Indian Ocean Sea battle

[Mike Kelly]

I had not known of this sea battle involving a Dutch tanker.

https://www.tracesofwar.com/articles...MIS-Bengal.htm

https://hmascastlemaine.org.au/IndianCorvettes.php

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Me neither! Thanks for digging this up and bringing it to our attention.

[Mike Cecil]

A very interesting and fascinating article, thanks Mike.

As the article says, the Japanese were not nearly as effective as the Germans when it came to the use of surface raiders. There was a great fear that, with the outbreak of the war in the Pacific, the Japanese would interdict the vital supply lines between North America and Australia, a fear that was heightened when the SS Vincent was sunk to the east of Pitcairn Island on 12 Dec 1941 by two Japanese surface raiders. But overall, the disruption of the NA to Aust route just didn't eventuate in the Pacific, while the Germans sank several very valuable cargoes in the Caribbean that were destined for Australia. I suppose the Germans had plenty of practical experience to draw on from their WW1 raider exploits. Japanese submarines were reasonably effective at disrupting Australian coastal shipping.
Mike

[maple_leaf_eh]

When I was growing up, the James Lamb book, Corvette Navy, was almost required reading. These vessels were Flower class corvettes. Yards in Canada made literally dozens of these ships on British drawings.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bathurst-class_corvette

[Mike Kelly]

The MV club here have visited the HMAS Castlemaine a few times over the years. Back in the 1980s they had a ham radio station onboard , I have a QSL card somewhere, the operator was a lovely ex-WRAN who I met , she was excellent on the Morse key.


Interesting reading the technical stuff on the two engines fitted in these vessels ( the engines fitted in the Castlemaine were built in Castlemaine, Victoria ) , the sealed engine room was kept at slightly above the normal atmospheric pressure, this was done so that the engines would breath and perform more effectively, one wonders how the poor stokers coped with this as well as the tropical heat , must have been hell.

https://hmascastlemaine.org.au/propulsion.php

Jeep and HMAS Castelmaine

https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C46539