"Yarra was a 1060 ton Grimsby class sloop constructed at Cockatoo Dockyard in 1936-37. When war came in 1939 she was under the command of Lieutenant Commander W.H. Harrington, RAN. Known affectionately by his crew as the ‘Black Prince' he was later to reach the rank of Vice Admiral and was Chief of Naval Staff from 1962-1965. For the first 12 months of hostilities Yarra was employed as a convoy escort in Australian waters, but in August 1940 she was dispatched to the Middle East.
She arrived at Aden in September 1940 and for the next seven months operated in the Red Sea and around the Horn of Africa. Yarra was mainly employed on convoy escort duties protecting British vessels from attacks from the Italian forces based in nearby Italian Somaliland. On a number of occasions Yarra was attacked by Italian aircraft and on 21 October 1940, in company with three British warships, she successfully beat off an attack on a convoy made by three Italian destroyers. In March 1941 the sloop proceeded to Bombay (Mumbai) for a short refit.
In April 1941, Yarra returned to the Middle East and was allocated to the British forces in the Persian Gulf which were then preparing to neutralise the pro-German nation of Iraq (in order to secure this nation's valuable oil resources). On 2 May, British forces invaded Iraq and Yarra provided naval gunfire support for the advancing troops, acted as a convoy escort and also patrolled the wide Shatt-el-Arab River.
Following the successful subjugation of Iraq the British turned their attention towards Iran (formally Persia). This nation was also pro-German in outlook and many German ‘technicians' resided in the country assisting the Iranian Government. Additionally a number of German and Italian merchant ships were anchored in Bandur Shapur Harbour and unable to leave due to the British blockade. Ultimately though it was secure the valuable oil resources in the area that prompted the action against Iran.
Yarra's role in this campaign was to neutralise the Iranian naval vessels at Khorramshahr (some 40 miles upstream from the head of the Persian Gulf). At 0400 on 25 August 1941, Harrington gave the order to open fire on the Iranian sloop Babr which was alongside the wharf at Khorramshahr. Number 2 gun, controlled by Leading Seaman Ron Taylor, was the first to open fire and soon the Iranian ship was on fire and sinking.
Once Babr had sunk Harrington dispatched assault parties, under the command of his Executive Officer (Lieutenant Commander Francis Smith), to capture two Iranian gunboats which were also alongside and this was achieved without loss to the attackers. Thus within three days Iran was brought under British control and Yarra had the honour of sinking or capturing three Iranian vessels with only one of her crew wounded as a result.
The Armed Merchant Cruiser HMS Kanimbla (manned by RAN personnel) also took part in the Iraq Campaign and provided men for boarding parties which captured several of the enemy merchant ships at Bandar Shapur. Yarra later towed one of these captured vessels to Karachi before proceeding to Bombay for a short refit.
In November 1941, Harrington was directed to take Yarra to the Mediterranean and the sloop arrived in Alexandria on 15 November. Three days later, in company with her sister ship, HMAS Parramatta, she undertook her first re-supply run to Tobruk. The now famous Tobruk Ferry Run saw warships escort supply ships into the besieged port of Tobruk. Supplies and reinforcements for the Australian 9th Division, which provided the bulk of the defenders of Tobruk, were taken in and wounded personnel and prisoners were brought out. Over the next few weeks Yarra made a total of four voyages to Tobruk and she was frequently attacked by German Stuka dive bombers.
Following her third run into Tobruk, Yarra was alongside at Alexandria when news was received that Parramatta had been sunk by a U-Boat on her run into Tobruk. Only 24 men survived from Parramatta's crew and amongst those lost was Lieutenant Commander Harrington's brother who was the ship's Medical Officer. More bad news came in a matter of days when the loss of Sydney, with her entire crew, was formally announced and this was followed soon after by the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and South East Asia. Then on 10 December 1941 the British capital ships HM Ships Prince of Wales and Repulse were sunk by Japanese air attack off the east coast of Malaya…"
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Amicalement
Armand
