Naval Base Darwin

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. Due to Japan's southern advance in the Pacific War into the Southwest Pacific the US Navy also built a submarine base and PT boat 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 and Frances Bay in the northern coast of Australia. Naval Base Darwin was part of the 1942 American-British-Dutch-Australian Command (ABDACOM). With ABDACOM the Allies tried to limit the advance of Japan. ABDACOM did not have enough troops or supplies to carry out the mission in 1942.{{cite web|last = Klemen |first = L |url= https://warfare.gq/dutcheastindies/wavell.html |title=General Sir Archibald Percival Wavell |date=1999–2000|publisher=Dutch East Indies Campaign website}}{{Cite book |last=Roberts |first=Andrew |url=https://archive.org/details/masterscommander0000robe_g9v1 |title=Masters and Commanders: The Military Geniuses Who Led the West to Victory in World War II |date=2009 |publisher=Penguin Books |isbn=978-0-141-02926-9 |edition=1 |location=London |pages=66–68 |language=en |via=Archive Foundation}}

The submarine started with the arrival of the submarine tender USS Otus (ARG-20) worked at the base from December 10, 1941 to January 1942.[https://www.history.navy.mil/content/history/nhhc/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/o/otus.html US Navy, USS Otus (ARG-20)] The submarine tender USS Holland (AS3) arrived on January 2, 1942 and began around 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 for overhaul.{{Cite web|url=https://www.history.navy.mil/our-collections/photography/us-navy-ships/alphabetical-listing/h/uss-holland--as-3-0.html|title=USS Holland (AS-3)|website=US Navy}} 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.{{Cite web|url=https://www.history.navy.mil/content/history/nhhc/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/c/chanticleer-iii.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211229092440/https://www.history.navy.mil/content/history/nhhc/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/c/chanticleer-iii.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=December 29, 2021|title=Chanticleer III (ASR-7)|website=US Navy}}

The USS Black Hawk (AD-9) a destroyer tender operated out of Naval Base Darwin from January 3 to February 1942.{{Cite web|url=https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/b/black-hawk-ii.html|title=Black Hawk II (Id. No. 2140)|website=US Navy}} USS Langley (CV-1), the US Navy's first aircraft carrier, assisted the Royal Australian Air Force 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 in Western Australia, as this was out of range of land-based Japanese aircraft. Darwin also had a high tide problem.{{Citation | author1=Sturma, Michael | title=Fremantle's Submarines – How Allied Submariners and Western Australians Helped Win the War in the Pacific | publication-date=2015 | publisher=Naval Institute Press | isbn=978-1-61251-861-9 }}

In January 1945 US Navy Seabees built a Seabees base camp at Darwin. The other large US Naval Advance Bases in Australia were at Naval Base Brisbane and Naval Base Sydney. 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 the base closed and the US Navy started taking Troops home in Operation Magic Carpet.{{Cite web|url=https://www.history.navy.mil/research/library/online-reading-room/title-list-alphabetically/b/beans-bullets-black-oil.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150224103842/http://www.history.navy.mil/research/library/online-reading-room/title-list-alphabetically/b/beans-bullets-black-oil.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=February 24, 2015|title=Beans, Bullets, and Black Oil|website=US Navy}}

• Fleet anchorage in Darwin Harbor - Port Darwin
• Naval mine depot{{Cite web|url=https://pacificwrecks.com/provinces/australia_darwin_harbor.html|title=Pacific Wrecks - Darwin Harbor, Northern Territory, Australia|website=pacificwrecks.com}}
• Submarine base
• PT boat Bases
• Fleet Post Office FPO# 245 SF Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia (WAIK)
• Tank farm
• Naval Port facilities
• Supply depot
• Fuel depot
• Ammunition depot on Frances Bay
• Seabees camp
• Darwin Harbor Seaplane Base
• VP-22 US ANvy Patrol Squadron
• Shared with Royal Australian Air Force

{{main|Station CAST|Fleet Radio Unit, Melbourne}}

Radio station near Adelaide River, 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 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.[https://www.cryptomuseum.com/df/dab3/index.htm DAB-3 HFDF]cryptomuseum.com[https://www.ozatwar.com/usnavy/fruadelaideriver.htm USN Supplementary Radio Station Adelaide River]ozatwar.com

• Bombing of Darwin
• Naval Base Merauke
• US Naval Base Australia

{{Reflist}}

• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ox5s4NrJTt4 youtube, The Bombing Of Darwin - 19 Feb 1942]
• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WyvnnCTaYX8 youtube, WW2 Bombing Of Darwin]
• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c79M9qNNZ74 youtube, American naval fleet welcomed in Australia]
• {{navsource|09/36/3603|USS Holland}}

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Category:Naval Stations of the United States Navy

Category:Military installations closed in the 1940s

Category:Closed installations of the United States Navy

Category:World War II sites in Australia

Category:Darwin, Northern Territory in World War II