Loss
On 29 June, Waterhen and HMS Defender were making the run to Tobruk when they were attacked off Sollum by Axis aircraft. The 12 German and 7 Italian Ju-87 dive bombers heavily damaged the Australian destroyer (although the only casualty was a wound from a flying can of bully beef). Defender took Waterhen in tow, but at 13:50 on 30 June 1941, the destroyer rolled over and sank. She was the first ship of the Royal Australian Navy to be lost by enemy action in World War II.
The ship earned three battle honours for her wartime service: "Libya 1941", "Greece 1941", and "Crete 1941".
Read more about this topic: HMAS Waterhen (D22)
Famous quotes containing the word loss:
“Children, dear and loving children, can alone console a woman for the loss of her beauty.”
—Honoré De Balzac (1799–1850)
“For sleeping, like death,
Must be won without pride,
With a nod from nature,
With a lack of strain,
And a loss of stature.”
—Philip Larkin (1922–1986)
“Our loss put six feet under ground
Is measured by the magnolia’s root;
Our gain’s the intellectual sound
Of death’s feet round a weedy tomb.”
—Allen Tate (1899–1979)