Albert Charles (Spud) MURPHY

MURPHY, Albert Charles

    Service Number: W/1379
    Enlisted: 4 September 1939
    Last Rank: Leading Seaman
    Last Unit: HMAS Arunta (I)
    Born: Kew, Victoria, Australia, 26 January 1921
    Home Town: Newport, Hobsons Bay, Victoria
    Schooling: Not yet discovered
    Occupation: Truck Driver
    Died: Car Accident, Strathmerton, Victoria, Australia, 7 July 1990, aged 69 years
    Cemetery: Fawkner Memorial Park Cemetery, Victoria
    Memorials:
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    World War 2 Service

    4 Sep 1939: Enlisted Royal Australian Navy, Leading Seaman, W/1379
    16 Jan 1940: Embarked Royal Australian Navy, Ordinary Seaman, W/1379, HMAS Westralia (I), The twin screw motor vessel Westralia (I) was built for Huddart Parker Ltd. Following the declaration of war she was requisitioned for war service as an Armed Merchant Cruiser on 2 November 1939 and commissioned as HMAS Westralia (I) at Sydney on 17 January 1940 under the command of CMDR Alvord S. Rosenthal RAN. Westralia (I) began operational service on 30 March 1940 when she departed Sydney for Darwin and thence to Macassar. April was spent in East Indian waters on patrol. One ship, the Norwegian Fernlane was intercepted and sent in prize to Singapore. On 3 May 1940 Westralia (I) returned to Darwin and remained exercising in the area for most of the month before proceeding to Fremantle, where she arrived on 29 May. On 1 June she proceeded to rendezvous with Largs Bay in the Indian Ocean, both ships reaching Fremantle on 4 June. Further escort duty from Fremantle occupied the cruiser until 11 June when she entered harbour and remained berthed for fifteen days. Stores and provisions for four months were embarked and necessary refitting undertaken. On 25 June Westralia (I) departed Fremantle for Colombo to begin a period of patrol and escort duties on the East Indies Station, which was to last until January 1941. It was uneventful routine service over a large area of sea similar to that performed by HMAS Kanimbla (I) and covered the whole of the northern and western areas of the Indian Ocean from Sumatra to Bombay and South to Mauritius. On 23 December 1940 Westralia (I) made her final departure from Colombo, detached from the East Indies Station and proceeded for Fremantle. On 11 January 1941 she returned to Sydney after an absence of ten months. Following a fortnight in harbour she sailed for Darwin escorting Zealandia, arriving on 5 February. The remainder of the month was spent assisting in carrying out an aerial survey of the Admiralty Gulf area. At the close of the month she returned to Sydney. The first days of March 1941 found Westralia (I) at sea escorting a convoy for New Zealand. Returning to Sydney on 6 March, she commenced a month’s refit at Garden Island.
    15 May 1941: Embarked Royal Australian Navy, Able Seaman, W/1379, HMAS Sydney (II) - D48 WW2, Posted to HMAS Sydney 15-5-1941 - Posted off 10-10-41 - This was one month and 9 days before Sydney was sunk losing all hands.......... - On her return to Australia in February 1941, Sydney resumed convoy escort and patrol duties in home waters. On 19 November 1941, Sydney was involved in a mutually destructive engagement with the German auxiliary cruiser Kormoran, and was lost with all 645 aboard. The wrecks of both ships were lost until 2008; Sydney was found on 17 March, five days after her adversary. Sydney's defeat is commonly attributed to the proximity of the two ships during the engagement, and Kormoran's advantages of surprise and rapid, accurate fire. However, the cruiser's loss with all hands compared to the survival of most of the German crew have resulted in controversy, with some alleging that the German commander used illegal ruses to lure Sydney into range, that a Japanese submarine was involved, and that the true events of the battle are concealed behind a wide-ranging cover up.
    11 Oct 1941: Embarked Royal Australian Navy, Able Seaman, W/1379, HMAS Perth (I) D29 WW2, Posted to HMAS Perth 11-10-1941 - Posted off Perth 20-1-1942 - Again posting off 1 month before Perth was sunk....... - At the start of World War II, the cruiser was used to patrol Australian waters, before being sent to the Mediterranean at the end of 1940. There, Perth was involved in the battles for Greece, Crete, and Syria before returning to Australia in late 1941. In February 1942, Perth survived the Allied defeat at the Battle of the Java Sea, before being torpedoed and sunk at the Battle of Sunda Strait. Of the 681 men aboard, 353 were killed. All but four of the 328 survivors were captured as prisoners of war. Of those captured, 106 died in captivity and the surviving 218 were repatriated after the war.
    30 Mar 1942: Embarked Royal Australian Navy, Able Seaman, W/1379, HMAS Arunta (I), Posted to HMAS Arunta 30-3-1942 - Arunta commenced her operational career on 17 May 1942, by conducting anti-submarine patrols off New South Wales. On 18 May, in company with HNLMS Tromp, Arunta escorted convoy "ZK.8" out of Sydney composed of the Dutch ships Bantam, Bontekoe, Van Heemskerk and Van Heutsz bound for Port Moresby with 4,735 troops of the Australian 14th Brigade. A month later, the destroyer was assigned to convoy escort duties along the Australian coast, and again began escorting convoys to New Guinea in early August. In this role she first saw action when she attacked and sank the Japanese Kaichū type submarine RO-33 off Port Moresby on 24 August 1942, killing all 42 men aboard. In January 1943, Arunta took part in the evacuation of Allied guerrillas from Timor before returning to convoy escort duty. The destroyer was relieved from convoy duty in May 1943, and underwent a brief refit before joining Task Force 74 (TF74). Arunta participated in the Operation Chronicle landings, then detached from TF74 in July and returned to Australian waters for patrol and convoy escort duties and a refit, before rejoining the task force on 28 October.In late November, Arunta fired on Japanese ammunition dumps in New Guinea, before providing support for troop landings at Arawe, Cape Gloucester, and Saidor during December 1943 and January 1944. In March, the destroyer transported the United States 7th Cavalry to the Admiralty Islands, before supporting their landing at Hayne Harbour. From April to September, Arunta provided bombardment support for troop landings at Hollandia, Wakde (where she captured a Japanese soldier), Biak, Noemfoor, Cape Sansapor, and Morotai. On 13 October, Arunta formed part of the Allied fleet bound for Leyte Gulf in the Philippines, and was part of the Allied ambush of a Japanese fleet on 25 October; the Battle of Surigao Strait. During January 1945, Arunta supported the landings at Lingayen Gulf; during the approach a near-miss by a Japanese kamikaze aircraft killed two sailors. Between 13 and 15 February Arunta and her sister ship Warramunga sortied from Lingayen Gulf to a point about 300 miles (480 km) west of Manila in preparation to rescue the crews of any United States aircraft which were downed while attacking two Japanese battleships and their escorts which were returning to Japan from Singapore, but this proved uneventful as the planned attacks were frustrated by bad weather. Following a refit from March to April, Arunta supported the Australian 6th Division on 10–11 May during their landing at Wewak, then provided shore bombardment to aid the 6th Division's landing at Brunei Bay on 10 June. Later in June, she shelled positions in Luton and Balikpapan, the latter as a precursor to the Allied landing on 1 July. Arunta then returned to Sydney for a refit at Cockatoo Island, and was docked when World War II ended.
    1 Apr 1943: Promoted Royal Australian Navy, Leading Seaman, HMAS Arunta (I), Promotion to Leading Seaman
    28 Feb 1946: Discharged Royal Australian Navy, Leading Seaman, W/1379

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