The Great War 1914-1919 and the Second World War 1939-1945 followed, both with, for the first time, selective then heavy demands on merchant … "Australia @ War" WWII … The debate over the need for Australian-flagged merchant ships has a long history running right back to federation. Because of its length of coastline and many ports, by the 1880s the colony of Queensland had recognized the need to establish its own coastal shipping service rather than rely on external shipping lines to transport its cargoes of rainforest timber, sugar, bananas, coal and meat. Companies of soldiers worked 12-hour shifts until relieved by another crew. War Dead 1939-45: Search memorials by name and by ship. ‘Sparrow Force’ embarked Zealandia arrived Koepang on the 12th, escorted by Westralia (70 Officers — 1,330 men). The impact of the war on merchant seamen was little known except to people in the towns along the coast where it happened, and to the families and friends of the men whose lives were so imperilled. Details about the role of the Australian Merchant Navy and the role Australian merchant ships played in World War II can be found at Merchant Ships of Australia in World War 2. Served WW2 surviving a submarine attack in 1942. Merchant seamen serving with the Allied Forces during World War II suffered a greater percentage of fatalities than any other branch of the armed forces. After failing to arrive at Leith on the 29th November the ship was officially recorded with Lloyd's as missing/untraced on the 29th December 1944 and a Joint Arbitration Committee considered her lost by "marine causes" A Missing Ship Committee considered he lost the same day of her last sighting. The Australian War Memorial was voted the number one landmark in Australia by travellers in the 2016 Trip Advisor awards. ROYAL AUSTRALIAN NAVY IN AND AROUND AUSTRALIA DURING WW2 DURING WW2 . World War II merchant ship movement records for Australia. The ship was last seen at 4am on the 28th November off Whitby. The supply of the war effort in to and out of Queensland required vast infrastructure. The following narrative briefly sets this out. Dutch shipping and crews based in Australia made a major contribution to the war effort in the movement of Allied troops and supplies to the New Guinea and Pacific island war zones. The Australian Department of Veterans Affairs nominal roll records 3,500 Australian merchant seamen serving in World War II in Australian registered ships. There is virtually no record in Australia of the contribution that KPM ships, their officers and crews made to the Allied war effort during World War II, and in particular in the Battle for Australia in the years 1941/1945. The ‘agreement’ was effectively an employment contract between the ship’s master and each member of his crew, signed by both parties before the ship sailed. Following a number of gunnery and torpedo attacks on merchant ships along the New South Wales coast, the Naval Board instituted a system of coastal convoys as a temporary protective measure. To secure the service the Queensland government agreed to pay the British India Company a subsidy to form the Queensland Steam Shipping Company (later the Australasian United Steam Navigation Company–AUSN) to operate a coastal shipping service which proved of great value to local commerce and primary industry. At one time in 1943 there were 18 ships alongside the wharves at Townsville docks and 64 awaiting berths, anchored in Cleveland Bay. The maritime history of Australia in peace and war has been until recently a largely neglected subject. Evacuations & Landings: The contribution made by merchant shipping in these operations. Another Howard Smith vessel, the SS Canberra was heavily strafed by Japanese aircraft off Cape York in March 1943 with many of the crew injured. Cargo ship Stronsa Firth, 491grt, (Firth Shipping Co.) loaded with a cargo of barley at Kings Lynn for Leith, sailed independently on the 26th November 1944. More than 140 New Zealand merchant seafarers lost their lives, and a similar number were taken prisoner. The Royal Navy’s biggest ever fleet depended on its Merchant Navy tankers and freighters to be their fuel and ammunition supply train in the vast Pacific as the Allies advanced on the home islands of Japan in 1945. Merchant seamen serving with the Allied Forces during World War II suffered a greater percentage of fatalities than any other branch of the armed forces. Both proposals were approved by the Admiralty and early in 1941 the work began on the conversion of the Hurricane aircraft to Sea Hurricanes for catapult operations. 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