A Most Amazing Addition to Navy - Diary Entry 9

Happenings at Home,
April - July 1914
A Most Amazing Addition to Navy

Image: AE2, Portsmouth, England, 1914 - Follow a Digger through WWI with this historically engaging Great War Diary which recreates the life of a typical Australian soldier in the trenches. Available for purchase here.

I thought last year when I reported on the new Fleet of the Royal Australian Navy arriving at Sydney Harbour (a momentous occasion in our nation you sadly missed poor brother) that there could be no greater naval sight; but I am corrected. The AE1 and AE2, our new submarines acquired from England, arrived on 24 May and despite being miniscule by comparison to our Flagship battle cruiser HMAS Australia, they are a marvel of mans’ endeavour. These craft are capable of sinking to great depths and manoeuvring under the water for hours on end, and of launching torpedoes silently from the depths. They have too the added surprise of being equipped to fire torpedoes from their flanks, rather just aft and  forward. The craft reached Farm Cove after 83 days and a journey 13,000 miles - an unprecedented feat in any submarine. They are surely the crowning glory of our young Navy. I have no doubt they cost a pretty penny such is the ingenuity of them. Our Navy now boasts nine new ships of war.

I have made a number of visits to Farm Cove since the Submarines arrived and think my fascination will never cease. Each boat carries only 35 crewmen. If I was to consider a military career it would be in these magnificent vessels. I should ask Albert to arrange for me to stand guard at the docks also.