Formation
After the Federation of Australia in 1901, the Commonwealth Naval Forces was formed on 1 March 1901 by amalgamating the six separate colonial navies. The Commonwealth government, however, paid for the Royal Navy to continue providing blue water defence.
A growing number of people, among them Captain William Rooke Creswell, the director of the Commonwealth Naval Forces, demanded an autonomous Australian navy, financed and controlled by Australia. In 1909 Prime Minister Alfred Deakin and Creswell, while attending the Imperial Conference in London, sought the British Government's agreement to end the subsidy system and develop an Australian navy. The Admiralty rejected and resented the challenge, but suggested diplomatically that a small fleet of destroyers and submarines would be sufficient. Deakin was not impressed with the Admiralty, and in 1908 invited the United States Great White Fleet to visit Australia. The visit prompted public enthusiasm for a modern navy and led to the order of two 700-ton River class destroyers, a purchase that angered the British. The surge in German naval construction in 1909 led the Admiralty to change their position on an Australian navy. For his work, Creswell's name lives on as the name of the naval base, HMAS Creswell, the site of the Royal Australian Naval College at Jervis Bay.
The first Australian warship, the destroyer HMAS Parramatta, was launched at Govan in Scotland on Wednesday 9 February 1910. Sister ship HMAS Yarra was launched at Dumbarton in Scotland on Saturday 9 April 1910. Both ships were commissioned into the Royal Navy on 19 September 1910 and sailed for Australia, arriving at Port Phillip on 10 December 1910. The event was marred by the death of Engineer Lieutenant W. Robertson, RN, who suffered a heart attack 8 miles (13 km) outside Port Phillip Heads whilst onboard HMAS Yarra, and drowned.
On 10 July 1911, King George V fixed his signature to the approval for the Commonwealth Naval Forces to be renamed the Royal Australian Navy, and for RAN ships to carry the prefix "His Majesty's Australian Ship" (HMAS). The manpower of the fleet stood at four hundred officers and men and, for the next two years, ships were built for the fledgling navy. On Saturday 4 October 1913 the first Fleet Review of the RAN took place, when the battlecruiser Australia, the cruisers HMAS Melbourne and HMAS Sydney, the protected cruiser Encounter, and the torpedo-boat destroyers Parramatta, Yarra and Warrego, entered Sydney Harbour. On the same day, responsibility for the protection of Australia and surrounding waters was transferred from the Australia Squadron of the Royal Navy to the RAN. The Navy was to operate under the authority of the Australian Commonwealth Naval Board.
During the Imperial Conference of 1911, it was decided that if there was war the ships of the RAN would be transferred to British Admiralty control. Under the Naval Defence Act (1912) the power to make the transfer was conferred in the Governor General. The RAN would become the Australia Squadron of the Royal Navy with all ships and personnel under the direct control of the Admiralty, while the RAN remained responsible for the upkeep of the ships and training.
Read more about this topic: History Of The Royal Australian Navy
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