Cruiser (95 page)

18
Jim Nelson.

19
Later a distinguished Canberra political correspondent for
The Sydney Morning Herald
.

20
Wing Commander Robert Henry Maxwell (Bobby) Gibbes DSO, DFC & Bar, OAM died in 2007.

21
Roden Cutler became a diplomat after the war, was knighted and in 1966 began a record 15-year term as a governor of New South Wales (
www.awm.gov.au/people/545.asp
).

22
Norris, p. 96.

23
‘Killick' is an old word for an anchor, still used in the navy. A leading seaman, which was King's rate before he was demoted, has an anchor as his badge of rank.

24
King.

25
Jim Nelson.

26
Norris, p. 114.

27
HMAS
Bathurst
, the first of 60 Bathurst-class corvettes built for the RAN during the war.

28
Jim Nelson.

29
Norris, p. 116.

PART 3: TO THE SUNDA STRAIT

Chapter 14: Change of Command

1
Anyone interested in this truly terrifying device can find it, complete with instruction manual, at
www.puffergas.com/pederick/pederick.html
.

2
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade,
www.info.dfat.gov.au/historical
.

3
This public statement was amplified in a long and top-secret cable from the British Secretary of State for the Dominions to the Australian Government. It is also available at
www.info.dfat.gov.au/historical
.

4
The note was prepared for President Roosevelt but delivered by Secretary of State Hull. See
www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/WorldWar2/hull26.htm
.

5
Menzies,
Dark and Hurrying Days
, p. 134.

6
Quoted in Thompson,
Pacific Fury
, p. 78.

7
Australian Dictionary of Biography
, entry on John Curtin:
http://adbonline.anu.edu.au/biogs/A130616b.htm
.

8
Macdonald, sometimes known as Fighting Mac, committed suicide in 1903 after allegations of homosexual affairs with young boys in Ceylon. The charges were apparently baseless, motivated by colonial snobbery; Macdonald was the son of a humble Scottish stonemason.

9
Naval Historical Review
, Naval Historical Society of Australia, August 1972. Also online at
www.navyhistory.org.au/captain-h-m-l-waller-dso-and-bar-ran
.

10
Quoted in Gee, p. 208.

11
Clifford, p. 73.

12
The Sydney Morning Herald
, 1 December 1941.

13
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade,
www.info.dfat.gov.au/historical
.

Chapter 15: The Time of Infamy

1
Quoted in Ienaga, p. 139.

2
Cited in Morison, p. 46. Morison attributes the quotation to the memoirs of Konoye.

3
Skeels, p. 4.

4
Frank McGovern, interview with the author, 2009.

5
Collins, quoted in Gee, p. 212.

6
Navy Department to CinCUS, Pearl Harbor, 27 November 1941, US Navy Historical Center.

7
Mitsuo Fuchida,
From Pearl Harbor to Calvary
,
www.biblebelievers.com
.

8
Toland,
The Rising Sun
, p. 224.

9
‘What on earth is Phillips going to the Far Eastern squadron for? He hardly knows
one end of a ship from the other,' wrote Cunningham to a fellow admiral. ‘His only experience is eight months as RAD [Rear-Admiral, Destroyers] and then he had the stupidest collision.' Vice-Admiral Sir James Somerville, who commanded Force H in the Med, wrote to Cunningham that he ‘shuddered to think of the “pocket Napoleon” going out to the Far East. All the tricks to learn and no solid sea experience to fall back on.' Cited in Marder, p. 365.

10
The Americans gave code names to Japanese aircraft. For some reason, bombers had girls' names – Betty, Val, Doris, Nell, etc., – while fighters had boys' names – Claude, Zeke, Ben and Oscar. Perhaps the most famous aircraft of all, the Zero, was known from its Japanese Navy designation: Type 0 Carrier Fighter.

11
Guy Griffiths, interview with the author, 2008.

12
Quoted in Nicholson, p. 133.

13
Churchill,
Vol. III: The Grand Alliance
, p. 551.

Chapter 16: The Fall of Fortress Singapore

1
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade,
www.info.dfat.gov.au/historical
.

2
Duff Cooper, quoted in Smith, p. 287.

3
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade,
www.info.dfat.gov.au/historical
.

4
Ibid.

5
The Herald
, Melbourne, 27 December 1941.

6
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade cable, Churchill to Curtin, 29 December 1941.

7
Quoted in Thompson,
Pacific Fury
, p. 54.

8
Simson, p. 68.

9
Clifford Kinvig, quoted in Forbes, p. 96.

10
Quoted in Thompson,
Pacific Fury
, p. 113.

11
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade,
www.info.dfat.gov.au/historical
.

12
Ibid.

13
Churchill,
Vol. IV: The Hinge of Fate
, p. 87.

14
Ibid., p. 88.

15
Australia's War 1939–45:
www.ww2australia.gov.au/japadvance/bowden.html
.

16
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade,
www.info.dfat.gov.au/historical
.

17
Oppenheim.

18
The Royal Commissioner, Justice George Ligertwood, found in 1946 that ‘having regard to the terms of the capitulation I think that it was General Bennett's duty to have remained in command of the AIF until the surrender was complete … I find that General Bennett was not justified in relinquishing his command.' But he went on to add, ‘I think that he acted from a sense of high patriotism and according to what he conceived to be his duty to his country.' It is difficult to avoid the conclusion that the Royal Commission was a careful whitewash designed to cover the stain of a general deserting his men. Percival believed Bennett had been a deserter and never forgave him. Bennett kept up an increasingly furious, even paranoid, defence of his conduct until his death in 1962. See Lodge.

19
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade,
www.info.dfat.gov.au/historical
.

20
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade Historical Documents 326, Wootton to Dunk, Memorandum (extract), 19 October 1945.

21
Wootton and Quinn survived imprisonment in Sumatra.

22
‘The Battle for Australia, Mr Curtin's Call to Service',
The Age
, Melbourne,
17 February 1942.

23
Notes from Doneley family private papers.

24
Crace, 30 January 1942.

25
Smith, p. 289.

26
Whiting, private papers.

27
Quoted in Pfennigwerth, p. 201.

28
See Morison,
Rising Sun in the Pacific
, p. 312.

29
Churchill,
Vol. IV: The Hinge of Fate
, p. 127.

30
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade,
www.info.dfat.gov.au/historical
.

31
Gavin Campbell, interview with the author, 2008.

32
Owen,
Naval Historical Review
, Naval Historical Society, August 1972.

Chapter 17: Defeat in the Java Sea

1
Skeels, p. 23.

2
Van Oosten, p. 37.

3
The car ride obviously imprinted itself deeply on Gordon's mind. After three years in a Japanese POW camp, he would write in his report to the Admiralty that he and Hec Waller ‘only arrived at the risk of our lives in the fastest and most dangerous motor car ride through traffic that we had ever experienced'.

4
Oliver Gordon, p. 122.

5
Winslow, p. 111.

6
Van Oosten, p. 43.

7
Hara, apparently at the humane end of the spectrum of Japanese naval officers, went on to fight at Midway and Guadalcanal and was captain of a cruiser at war's end, when his beloved IJN was crushed into oblivion. His memoirs,
Japanese Destroyer Captain
, provide an invaluable Japanese perspective on the war at sea.

8
Skeels, p. 27.

9
See Appendix 1 to this book (NAA MP1185/8, Item 1932/2/220).

10
Hamlin,
www.history.navy.mil/ar/hotel/hamlin.htm
.

11
Skeels, p. 28.

12
Captain Ian Pfennigwerth, in his book on HMAS
Perth
, downplays the communications confusion, arguing that ‘a great deal of unnecessary emphasis has been placed on the tactical signalling problems'. But the Captain of
Exeter
, Oliver Gordon, wrote in his report to the Admiralty after the war that ‘this action demonstrated in a very marked manner the difficulty of working with a heterogeneous squadron, composed of ships of different nationalities, all of whose methods, but in particular those of signalling and fire distribution, differ from our own and with whom there had been no opportunity of even the briefest discussion on such matters'.

13
Action Report of the USS
John D. Edwards
, 4 March 1942, US Naval Historical Center.

14
See Appendix 1 to this book (NAA MP1185/8, Item 1932/2/220).

15
Ibid.

16
Skeels, p. 30.

17
Wallace, p. 19.

18
De Slag in de Javazee
, director Niek Koppen, 1995, contains valuable interviews with Dutch, American, Australian, British and Japanese survivors of the battle.

19
Action Report of the USS
John D. Edwards
, 4 March 1942, US Naval Historical Center.

20
See Appendix 1 to this book (NAA MP1185/8, Item 1932/2/220).

Chapter 18: Abandon Ship

1
The official Dutch report of the Java Sea Battle, quoted in Gill,
1939–1942
, p. 616.

2
Collins, p. 115.

3
Winslow, p. 131.

4
Quoted in Hornfischer, p. 30.

5
Skeels, p. 35.

6
Bee, p. 21.

7
Grant.

8
Wallace, p. 24.

9
Gee, p. 159.

10
Wallace, p. 25.

11
Parkin,
Out of the Smoke
, p. 294.

12
Frank McGovern, interview with the author, 2009.

13
Gavin Campbell, interview with the author, 2008.

14
Bee, p. 21.

PART 4: PRISONERS AND SURVIVORS

Chapter 19: Fight for Survival

1
Wallace, p. 28.

2
Gee, p. 160.