The British Pacific Fleet Arrives and the "Bofors Epidemic"
Introduction
William "Monty" Hine was just the man to oversee the operations of the RAN Armament Depot, Sydney during wartime. The son of a Chief Gunner, RN, he commenced his armament supply career in the UK, including time at the RN Armament Depots at Chatham, Priddys Hard and Portsmouth, and in the Admiralty Gunnery Branch. Appointed to a job at Spectacle Island in 1913 he was transferred to Navy Office in 1915, where, in November 1918, Captain W.H.C.S. Thring, Director of Naval Ordnance, and, during the war, Naval Assistant to the 1st Naval Member (effectively, director of war staff) wrote that "Mr Hine has by himself carried out all Naval Ordnance store duties at the Navy Office entirely to my satisfaction ...". Hine returned to Spectacle Island in 1928 as the Armament Supply Officer (officer-in-charge). When war broke out in 1939 he had 37 years experience under his belt, including the years of World War 1.
War Diary
In February 1941 Hine penned the first of his quarterly reports ("War Diary") (1) on the activity of the RAN Armament Depot, Sydney under war-time conditions. These reports have mostly survived. In his first report Hine's laconic style was to the fore - his report read "All work has been of a normal character and there have been no events of particular interest during the period." The report also contained lists of statistical information on issues and receipts and of work undertaken.
Even as the lists grew longer and longer, Hine's reports remained the same - "All work has been of a normal character and there have been no events of particular interest during the period." The dam broke in October 1944.
The British Pacific Fleet
Hine's October 1944 report contains nothing overt to account for his change in reporting style, which resulted in a full page of narrative. He notes that the quarter had been comparatively quiet and that this provided an opportunity to prepare for the "anticipated heavy calls of the future". Hine would have been aware by this time that the British Pacific Fleet (BPF), and its attendant Fleet Train of support ships, would soon arrive. The Fleet was enormous - it eventually numbered some 200 ships and submarines and 750 aircraft whilst the Fleet Train comprised around 300,000 tons of shipping.
Hine's January 1945 report contains his first mention of the BPF and he notes the doubling of shipments from the UK.
His April report, now running to 2 pages of narrative, commences with:
"The quarter ended 30th April, 1945 witnessed a period of extreme activity in the Depots, including as it did the first replenishment visit of the British Pacific Fleet and the arrival and despatch of the first A.S.I.S. (2) of the Fleet Train..."
Kamikaze, Bofors and the Boffin
Here's the full narrative for the following report, for the quarter ending July 1945:
"R.A.N. ARMAMENT DEPOT, SYDNEY
WAR DIARY FOR PERIOD ENDED 31ST JULY, 1945
Seen in retrospect the quarter ended 31st July, 1945 resolves itself into three distinct phases. The first phase was marked by a steady influx of ships en route to join the British Pacific Fleet, and the second by the extremely busy period of a major fleet replenishment while the third was more or less a repetition of the first. This repetition, however, was associated with a vital difference. The experience gained during the replenishment period coupled with the realisation of how the Fleet was increasing in size, caused Depot personnel to view with some anxiety the next replenishment period which was timed to occur in mid-August. The strain on the resources of the Depot had been very great and it was obvious that it was destined steadily to increase. The statistics which follow convey the worries and anxieties of this period. What sustained morale during the period under review was the fact that individual ships seemed in the main to have a live appreciation of the circumstances and continued to express the opinion that they were receiving good service.
SHIPS -
By now the steadily expanding Fleet had acquired fuller experience of the problems peculiar to naval warfare in the Pacific and this had important repercussions on the Depots. The menace of Japanese Kamikaze methods of attack necessitated an immediate strengthening of A.A. (3) armament. Further, it was necessary to rely solely upon Australian resources until such time as material could arrive from the United Kingdom. Fortunately the Boffin (4) furnished a satisfactory expedient in that it could quickly be fitted, and greatly increase the A.A. efficiency of the ships. Apart however, from alterations in armament, a heavy task devolved upon the armament artificers as every ship required inspections and modifications of guns. Meanwhile the co-ordination of work between Naval Inspection and the Depot had not been rendered any easier by the fact that the former was no longer stationed on Spectacle Island.
GUNWHARF SECTION -
All will remember this period as the Bofors epidemic. Bofors guns were hastily collected from every available source. They were serviced, rushed out to Fort Coogee for functioning trials, serviced again and then mounted in ships. In connection with these duties should be recorded the helpful co-operation of the Armament Assistant (Garden Island) and of the firing parties from Gunnery Instructional Centre while it will always be remembered that the crane so generously lent by the U.S. Naval Ordnance Depot proved a veritable sheet anchor at moments of crisis. The work of supplying Fleet Air Arm guns to meet the erection programme grew steadily heavier. Although eventually it was placed upon a sound footing for a time it was more or less a hand to mouth procedure.
Reference should also be made to the Asquip Stores, an offshoot of the Fleet Train. In its original conception the plan was excellent but various adjustments caused a great alteration and added greatly to the work of the Depot. These identical sets of stores known as Asquip I and Asquip 2 represented a comprehensive outfit of spares for all weapons and each comprised some 500 packages. Eventually they made a belated appearance in rather a haphazard manner and pending instructions as to their disposal had to be taken on ledger charge as vouchered without being unpacked or checked. For many weeks they occupied valuable storage accommodation and during this period reference to Ledgers to ascertain stock available for issue involved careful mathematical calculation.
MAGAZINE SECTION -
The change over in A.A. armament from Oerlikons to Bofors naturally heavily affected this section while the requirements of the Fleet Air Arm showed a heavy increase. Continual changes both in ships' ammunition outfits and bomb outfits made the replenishment period extremely difficult. Freight ships from the United Kingdom continued to pour in supplies but as the result of the long voyage out many stores which were in demand at the time of loading were no longer required at the time of arrival. Lorries and lighters were worked at fulll pressure but the demands for transport and storage accommodation alike increased daily.
Newington Depot which had already expanded to Homebush and Auburn now spread further afield to Kingswood (an ex-U.S. Army ammunition dump situated 40 miles from Sydney) and then as far away as Bogan Gate (near Parkes, N.S.W. and 300 miles distant), while the day when it would be possible to occupy the American buildings at Rydalmere was anxiously awaited. Actually it is impossible to convey any adequate picture of the very great volume of work entailed in the maintenance of ammunition supplies to so large a fleet. The general clamour for a quick turn round of freightships and A.S.I.S. took little consideration of the necessity of selection of stores to meet constantly changing demands and supply had repeatedly to be made at very short notice and under very adverse conditions.
BUILDINGS AND WORKS -
Under the prevailing conditions, time did not permit of the construction of new buildings. It became necessary to adopt an opportunist policy of occupying any more or less suitable building which was available. As a result a building at Mascot was acquired for empty packages which had long overflowed all available accommodation. Another at Concord was taken over for Fleet Air Arm Gunwharf stores. This involved a wide dispersal of outside staff which unfortunately under the circumstances was unavoidable.
SHIPPING AND FREIGHT -
This showed another phenomenal increase and during the quarter approximately 45,000 tons were handled, figures which speak for themselves. To organize the work of clearing the wharves is in itself no light task, taking into consideration such factors as availability of transport and the capacity of the receiving depots to accommodate the stores. It becomes many times more difficult however when some sudden emergency or arbitrary decision causes the diversion of both transport and labour. The over-ruling principle was the requirements of the Fleet and much of the congestion both on wharves and in depots was caused by the fact that large quantities of stores were arriving which were no longer in demand and the disposal of such stores had obviously to wait upon the satisfactory fulfilment of tasks of higher priority. Unfortunately a breathing space which would permit of their disposal never occurred. Consequently with the volume of freight increasing at such a rapid pace saturation point had already passes and for a time future developments in this direction were received with a certain amount of anxiety."
Maintaining the Guns
Just to give some perspective, here's the list of ships attended by the Depot's armament artificers during the quarter. It includes ships of the Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Navy:
Battleships: HMS Anson, Duke of York, King George V
Cruisers: HMS Achilles, Argonaut, Black Prince, Bermuda, Gambia, Newfoundland, Swiftsure
Fleet Carriers: HMS Formidable, Implacable, Indomitable, Indefatigable, Venerable, Vengeance, Victorious
Escort Carriers: HMS Arbiter, Chaser, Speaker, Striker
Destroyers: HMAS Napier, Nepal, Nizam, Norman, Quiberon, Quickmatch, Warramunga, HMS Barfleur, Grenville, Kempenfelt, Termagent, Quadrant, Quality, Queenborough, Teazer, Tenacious, Terpsicore, Troubridge, Tumult, Undaunted, Undine, Urania, Urchin, Ursa, Wager, Wakeful, Wessex, Whelp, Whirlwind, Wrangler
Other Ships: HMS Arbitus, Barle, Deersound, Glenearn, Guardian, Lothian, Maidstone, Redpole, Tyne, Unicorn, Usk
In addition, a considerable number of small ships were serviced. Work was mainly concentrated on the A.A. armament and both in Depot and on ships all artificers were working at full pressure both on O.Q.F. 40m.m. Bofors Mk.I-I* and O.Q.F. 2 pdr. Mk. VIII.
Preparing ammunition for the pompom guns (O.Q.F. 2 pdr.) on board HMAS Arunta.
From the collection of the Australian War Memorial.
(http://cas.awm.gov.au/item/017310)
Birth of the Boffin
Naval historian Norman Friedman attributes the development of the Boffin to the Commanding Officer of HMS Redpole and Sydney-based gunnery staff:
"The key development was the Boffin mounting, extemporised in Australia to provide the British Pacific Fleet with Bofors guns at the expense of Oerlikons. When the fleet arrived in Australia, the RAN was already fitting as many army-type single Bofors in its ships as it could. They were being transferred from Australian army production at Maribyrnong Ordnance Factory in Melbourne; a large number were transferred to the British Pacific Fleet. Ships’ staffs became interested in ways of fitting these guns. The obvious means was to replace the two Oerlikons in a powered Mk V mounting, of which about 500 were in the fleet. On 19 February 1945 the CO of Redpole invited the Fleet Gunnery Engineer Officer and the Armament Assistant [CMDR (E) Alfred M. Clift, RAN] of the Australian Garden Island dockyard aboard to examine his conversion proposal; it turned out that the staff of the Armament Assistant had been thinking along similar lines.
Garden Island put design work and manufacture in train; the first mounting was ready for firing by the end of March. Initial trials showed that the mount jumped on firing, so a new cradle had to be designed. The first modified mounting was successfully tested on board the destroyer Troubridge on 12 June, by which time a large production batch was already underway. The first two were mounted on board Redpole. The hundredth mounting was installed on board Glory on 22 August, ten weeks after the first had gone into Redpole. When the war ended fifteen were being fitted each week. The project was stopped at number 160. As of 15 August 1945, when the war ended, 100 had been fitted to ships of the British Pacific Fleet. Only ships fitting Sydney were fitted. The new mounting was called a ‘Boffin’, indicating Bofors in place of Oerlikon (but in British slang a Boffin is a scientist)." (Naval Anti-Aircraft Guns & Gunnery (p. 733). Pen & Sword Books. Kindle Edition.)
Ships that missed out on Boffins, e.g. HMS Bermuda, made do with a single 2-pdr (Pom Pom) gun on the Oerlikon Mk V mounting.
(By Balcer~commonswiki - Own work, CC BY 2.5, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1067437)
Defensively Armed Merchant Ship Activities
For this same quarter, July 1945, the Sydney Staff Officer, Defensively Armed Merchant Ships (D.E.M.S.)(5), Commander H.T. Bennett, RN (Retd.) reported that 191 ships had been inspected and there had been 151 jobs of examination and repair carried out by ordnance artificers. Nine ships had defensive equipment installed, comprising one ship with a Bofors gun and eight with Oerlikon guns. Seven of these also had machine guns fitted and three were fitted with close-range A.A. devices such as 2" U.P., P.A.C.s and F.A.M.S.(6) 36 ships required repairs or alterations to paravane equipment (9) and 232 ships had their signal equipment examined. These were in addition to other non-armament activities such as Admiralty Net Defence, (7) degaussing, deperming and the checking of extra ship accommodation for naval personnel.(8)
The War's End
Hine's October report brought the series to an end. It opened with these words:
"After the diary of the two preceding quarters that for the period in question provides little of real interest. In spite of the fact that hostilities ended in August and the consequent absence of events of outstanding importance there was no diminution in the activities of the depots. True, the anticipated mid August replenishment period was vastly reduced in scope but arms and equipment were required for occupation forces and the huge volume of stores already en route from overseas continued to arrive and require storage.
Until such time as Singapore and Hong Kong could be reconditioned as bases the brunt of Naval Armament Supply would continue to fall upon Sydney, so that there was little prospect of relief from stress even though mental anxiety was naturally diminished. Furthermore, at an early date R.A.N. ships began to pay off, D.E.M.S. began to disarm and forward depots to reduce..."
It would take almost as long as the war itself to dispose of the surplus or now obsolete ammunition and other stores that were on hand when the war came to an end. In the inaugural Armament Supply Branch newsletter, in May 1948, it was confidently forecast that "within the next 12 months all of the Sydney Magazine Depots will again be in "ship shape" order and functioning in the manner expected of a major Depot.", i.e. by May 1949. A year's grace, and then the country was involved in another war, this time in Korea.
See also RAN Organization for War - Lessons Learnt and The Experience of War at Sydney - 1939 to 1945
Notes:
1. AWM Collection Number AWM78 454 Accession Number RCDIG1074553 File Number 78/454/1
2. A.S.I.S. - Armament Stores Issuing Ship.
3. A.A. - Anti-aircraft.
4. Boffin - The "Boffin" was a single Bofors 40mm gun mounted upon the twin-20mm Oerlikon hydraulically powered mount.
5. D.E.M.S. - Defensively equipped merchant ship.
6. 2" U.P., P.A.C.s and F.A.M.S. - UP (Unrotating projectile, i.e. rocket), P.A.C. (Parachute and Cable) and F.A.M.S (Fast aerial mine system) - these were all hastily improvised weapons that aimed to place a parachute and cable into the path of an attacking aircraft. In the case of F.A.M.S the cable (piano wire) supported a small (8 ounces of explosive) bomb.
7. Admiralty Net Defence - a system of booms and nets fitted to merchant ships to counter enemy torpedo attacks.
8. AWM Collection Number AWM78 388 Accession Number RCDIG1074138 File Number 78/388/1
