HMAS Voyager (D31/I31) (formerly HMS Voyager (G36/G16/D31)) was a W class

V and W class destroyer

The V and W class was an amalgam of six similar classes of destroyer built for the Royal Navy under the War Emergency Programme of the First World War and generally treated as one class...

 destroyer of the Royal Navy

Royal Navy

The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

 (RN) and Royal Australian Navy

Royal Australian Navy

The Royal Australian Navy is the naval branch of the Australian Defence Force. Following the Federation of Australia in 1901, the ships and resources of the separate colonial navies were integrated into a national force: the Commonwealth Naval Forces...

 (RAN). Commissioned into the RN in 1918, the destroyer remained in RN service until 1933, when she was transferred to the RAN. Recommissioned, Voyager served in the Mediterranean and Pacific theatres of World War II until 23 September 1942, when she ran aground while trying to deliver troops to Timor. The ship was damaged by Japanese bombers while trying to refloat, then was scuttled by her crew.

Design and construction

Voyager was a W class

V and W class destroyer

The V and W class was an amalgam of six similar classes of destroyer built for the Royal Navy under the War Emergency Programme of the First World War and generally treated as one class...

 destroyer constructed for the Royal Navy during World War I. The ship had a displacement of 1,100 tons at standard load, and 1,470 tons at full load. She was 312 foot in length overall and 300 feet (91.4 m) long between perpendiculars, with a beam of 29 in 6 in (8.99 m), and a maximum draught of 14 foot. Propulsion machinery consisted of three Yarrow boilers feeding two Brown-Curtis turbines, which provided 27000 shp to the two propeller shafts. Maximum designed speed was 34 knots (18.5 m/s). Voyager had a range of 2600 nautical miles (4,815.2 km) at 15 knots (8.2 m/s). The ship's company consisted of 6 officers and 113 sailors.

At launch, Voyagers main armament consisted of four single QF 4-inch Mark V guns

QF 4 inch Mk V naval gun

The QF 4 inch Mk V gun was a Royal Navy gun of World War I which was adapted on HA mountings to the heavy anti-aircraft role both at sea and on land, and was also used as a coast defence gun.-Naval service:...

. This was supplemented by a quad-barelled QF 2 pounder naval gun

QF 2 pounder naval gun

The 2-pounder gun, officially designated the QF 2-pounder and universally known as the pom-pom, was a 1.575 inch British autocannon, used famously as an anti-aircraft gun by the Royal Navy. The name came from the sound that the original models make when firing...

, and five .303 inch machine guns

.303 British

.303 British, or 7.7x56mmR, is a .311 inch calibre rifle and machine gun cartridge first developed in Britain as a blackpowder round put into service in December 1888 for the Lee-Metford rifle, later adapted to use smokeless powders...

 of various types. The destroyer was also fitted with two 3-tube 21-inch torpedo sets, two depth charge chutes, and four depth charge throwers. Later modifications to her armament included the installation of a second 2 pounder gun and two Oerlikon 20 mm cannon

Oerlikon 20 mm cannon

The Oerlikon 20 mm cannon is a series of autocannons, based on an original design by Reinhold Becker of Germany, very early in World War I, and widely produced by Oerlikon Contraves and others...

, and the removal of one of the torpedo tube sets.

Voyager was laid down by Alexander Stephen and Sons

Alexander Stephen and Sons

Alexander Stephen and Sons Limited, often referred to simply as Alex Stephens or just Stephens, was a Scottish shipbuilding company based in Linthouse, Govan in Glasgow, on the River Clyde.-History:...

 at their shipyard in Glasgow, Scotland on 17 May 1917. She was launched on 8 May 1918. The destroyer was commissioned into the Royal Navy on 24 June 1918, the day of her completion. Voyager was the only ship of her class that carried a name starting with "V": the rest of the W class had names starting with "W".

Transfer to RAN

In 1933, the British Admiralty

Admiralty

The Admiralty was formerly the authority in the Kingdom of England, and later in the United Kingdom, responsible for the command of the Royal Navy...

 decided to replace five S class

S class destroyer (1916)

The S class were a class of 67 destroyers built from 1917 for the Royal Navy. The design was based on the Admiralty modified R class and all ships had names beginning with S or T....

 destroyers on loan to the RAN with five more capable (but slightly older) destroyers. Voyager was one of the five ships selected, and was commissioned into the RAN at Portsmouth on 11 October 1933. The ships arrived in Australia on 21 December 1933, and Voyager undertook routine peacetime duties until she was placed in reserve on 14 April 1936. The destroyer was recommissioned on 26 April 1938, and was involved in training cruises until the start of World War II.

World War II

On 14 October 1939, Voyager left Sydney. It was originally intended for the Flotilla to be based in Singapore, but en-route it was decided that the ships would be of more use in the Mediterranean

Mediterranean Sea

The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Anatolia and Europe, on the south by North Africa, and on the east by the Levant...

. The arrival of the Australian Destroyer Flotilla was met with derision in Germany, with Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels

Joseph Goebbels

Paul Joseph Goebbels was a German politician and Reich Minister of Propaganda in Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945. As one of Adolf Hitler's closest associates and most devout followers, he was known for his zealous oratory and anti-Semitism...

 referring to Voyager and her sister ships as "Australia's Scrap Iron Flotilla

Scrap Iron Flotilla

The Scrap Iron Flotilla was an Australian destroyer group that operated in the Mediterranean and Pacific during World War II. The name scrap iron flotilla was bestowed upon the group by Nazi Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels....

", a moniker the ships quickly adopted.

Voyager commenced operations on 1 January 1940, initially as a convoy escort operating out of Alexandria. The ship was docked at Malta for refit during April. On 13 June and again on 19 June, Voyager attacked submarines without success, but on 27 June she attacked the Italian submarine Console Generale Liuzzi

Italian submarine Console Generale Liuzzi

Console Generale Liuzzi was an Italian Liuzzi-class ocean-going submarine of the Regia Marina, launched in 1939 and sunk in 1940 by Royal Navy destroyers.-Construction:Liuzzi was built at the Tosi Shipyard in Taranto...

 off Crete with the British destroyers , , , and , forcing the Italians to surrender and scuttle

Scuttle

Scuttle may refer to:*Scuttling, the deliberate sinking of one's own ship*Coal scuttle, a bucket-like container for coal*Shaving scuttle, a teapot-like container for hot water*Scuttle, a fictional character in Disney's The Little Mermaid...

 their vessel. Two days later, the Allied ships encountered the Italian submarine Uebi Scebeli

Italian submarine Uebi Scebeli

Uebi Scebeli was an Adua-class Italian submarine during the Second World War. She was sunk by and south-west of Crete on 29 June 1940....

 and sank her after capturing the crew. On 9 July, Voyager was involved in the Battle of Calabria

Battle of Calabria

The Battle of Calabria, was a naval battle during the Battle of the Mediterranean in World War II. It was fought between the Italian Royal Navy and the British Royal Navy and the Royal Australian Navy. The battle occurred 30 miles to the east of Punta Stilo, the "toe" of Italy , on 9 July 1940...

, as escort to the carrier . A day later, she was assigned to escort a convoy from Malta to Alexandria.

On 23 July, there was a brief mutiny aboard the destroyer, when 12 sailors sat down outside their mess deck and refused to move until their issue was addressed. Two alternate issues have been described as the source of the protest: one was the state of the ship's armament, which was not configured for anti-aircraft warfare, the other was orders to repaint the ship in camouflage

Camouflage

Camouflage is a method of concealment that allows an otherwise visible animal, military vehicle, or other object to remain unnoticed, by blending with its environment. Examples include a leopard's spotted coat, the battledress of a modern soldier and a leaf-mimic butterfly...

, which would have prevented any chance for shore leave. The captain came down to the sailors and resolved their problem through discussion, although he made no official record of the cause of the mutiny or its solution, and also pressed no charges against the sailors. The destroyer remained near Alexandria until September, when she returned to Malta for refit. In October, Voyager transported supplies to help establish a base on Crete

Crete

Crete is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, and one of the thirteen administrative regions of Greece. It forms a significant part of the economy and cultural heritage of Greece while retaining its own local cultural traits...

 following the Italian invasion of Greece

Battle of Greece

The Battle of Greece is the common name for the invasion and conquest of Greece by Nazi Germany in April 1941. Greece was supported by British Commonwealth forces, while the Germans' Axis allies Italy and Bulgaria played secondary roles...

. The rest of 1940 was spent escorting the Malta Convoys

Malta Convoys

The Malta Convoys were a series of Allied supply convoys that sustained the besieged island of Malta during the Mediterranean Theatre of the Second World War...

 and providing support to ground forces involved in the Libyan campaign.

In March 1941, Voyager was involved in Operation Lustre

Operation Lustre

Operation Lustre was an action during World War II, involving the dispatch of British, Australian, New Zealand and Polish troops from Egypt to Greece in March and April 1941, in response to the failed Italian invasion and the looming threat of German intervention, revealed through Ultra.It was seen...

, the Allied reinforcement of Greece. The turn of fortune against the Allies in April required the evacuation of most of these forces; Operation Demon. On 21 April, Voyager was in Navplion, and accounted for the evacuation of 301 people, including 160 nurses. Following this, the ship became involved with the Tobruk Ferry Service

Tobruk Ferry Service

The Tobruk Ferry Service was the name given to the force of Royal Navy and Royal Australian Navy ships involved in the supply of Allied forces involved in the Siege of Tobruk...

, and made 11 runs to the besieged city of Tobruk

Siege of Tobruk

The siege of Tobruk was a confrontation that lasted 240 days between Axis and Allied forces in North Africa during the Western Desert Campaign of the Second World War...

 before engine problems forced her withdrawal in July. Voyager sailed to Sydney for refitting; the first ship of the Scrap Iron Flotilla to leave the Mediterranean. After the completion of the refit, which lasted from September 1941 to March 1942, Voyager commenced convoy escort duties in Australian waters.

Loss

Following the capture of Timor by the Japanese in February 1942, and despite initial appearances that all Allied soldiers were captured or killed, it became evident that the 2/2nd Independent Company

2/2nd Commando Squadron (Australia)

The 2/2nd Commando Squadron was one of 12 independent companies or commando squadrons raised by the Australian Army for service during World War II. The 2/2nd served in Timor, New Guinea and New Britain during World War II, taking part in the Battle of Timor in June 1942 as part of Sparrow Force...

, supported by other surviving Australian and Dutch troops, were mounting a guerrilla campaign against the Japanese. Throughout late 1942, a haphazard supply service began, and Voyager became involved when a sizable troop landing (400 commandos from 2/4th Independent Company) and evacuation (the 2/2nd, plus any Portuguese women and children) was planned for September 1942: the need for a large capacity, speed, and surprise requiring the use of a destroyer.

The 2/4th boarded at Darwin on 22 September 1942, along with supplies and barges to convey them ashore. The planned landing place was Betano Bay

Betano Bay

Betano is a village and suco in southwest of Manufahi District, East Timor. The Suco has 4,577 inhabitants .- History :Betano was a traditional Timorese kingdom in former times....

, where Voyager anchored at 18:30 on 23 September. The destroyer's position was not the best, and as the soldiers began to disembark over the port side into the barges, Voyagers commanding officer decided to reorient the ship. As the anchor was raised, a surge in the current pushed the ship towards the shore. Unable to use the port propeller shaft to push the destroyer away from the shore as the landing craft would have been swamped and dragged into the propeller, the commander attempted to swing Voyager around with the starboard shaft. Voyager was unable to complete the turn, with the ship running aground at the stern. Attempts to lighten the ship and float her free failed, and by the next morning's high tide, the stern and propeller shafts were embedded in the sand.

At 13:30 on 24 September, the beached ship was spotted by two Japanese aircraft; the bomber shot down, but the escorting fighter escaped to report. At 16:00 a flight of Japanese bombers attacked the ship and the beach. The destroyer was damaged beyond recovery, and while none of the ship's company were injured, their alcohol supply-which had been brought ashore during the refloating attempts-was destroyed by a bomb. After the air attack, the Voyager personnel signalled Darwin to explain the ship's loss and request evacuation; they were retrieved by the corvettes and at 20:00 on 25 September.

The destroyer's wartime service is recognised with seven battle honour

Battle honour

A battle honour is an award of a right by a government or sovereign to a military unit to emblazon the name of a battle or operation on its flags , uniforms or other accessories where ornamentation is possible....

s: "Darwin 1942", "Calabria 1940", "Libya 1940–41", "Greece 1941", "Crete 1941", "Mediterranean 1941", and "Pacific 1942".

Further reading