Darwin Harbour with the sunken ship MV Neptuna and burnt-out wharf of Darwin Harbour following the attack on February 19, 1942 ABDACOM-Area

USS ''Holland'' with (left to right: , , , , , , ) Naval Base Darwin was a

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

base built during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

at Darwin,

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. The first US operations at Darwin was

Naval mine A naval mine is a self-contained explosive device placed in water to damage or destroy surface ships or submarines. Unlike depth charges, mines are deposited and left to wait until they are triggered by the approach of, or contact with, any ...

depot, built to supply Australia with mines to support the

Pacific War The Pacific War, sometimes called the Asia–Pacific War, was the theater of World War II that was fought in Asia, the Pacific Ocean, the Indian Ocean, and Oceania. It was geographically the largest theater of the war, including the vast ...

. As the US Navy expanded in the

Island hopping campaign Leapfrogging, also known as island hopping, was a military strategy employed by the Allies in the Pacific War against the Empire of Japan during World War II. The key idea is to bypass heavily fortified enemy islands instead of trying to captu ...

, Naval Base Darwin expanded to include a

Port Darwin Port Darwin is the port in Darwin, Northern Territory, in northern Australia. The port has operated in a number of locations, including Stokes Hill Wharf, Cullen Bay and East Arm Wharf. In 2015, a 99-year lease was granted to the Chinese-owned ...

submarine base A submarine base is a military base that shelters submarines and their personnel. Examples of present-day submarine bases include HMNB Clyde, Île Longue (the base for France's Force océanique stratégique), Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay, Na ...

PT boat A PT boat (short for patrol torpedo boat) was a motor torpedo boat used by the United States Navy in World War II. It was small, fast, and inexpensive to build, valued for its maneuverability and speed but hampered at the beginning of the wa ...

Bases, and other facilities. US Navy operations started in 1942 and ended after the war in 1945.

History

The US Navy received an Australian government contract to provide Naval mines for the protection of Australian ports and to disrupt Japanese shipping. As such the Navy built a Naval mine depot at the port of Darwin, in

Darwin Harbour Darwin Harbour is the body of water close to Darwin in the Northern Territory of Australia. It opens to the north at a line from Charles Point in the west to Lee Point in the east into the Beagle Gulf and connects via the Clarence Strait wit ...

. Due to Japan's southern advance in the

into the

Southwest Pacific The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, Radius, radially arrayed compass directions (or Azimuth#In navigation, azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east ...

the US Navy also built a

submarine A submarine (or sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability. The term is also sometimes used historically or colloquially to refer to remotely op ...

base and

Bases on the northwest coast of Australia, to patrol and protect the shipping lanes. The city of Darwin is on a peninsula between

Clarence Strait Clarence Strait, originally Duke of Clarence Strait,Statement of f ...

and Frances Bay in the northern coast of Australia. Naval Base Darwin was part of the 1942

American-British-Dutch-Australian Command The American-British-Dutch-Australian (ABDA) Command, or ABDACOM, was a short-lived, supreme command for all Allied forces in South East Asia in early 1942, during the Pacific War in World War II. The command consists of the forces of Australia ...

(ABDACOM). With ABDACOM the

Allies An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...

tried to limit the advance of Japan. ABDACOM did not have enough troops or supplies to carry out the mission in 1942. The submarine started with the arrival of the

submarine tender A submarine tender is a type of depot ship that supplies and supports submarines. Development Submarines are small compared to most oceangoing vessels, and generally do not have the ability to carry large amounts of food, fuel, torpedoes, and ...

USS ''Otus'' (ARG-20) worked at the base from December 10, 1941 to January 1942. The Submarine tender USS ''Holland'' (AS3) arrived on January 2, 1942 and began arond the clock service to US submarines. A land submarine repair base with docks and depots was built to support the operations. In February 1943 ''Holland'' departed Australia for

Mare Island Navy Yard The Mare Island Naval Shipyard (MINSY) was the first United States Navy base established on the Pacific Ocean. It is located northeast of San Francisco in Vallejo, California. The Napa River goes through the Mare Island Strait and separates th ...

for overhaul. The USS ''Coucal'' (ASR-8) worked at the base from August 12, 1943 to October 29, 1944. USS ''Chanticleer'' (ASR-7) worked at the base from October 1944 to January 1945. The USS ''Black Hawk'' (AD-9) a

destroyer tender A destroyer tender or destroyer depot ship is a type of depot ship: an auxiliary ship designed to provide maintenance support to a flotilla of destroyers or other small warships. The use of this class has faded from its peak in the first half of ...

operated out of Naval Base Darwin from January3 to February 1942. USS ''Langley'' (CV-1), the US Navy's first

aircraft carrier An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and facilities for carrying, arming, deploying, and recovering aircraft. Typically, it is the capital ship of a fleet, as it allows a ...

, assisted the

Royal Australian Air Force "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = RAAF Anniversary Commemoration ...

in running anti-submarine patrols out of Darwin from January 1 to 11 1942. Much of the Darwin submarine base operations was moved to the

Fremantle submarine base Fremantle submarine base was the utilisation of Fremantle Harbour as a submarine base in World War II. The submarine base was second only to Pearl Harbor in the Pacific theater, with US, British and Dutch submarines operating from Fremantle dur ...

in West Australia, as this was out of range of land-based Japanese aircraft. Darwin also had a high tide problem. In January 1945 US Navy Seabees built a Seabees base camp at Darwin. The other large

US Naval Advance Bases US Naval Advance Bases were built globally by the United States Navy during World War 2, World War II to support and project U.S. naval operations world-wide. A few were built on Allies of World War II, allied soil, but most were captured enemy f ...

in Australia were at

Naval Base Brisbane Naval Base Brisbane was a major United States Navy base built in the early part of World War II at Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. At first, operated as a base for patrol aircraft and convoy escort aircraft to protect the last leg of the Pacific ...

and

Naval Base Sydney Naval Base Sydney was a United States Navy base built during World War II at Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The base was built with Australian civilian contractors. As the US Navy expanded in the Island hopping campaign, Naval Base Sydney ex ...

. The Royal Australian Navy operated bases in Darwin and worked with the US Navy. Royal Australian Navy base around Darwin: HMAS Coonawarra Naval Base, HMAS Melville Naval Base. *After

Victory over Japan Day Victory over Japan Day (also known as V-J Day, Victory in the Pacific Day, or V-P Day) is the day on which Imperial Japan surrendered in World War II, in effect bringing the war to an end. The term has been applied to both of the days on ...

the base closed and the US Navy started taking Troops home in

Operation Magic Carpet Operation Magic Carpet was the post-World War II operation by the War Shipping Administration to repatriate over eight million American military personnel from the European, Pacific, and Asian theaters. Hundreds of Liberty ships, Victory ships ...

Bases and facilities

*Fleet anchorage in Darwin Harbor -

depot *

Submarine base A submarine base is a military base that shelters submarines and their personnel. Examples of present-day submarine bases include HMNB Clyde, Île Longue (the base for France's Force océanique stratégique), Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay, Na ...

Bases *Fleet Post Office FPO# 245 SF Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia (WAIK) *Tank farm *Naval Port facilities *Supply depot *Fuel depot *

Ammunition Ammunition (informally ammo) is the material fired, scattered, dropped, or detonated from any weapon or weapon system. Ammunition is both expendable weapons (e.g., bombs, missiles, grenades, land mines) and the component parts of other weap ...

depot on Frances Bay *Seabees camp * Darwin Harbor Seaplane Base **

VP-22 VP-22 was a Patrol Squadron of the U.S. Navy. The squadron was established as Patrol Squadron 4D-14 (VP-4D14) on 15 September 1928, redesignated Patrol Squadron 4-B (VP-4B) on 21 January 1931, redesignated Patrol Squadron 4-F (VP-4F) on 17 July ...

US ANvy Patrol Squadron ** Shared with

Royal Australian Air Force "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = RAAF Anniversary Commemoration ...

Fleet Radio Unit Radio Station

Radio station near

Adelaide River The Adelaide River is a river in the Northern Territory of Australia. Course and features The river rises in the Litchfield National Park and flows generally northwards to Clarence Strait, joined by eight tributaries including the west branch ...

, 77 miles from Darwin The post was called USN Supplementary Radio Station Adelaide River and U.S. Naval Attachment, Fleet Radio Unit, Navy 136. It was run under the United States Seventh Fleet for the Naval Intelligence Center and opened in March 1943. A

teleprinter A teleprinter (teletypewriter, teletype or TTY) is an electromechanical device that can be used to send and receive typed messages through various communications channels, in both point-to-point and point-to-multipoint configurations. Initia ...

line was run to Naval Intelligence Center so the info picked up could get to Naval Intelligence Center quickly. A DAB-3 HFDF was installed, a radio Direction Finding System, or Radio Direction Finder (RDF). The site was abandoned after the war. The Fleet Post Office FPO was 179 SF Adelaide River, Australia.USN Supplementary Radio Station Adelaide River
'ozatwar.com''

References

External links

youtube, The Bombing Of Darwin - 19 Feb 1942youtube, WW2 Bombing Of Darwinyoutube, American naval fleet welcomed in Australia
* {{USWWII Naval Stations of the United States Navy Military installations closed in the 1940s Closed installations of the United States Navy World War II sites in Australia Australia in World War II

History

Bases and facilities

Fleet Radio Unit Radio Station

See also

References

External links