HMAS YARRA MEMORIAL-AT THE MOUTH OF THE YARRA RIVER

 

    HMAS YARRA MEMORIAL

Newport Melbourne Australia

The memorial To HMAS Yarra at the mouth of the Yarra River in Newport Victoria

HMAS YARRA

Named after the Yarra River, HMAS Yarra was commissioned in 1936 and was one of thirteen Grimsby Class sloop’s to be built between 1933 and 1940. Four were built in Australia at Cockatoo Island and Yarra was one of the first two, the others in the UK and eight went to the Royal navy, four to the Royal Australian Navy and one to the Royal Indian Navy. She was 81.1 meters long and weighed 1,500 tons at full load. During war-time it had a crew of 160. Yarra spent most of its time in Australian waters and was transferred to the east India Station in 1940, and was involved in the Anglo-Iraq war, the Soviet invasion of Iran and the Tobruk Ferry Service. Later in 1942 it was transferred to Southeast Asia and on March 4 was attacked and sunk by three Japanese cruisers, Atago, Takao and Maya along with four destroyers and was sunk. Only 31 of the crew survived by that declined to eleven by the time they were picked up by a Dutch submarine.

  

The Cruiser Atago was sunk in October 1944 by USS Darter

The Cruiser Takao surrended in September 1945 and was sunk as target practice a year later.

The Cruiser Maya was suck October 1944 by USS Dace

 The Dock at the Yarra River a few metres from the memorial

The journey of HMAS Yarrra 1939-1942