(I received a free copy of this book from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.)

1924 the grand old battle cruiser HMAS Australia I, once the pride of the nation, was sunk off Sydney Heads. She had saved Australia from a German attack in the Pacific in World War I, but after the war she was a victim in the race to disarm. There was a day of national mourning when they blew the bottom out of her. In 1928 the RAN acquired a new ship of the same name, the fast, heavy cruiser HMAS Australia II, and she finally saw action when World War II began, patrolling the North Atlantic on the lookout for German battleships. By March 1942 Australia had returned home, where the ship was stunned by a murder. One night one of her sailors, Stoker Riley, was found stabbed and bleeding to death. Before he died, he named his two attackers, who'd tried to kill him because, he said, he'd threatened to expose their homosexual activities. At a hastily arranged court martial, the two men were found guilty and sentenced to death under British Admiralty law. Only weeks later Australia fought in the Battle of the Coral Sea near Papua New Guinea, the first sea battle to stop the Japanese advance in the Pacific. She was heavily attacked and bombed from the air but, with brilliant ship-handling, escaped unscathed. In 1944 she took part in the greatest sea fight of all time, the Battle of Leyte Gulf, which returned the American General Douglas MacArthur to the Philippines. She was struck by a kamikaze bomber, killing her captain and 28 other men. The next year, she was hit by no fewer than four kamikaze planes on four successive days. She was, in fact, attacked by more kamikaze aircraft than any other Allied ship in the war, and in the end this finished her war. She retired gracefully, laden with battle honours, and was scrapped in 1956 - the last of her name, for the navy no longer uses Australia for its ships.

I guess you could call this a biography of a cruiser. The story of HMAS Australia II is a fascinating one, and presented in this book in her full glory.

The story is summed up in the blurb (above) so I will just make some other observations about this book.

What can you say about the research into this book? High-class would be the best way to describe it. I would hate to guess how long the author spent getting all the minute details that make this book such a stunning story. From what I understand, not only did he get his research from the Australian archives, but also from the British and US Navy as well.

Also, the writing was crisp and clean - sometimes when I read books like these, they come across more like textbooks for history classes, but this one read very well and kept the interest right up until the ship was scrapped. So much detail and history, but told in such a way that kept me happily reading.

My only complaint? The post-war part of the story went just a bit too long for my liking. But, then, that could just be me.

If you have an interest in the Australian Navy, WW2 or Australian history in general, then this book is a definite recommendation.


Paul
ARH