What happened to HMAS Australia II?
The Battle of Lingayen Gulf in January 1945 was the last naval action seen by HMAS Australia II in the Second World War. After repairs in Sydney, the cruiser sailed for the US and Britain for a major refit. The cruiser sailed back into Sydney via the Cape of Good Hope in February 1946. After a three-month deployment in Far Eastern waters in 1947, it briefly visited New Zealand in 1948 and New Guinea in 1949.
Australia II spent the last five years of her active commission visiting New Zealand on three occasions and making a mercy dash to Heard Island in 1950 to rescue a scientist, Dr Serge Udovikoff, who was gravely ill. In May 1951, Australia II took the Governor of NSW, Lieutenant General Sir John Norcott to the Jubilee Celebrations at Lord Howe Island, and later that year paid a brief visit to New Caledonia, New Britain and the Solomon Islands. During the visit to the Solomon Islands, a wreath was dropped at Savo Island to commemorate the sinking of her sister ship Canberra in August 1942.
In the final year of her commission, Australia II carried out both Royal and Vice Regal duties. The cruiser formed part of the naval escort when Queen Elizabeth II visited Australia in March 1954. In May 1954, Governor General Sir William Slim embarked on a voyage to the Great barrier Reef, the Whitsunday Passage and the Coral Sea. The cruiser’s main 8-inch guns were fired for the last time on 6 May 1954 to celebrate the Battle of the Coral Sea.
The Menzies government paid off Australia II on 31 August 1954 and she was sold for scrap iron to the British Iron and Steel Corporation in January 1955. Australia II was towed out of Sydney Harbour by the Dutch tug, Rode Zee on 26 March 1955 and the cruiser was broken up at the Thomas Ward Shipbreaking Yard in England between 1955 and 1957. From the time Australia II was commissioned in 1928 until she was broken up, the cruiser sailed 477, 301 miles – the equivalent of nearly 15 voyages around the world.
The RAN has reserved the name Australia for a future capital ship. In 1963, the RAN redesigned the standard format of its ship badges and the badge for a future Australia was redrawn in colour. The new badge for any future HMAS Australia was approved by the Royal Australian Chief of Naval Staff on 26 February 1971, but it was not until a further minor modification to the naval crown on the badge, that a final version was approved on 1 June 1981.
The Menzies government announced that a replacement for the aircraft carrier, Melbourne would be named Australia, but a new aircraft carrier was not acquired at that time. The Fraser government also considered the acquisition of HMS Invincible in 1982 and it was going to be rebadged Australia, but the sale was cancelled following the Falklands War and the 1983 federal election.
There has continued to be talk around the Defence Department corridors in Canberra for many years that ‘one day’ the nation will see another Australia, but this remains unfinished business.