seek her assistance. Did a ballast problem cause her to sink while diving? Did a steering failure or an engine breakdown put her at the mercy of sea currents? Was her fate cast by human error?
For 103 years AE1 and her crew of 35 lay on the seabed. In December 2017, after many unsuccessful searches, she was found, intact, in 300 metres of water off the Duke of York Island Group. The exact location remains classified. Meanwhile a comprehensive, non-invasive inspection of the submarine is revealing new information. Using thousands of digital images, a 3D model is being generated. Perhaps a definitive cause of her sinking may yet be discovered. The site is a declared War Grave.
Greg Farr
Editors:
Ian Ogston ozoggies2@gmail.com
Greg Ivey iveygj@gmail.com