Diary of Leonard Doolan Fitzgerald, 1940-1941 - Part 1

Cover of diary front and back - see original document
 

Sto. L. D. Fitzgerald

H.M.A.S. Sydney

Alexandira 1940.

Page

1.}

2.} 1^st Submarines

3.}

4. } "Espero" action'.

5. →  French Ships in Alexandria.

6. }

7. } Fleet action

8. }

9. }  sinking of Collionie.

10.} 

11. }

12. } " of Greek Patrol ship.

13.}

14. } getting reinforcements past Pandellera & Scarpast

15. → Bombardment of Stampalia.

16. → Ajax action & Ramillies destruction of submarine

17. }

18. } Dardanelles trip, & Greece declares war.

19. → went looking in vain for Itie fleet.

20.→ Left Alex. for Port Said & Suda. Bay.

Arrived 8^th June left 11^th Jan.

1.

Med. 1940.

Thursday. 13^th June.

We have only been over

here in the Med. a week, today

we are at sea by our-selves,

just after dinner, we heard an

under water explosion & rushed

on to the top deck, to find that

we had dropped a depth-charge

on a sub. on going aft. I saw

a pool of oil & muddy water

were the charge had dropped.

Later it was announced, that we

definitley had sunk the sub. the

first charge was set for 700 ft,

& the second for 1500 ft. when

astic gear gets a sounding

at that depth it is safe to say

the sub. is destroyed. We have put

an inch on around the chest.

Ships in Third Fleet on arrival.
	Fleet on 21st Oct. ↓
Battleships:-
Warspite flagship	Warspite.
Malaya.	Malaya.
Royal Soverign ( to Australia)	Valiant
Ramillies.	Ramillies.
Aircraft carrier.
Eagle	Eagle  Illustrious
Cruisers
Sydney.	Sydney.
Orion.	Orion.
Neptune. (sent home to England.)	Gloster.
Gloster (hit by bomb. 10 killed).	Liverpool.
Liverpool. (hit by torp. 109 killed).	York
Cooktown (sent home to England).	Kent.
Calapso (sunk after being hit by torp 60 killed.)

Glasgow (hit by torp 50 killed).
2.

21^st June.

At dawn today we raided
Tobruck, with the company of the

"Orion" & "Neptune," both 6 inch cruisers

We three comprise of the 5^th cruiser

squadron. It was our first "action"

& we were out to make a name for

ourselves. The "Orion" took the aer_^odrome 

the "Neptune" the oil stores & us

the barracks & munition dump.

well we wiped out the barracks

with two salvos & one projectile

was enough to settle the dump. It

was a terrific explosion. During

the agt  action the "Hyties" replied

with two salvos from an eight

inch land battery, the battery didn't

last long as we poured salvo after

salvo of steel into their position. The

_^Hytie salvos landed just off our bows.

during this action our "Pussar Duck"

got in to trouble with three "Hytie" fighters

she did everything but turn inside out

& finally eluded the enemy, but the

m. guns of the enemy cut her to pieces

& it looks like a new "duck" for us.
 I was in the Boiler Room for this.
3.

28^th June

We were on our 'fortnight ferry

trip' around Crete, in company of the "Orion"

& "Neptune" about 6p.m. we were told that

there were eight enemy destroyers eighty

miles to the south east of us, & that

action stations would be sounded at 7.30

all the lads were mad for a go at them.

about 8'o'clock we sighted them & the fight

was on, they were armed with 5.2 guns

we had six inch. As soon as they saw

us three of them fell back as a rear

guard while the others, were doing about

34 knots & trying to make their home

port. The "Orion" signalled us to take

our pick we took one directly on our

star'd bow, & started to dish it out, we

were doing 31 knots & hammering them 

every jump, the destroyers were a hard

target as they & small & it was a misty

night, the first signs of success was when their
boiler room blew up, it is a horrible sight for
us stokers & we understand the power of super 
heated steam. our next salvo hit her magaine
& she was abblaze ablaze from for'd. to aft
we were the only ship to sink a destroyer & 
the Admiral was very pleased with us. 
Well we waited for survivors, & it was 
a sickening sight. they were screaming 
to be rescued the skipper lowered two cutters
& we began to collect those that had 
a chance of living. There were heads 
with no bodies and vica-versa. Some of 
the poor devils drifted too far out to 
be rescued & we had to leave them 
too their fate, as submarines were 
reported around this zone. When we 
we pulling them aboard, it was by 
no means pleasant, I carried four 
of them go down too sick-bay one 
4.
died that night. & was buried at sea, he 
was calling for his wife & bambanoes
until the end. Two of the other three were 
only slightly injured, they said they 
were blown overboard by the explosion. 
The fourth was the only stoker who 
escaped alive he was in the boiler 
room when a shell hit it, & he was 
throwng out, by the explosion, plus 
the escaping steam, I don't want 
to see his face again if I live 
a thousand years, he had no 
skin on his head at all, except on 
his neck, it had been burnt off 
by the steam. On arriving back we 
loaded the prisoners into the hospital 
boats, they hated leaving us as 
the lads gave them such a good 
time. But as I watched them go I 
wondered if they would treat us the 

same if we were in Musso's power. There were 
48 survivors in all. I forgot to mention that 
we left one of the cutters in the water, with 
a tin of ship's biscuit & a barrell of water 
on the off chance that some of the men 
we left behind would pick it up. But 
I fear they all went to Davies Locker 
as a heavy swell was running an
the cutter would drift miles away in 
no time. During the action I ovelunteered to 
carry shell to the loader.
5

3^rd & 4^th July

After the bad news that 
France had come to Germany's terms
& had an intention of collecting the
French fleet, for German use, we
had some hectic day's as the "Lorraine"
crack 12 inch. battle cruiser & the
French navy, & the cruisers "Sufferen"
"Tourville" "Duqusne-Trouine" & a 
number of French destroyers had
just arrived in Alexandria. for
British use. Now Hitler sent out
a warning to all French Naval
men, that unless they saw to it that
their ships returned to France, their
families would undergo unnamed
hardships, well the French sailors
decided too do as they were told &
prepared to raise steam, but the
British had different ideas they

swang the fifteen inch guns on them &
prepared for battle, it would have been
a horrible thing because, we were all in
the harbour & it would have been shooting
at point blank range & I doubt if
any ship either British or French would
have remained afloat. On the night
of the third we had a boarding party
ready to go aboard the French ships
I was in it. Three times during the night
we were ordered to the cutters, but each
time recalled. Our terms to them were
1. Remain in British Ports for duration
2. Join De Gaull's Free French Navy.
3. Turn xxxx ships over to British
Navy for use against Nazi's aggression
On the 4^th they decided to stay in British ports
For a while there it looked like another Oran.
We were lucky that we didn't go aboard as they
had m. guns. & super-heated steam hoses turned on
to gangways & we were unarmed only the
officers having arms.
6.
July 9^th
We are at sea with battle squadron
about 120 miles of Crete we were informed
by a rec. plane that an Italian battle
squadron is in sight. We immediately
increased to full speed. & came upon them
about 8 o'clock in morning. They had
superior cruiser & destroyer squadrons
but we had more battleships. We were
the scout & naturally were well in front.
The "Warspite" & ourselves were the first
to attack, we dashed in and pounded
a battle ship & then retreated, during
all this the "Hyties" were trying to escape
they laid smoke screen after smoke screen
& finally succeeded in covering themselves,
our destroyers were ordered to attack
among them were the Aussie destroyers 
"Stuart" "Vampire" "Voyager" & "Waterhen"
we gave them a cheer as they dashed in.

they were to torpedo the enemy, the Italians
must have had the same idea because
a flotilla of their destroyers came dashing
through the smoke screen at the same
time, it was a wonderfull sight these
destroyers are the speediest things on water
& as they came to about ¼ mile apart
they - both side schulsed around & discharged
broard sides at one another & a destroyer
fight resulted. The battle-ships on
both side forgot the battle for a minute
to watch their little brothers fight it out.
We were standing just behind the destroyers
& as they came together gave a 'Hytie'
destroyer a broardside, as she was
on a clean track for the battle ships, 
we hit her & she slowed speed with 
smoke pouring from her for'd stack
Later she sunk, so the attack was a
failure. During this time the other 'Hytie'
7.
ships had time to use their superior
speed to advantage. & escaped. so
it xxx can be said that we were
the only British ship to score, although
the Italians didn't even touch one
of our ships. The destroyer was 
named the "Onterio".

8.
Jxxxx Havock. Hero. Hyperion
Hostile.

19^th July.
This was the day that
we were to be called the crack cruiser
of the Med, also the first cruiser to
engage too others, sink one by gun
fire & badly damage the other, & again
to be named the "Mad Australians"
by the "Kippers". It happened like
this we were on our suiside fortnightly
trip around Crete, the date is our lucky
day Friday & the date is the 19^th.
It is
8.15 in the morning, the "Havack"
& two other destroyers are scouts in
front, suddenly we see the D.T. racing
madly in the general direction of the 
bridge, we were wondering if it is
an attack of the sun or just nerves.
Suddenly some one else bleats over the 
loud speaker that too enemy cruisers

had been sighted & we were going too attack
we began to spit on our palms & roll up
our sleeves, the gun crews stripped to the 
waist, & we were ready, but each & every
one realised that we might _^as well have been
by ourselves for all the good the destroyers
would be, it was too to one, & we weren't
asking any favors & expecting _^it to be 
the same with them. Five minutes later
actions stations & clear the decks for action
was sounded.
Half & hour later we
sighted them now it must be remembered
that these ships were speedy, with more
speed than us, & they had the same
guns - eight six inch each, that 
meant we had 16 six inch guns to
fight. when they saw us, they manouvered
to attack, one coming at full speed
& the other at about half. The
9.
second was the "Collionie". Well as
we came in to range we fired a 
salvo at the first one to get range,
but we already had range as our
shots, left them with no after turrets,
they swang to retreat & we gave
them every thing we have & rout
of twelve salvos hit them. then they
were out of range. the second came
on & we swang to attack them, don't
think that this was a picnic for us
their shells were coming so close that
the ship was bobing up & down
like a cork. But it was all forgotten
when we looked up the mast, & saw
the gd old, Aussie Jack flying
in the breeze, it seemed to be proud 
of us. A six inch gun is supposed
to be effective at 10,000 yards, well
when we began to mix it with the