Robert William Rankin was a 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...

 officer who was killed in action in World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

. He is one of six people to have a Collins class submarine

Collins class submarine

The Collins class is a class of six Australian-built diesel-electric submarines operated by the Royal Australian Navy . The Collins class takes its name from Australian Vice Admiral John Augustine Collins; all six submarines are named after significant RAN personnel who distinguished themselves in...

 named after him.

Naval career

He joined the Royal Australian Naval College in 1921. His first assignments were as a midshipman on board HMAS Brisbane

HMAS Brisbane (1915)

HMAS Brisbane was a Town class light cruiser of the Royal Australian Navy . Built in Sydney between 1913 and 1916 to the Chatham subtype design, Brisbane operated in the Indian Ocean, Pacific Ocean, and Australian coastal waters during World War I.Following the end of the war, the cruiser was...

 and later HMAS Melbourne

HMAS Melbourne (1912)

HMAS Melbourne was a Town class light cruiser operated by the Royal Australian Navy . Commissioned in 1913, the cruiser served during World War I. She was paid off in 1928, and broken up for scrap in 1929.-Design and construction:...

, following these appointments Rankin was sent to the Royal Navy in 1926 to undergo training. On the completion of his studies in England, he joined the newly commissioned HMAS Canberra

HMAS Canberra (1927)

HMAS Canberra , named after the Australian capital city of Canberra, was a Royal Australian Navy heavy cruiser of the Kent subclass of County class cruisers...

 and returned to Australia where he was promoted lieutenant

Lieutenant

A lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer in many nations' armed forces. Typically, the rank of lieutenant in naval usage, while still a junior officer rank, is senior to the army rank...

 in August 1929.

Rankin joined HMAS Moresby on 18 January 1934 and assisted in charting the waters of Australian and New Guinea

New Guinea

New Guinea is the world's second largest island, after Greenland, covering a land area of 786,000 km2. Located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, it lies geographically to the east of the Malay Archipelago, with which it is sometimes included as part of a greater Indo-Australian Archipelago...

 until February 1938. Rankin was promoted lieutenant commander

Lieutenant Commander

Lieutenant Commander is a commissioned officer rank in many navies. The rank is superior to a lieutenant and subordinate to a commander...

 in August 1937 and sent to Britain on exchange duty, he was posted to HMS Gleaner, a minesweeper and following courses at HMS Dryad

HMS Dryad (establishment)

HMS Dryad was a stone frigate . It was the home of the Royal Navy's Maritime Warfare School until 2004.Originally the school was based in Portsmouth Dockyard. The establishment took its name from the ship used as its tender, the fourth HMS Dryad. During World War II it was moved to Southwick House...

, he was posted to the repair ship

Auxiliary ship

An auxiliary ship is a naval ship which is designed to operate in any number of roles supporting combatant ships and other naval operations. Auxiliaries are not primary combatants, although they may have some limited combat capacity, usually of a self defensive nature.Auxiliaries are extremely...

 HMS Resource

HMS Resource

Three ships of the Royal Navy and one of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary have borne the name Resource: was a 28-gun sixth-rate frigate launched in 1778. She was converted to a 22-gun floating battery in 1804 and renamed Enterprize in 1806. She was sold in 1816. was a yacht launched in 1865 and hired...

 as first lieutenant. Rankin served with the Royal Navy 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...

 and South Atlantic

Atlantic Ocean

The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...

 in the early years of the war. Rankin arrived back in New South Wales during September 1941.

In early 1942, following the outbreak of war with Japan

Pacific War

The Pacific War, also sometimes called the Asia-Pacific War refers broadly to the parts of World War II that took place in the Pacific Ocean, its islands, and in East Asia, then called the Far East...

, he was posted to the sloop

Sloop

A sloop is a sail boat with a fore-and-aft rig and a single mast farther forward than the mast of a cutter....

 HMAS Yarra

HMAS Yarra (U77)

HMAS Yarra , named for the Yarra River, was a Grimsby class sloop of the Royal Australian Navy that served during World War II. Commissioned in 1936, Yarra spent the early part of the war in Australian waters, then was transferred to the East Indies Station in 1940...

. On 5 February 1942, while under air attack near Singapore

Singapore

Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...

, Yarra took on board 1,804 people from the SS Empress of Asia, a troopship which had caught fire. He was commended for his actions during the rescue.

Rankin assumed command of Yarra on 11 February and was tasked mainly with escort duties around the Dutch East Indies

Dutch East Indies

The Dutch East Indies was a Dutch colony that became modern Indonesia following World War II. It was formed from the nationalised colonies of the Dutch East India Company, which came under the administration of the Netherlands government in 1800....

. At 6.30am on 4 March, while escorting a small convoy from Java

Java

Java is an island of Indonesia. With a population of 135 million , it is the world's most populous island, and one of the most densely populated regions in the world. It is home to 60% of Indonesia's population. The Indonesian capital city, Jakarta, is in west Java...

 to Australia, Yarra encountered a Japanese naval force comprising three cruiser

Cruiser

A cruiser is a type of warship. The term has been in use for several hundreds of years, and has had different meanings throughout this period...

s and two destroyer

Destroyer

In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast and maneuverable yet long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against smaller, powerful, short-range attackers. Destroyers, originally called torpedo-boat destroyers in 1892, evolved from...

s. Rankin immediately transmitted a sighting report, ordered the convoy to scatter, and placed Yarra between the enemy and the convoy. The sloop made smoke and engaged the vastly superior Japanese force, with her 4-inch guns. Rankin gave the order to abandon ship at around 8 am. A direct hit on the bridge

Bridge (ship)

The bridge of a ship is the room or platform from which the ship can be commanded. When a ship is underway the bridge is manned by an OOW aided usually by an AB acting as lookout...

 killed him shortly afterwards. Of the 151 on aboard Yarra, only 13 were rescued.

Memorials and tributes

In honour of Robert Rankin the 6th and final Collins class submarine

Collins class submarine

The Collins class is a class of six Australian-built diesel-electric submarines operated by the Royal Australian Navy . The Collins class takes its name from Australian Vice Admiral John Augustine Collins; all six submarines are named after significant RAN personnel who distinguished themselves in...

, HMAS Rankin

HMAS Rankin (SSG 78)

HMAS Rankin is the sixth and final submarine of the Collins class, which are operated by the Royal Australian Navy . Named for Lieutenant Commander Robert William Rankin, the boat was laid down in 1995, and commissioned into the RAN in March 2003, following major delays.Early in her career, Rankin...

 was named in his honour. The ship's motto is "Defend the Weak", a reference to the efforts of Robert Rankin and Yarra to defend the unarmed convoy ships.

A group of Australian naval historians and others are campaigning Rankin to be awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross

Victoria Cross

The Victoria Cross is the highest military decoration awarded for valour "in the face of the enemy" to members of the armed forces of various Commonwealth countries, and previous British Empire territories....

 (as was awarded to Captain Edward Fogarty Fegen

Edward Stephen Fogarty Fegen

Captain Edward Stephen Fogarty Fegen VC, SGM was an Irish Victoria Cross recipient , by birth an English recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth...

 of HMS Jervis Bay

HMS Jervis Bay (F40)

HMS Jervis Bay was a British liner later converted into an Armed Merchant Cruiser, pennant F40. She was launched in 1922 and sunk on 5 November 1940 by the German pocket battleship ....

, for similarly defending a convoy against hopeless odds). A website has been set up for the campaign.