• Military Menu                       

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Industry
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• WMD
• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

RAN - the Commonwealth

On 01 January 1901 the six self-governing colonies collectively become the states of the Commonwealth of Australia. On the Federation of the Australian Colonies, a new naval agreement was considered necessary and in 1902 an Imperial Conference was held in London at which Sir Edmund Barton represented the Commonwealth and an amended agreement was arrived at, and its acceptance was recommended to the Commonwealth Parliament by the Barton Ministry. This important contract involving high policy began with a recital that the parties thereto recognized " the importance of sea power in the control which it gives over sea communications, the necessity of a single navy under one authority, by which alone concerted action can be assured, and the advantages which will be derived from developing the sea power of Australia and New Zealand."

An agreement was entered into in 1902 by the Commonwealth and Imperial Governments under which a naval force was to be maintained (for ten years, 1903-13) in Australasian waters by the British Board of Admiralty, in return for annual contributions from Australia (£200.000) and New Zealand (£40.000), a third party to the agreement. This agreement provided also for the maintenance of Sydney as a first-class naval station, and for the nomination of naval cadets In the Royal Navy by the Australian and New Zealand Governments.

It was agreed that there was to be a new naval force on the Australasian station consisting of sea-going warships, including one armoured cruiser (first class) and of a Royal naval reserve of 725 officers and men. The base of this force was to be the ports of Australia and New Zealand and the sphere of operations was to be the oceans adjacent to Australia, New Zealand, China, and the East Indies. The Admiralty was to provide the necessary force and equipments together with drill ships, officers and men, but the drill ships and one other ship were to be manned by Australians and New Zealanders as far as procurable. In consideration of this service Australia and New Zealand agreed to pay the Imperial Government five-twelfths and one-twelfth respectively of the total annual cost of maintaining the naval force on the Australian station, provided that the payment to be made by each should not exceed £200,000 and £40,000 respectively in any one year. This agreement having been ratified by Parliament continued in force until it was superseded by a new plan of Australian naval defence.

By 1905 the payment of the annual naval subsidy, small as it was, towards the upkeep of the Australian squadron, was opposed by most of the members of the Labour party, mainly because they view any contribution towards Imperial defence as savouring of taxation without representation. An Australian owned navy, considering the state of the Commonwealth finances, was generally recognised amongst even Labour members as something to be talked about rather than achieved in the lifetime of the present generation. Unless public opinion in Australia underwent a complete change, it seemed solely in the form of Australian owned or controlled warships that the Commonwealth can be induced to offer any substantial contribution towards the defence of the Empire.

Note Mr. Deakin's insistence, in speech to the Commonwealth Parliament in December 1907, that " the control of vessels built and maintained at Australian expense must remain with its Parliament, which would place them under the (British) Oomma.nder-in-Chiof whenever that was deemed 'necessary." " In time of war they would almost certainly be placed by the Commonwealth Uovernment of the day directly under the Admiral commanding the Eastern Squadron." But " it must be clearly understood that the decision must rest absolutely in the hands of the responsible Uovernment of Australia when the emergency arises."

In June 1908 the Commonwealth Parliament on the advice of Mr. Deakin, then Prime Minister, passed an Act appropriating out of surplus revenue, the sum of £2,000,000 for coastal and harbor defence purposes. Mr. Deakin gave a promise that none of this money should be spent until Parliament was informed of the details of the proposed scheme. Subsequently, when the Fisher Government came into power they declined to be bound by Mr. Deakin's promise to Parliament, and entered into contracts for the construction and supply of three destroyers of the Australian River type, which were afterwards known as the Yarra, Paramatta and the Warrego.

The instinct of all Britishers in all parts of the world to defend their race and country in time of danger was strongly aroused throughout the Empire in the month of March 1909, caused by a statement made in the House of Commons by Mr. McKENNA, First Lord of the Admiralty, that the naval supremacy of Britain was threatened by Germany. In no part of the British Empire was the significance of this development more fully appreciated than in Australia, whose people thoroughly realized that the safety of their country depended upon the sea power of the motherland. Australia understood the Prussian menace, and eagerly seized each chance to co-operate with other British nations in organisation of common British defence. Throughout the British Dominions the response was immediate and electrical. A great wave of patriotism swept over the British people, and a universal demand arose in favour of the reinforcement of the navy by colonial and over-sea assistance. The Dominion of New Zealand promptly made an offer of two Dreadnoughts ; and a public movement in favour of a similar offer soon gathered momentum throughout the length and breadth of Australia.

The Fisher Ministry, however, refused to support the movement in favor of Australia granting a Dreadnought. The Fisher Government sent orders to Great Britain for the preparation of designs and the construction of three destroyers to be known as the Australian River Class. Orders were given by the High Commissioner and the construction of the destroyers was commenced and prosecuted ; they afterwards received the names of the Yarra, Parramatta and the Warrego. The defects of Mr. Fisher's scheme were that it contemplated simply a local navy, and a local destroyer policy only. It had no reference to the British Fleet or Australia's participation in sea power. Mr. Fisher strongly denounced the Dreadnought proposal as "a mere spectacular display."

After the Commonwealth was established it was considered that Australia should take a greater part in naval defense so it was decided in 1909 to create an Australian naval force to replace the squadron previously maintained under the agreement with the British government. In July 1909, a naval conference was held in London, convened by the Imperial Defence Committee, at which Australia, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa were represented. Never was national friendship stronger than the friendship of Australia to Britain after the Naval Congress of 1909 [and the intimate conversations of 1911].

One of the arrangements arrived at by this conference was that the Commonwealth should, in place of the subsidy, supply an Australian fleet unit to consist of : one armoured cruiser (New Indomitable class), three unarmoured cruisers (Bristol class), six destroyers (River class), three submarines (C. class) ; also the necessary auxiliaries, such as docks and depot ships. The cost of construction at English prices would be about £3,700,000 and the estimated annual cost about £750,000. Of this sum the Imperial Government offered to contribute £250,000 but at a later date the Commonwealth Government decided to bear the whole cost. It was agreed that the annual subsidy of £200,000 payable by the Commonwealth to the Admiralty would continue to be paid up to the time when the then existing Imperial Squadron in Australian waters should be relieved by the new Australian fleet unit ; it would then cease. The Naval Agreement arrived at in London at the Imperial Naval Conference in 1909 was at once acted on and was afterwards ratified by the Commonwealth Parliament in the Naval Agreement Act 1912.

The Dominion navies were not to be described as ' the Australian Navy' or ' the Canadian Navy,' but, as ' His Majesty's Australian Navy ' and ' His Majesty's Canadian Navy.' These two additional words, so far from being imposed upon the Dominions, were eagerly demanded by public opinion there, in token of the fact that the creation of navies of their own was not to be interpreted as signifying a desire on their part to sever themselves from the British Commonwealth, or to renounce their status as British citizens.

The Rt. Hon. Joseph Cook, then Minister for Defence, piloted the bill authorizing the construction of a local navy through Parliament in November 1909. The program provided for a naval expenditure of $90,000,000 over a period of eight years. The governing force behind the departure was that the time had arrived for Australia to take up the burden of the defense of the Pacific, owing to the concentration of England's naval forces in the North Sea. The order for the construction of the dreadnought H.M.A.S. Australia was placed in England the following month. Provision was also made for the building of cruisers, smaller vessels, and submarines.

The tiny contribution to the expenses of the British Navy was withdrawn, and Australians began to build a navy of their own on a scheme which proved that they were as ready as were the British to spend the last shilling on naval defence. The change of sentiment was marvellous in its suddenness. In 1902 the Australian Parliament had with the greatest difficulty been persuaded to contribute £200,000, instead of £126,000, towards the expenses of the British fleet in the Pacific.(fe) In 1909 the British Government offered an annual contribution of £250,000 towards the expenses of the new Australian fleet, and the British offer was refused. Australia was determined to pay the whole expense of the Australian fleet, and for the reason that Australia was determined to have the whole control of Australian policy.

The Deakin-Cook Ministry succeeded the first Fisher Ministry and held office from 2nd June 1909 to 26th April 1910. The warships ordered by the Deakin-Cook Ministry, in pursuance of this agreement, before they left office were, an armoured cruiser (now called a battle cruiser), which afterwards received the name of Australia and two smaller cruisers the Melbourne and the Sydney. The remaining elements of the fleet unit, including two submarines and three other destroyers, which received the name of the Torrent, Swan and Huon.

The Naval Defence Act 1910, as amended by the Acts of 1911 and 1912, consolidated the naval provisions of the Defence Acts 1903-11 and made arrangements for the organization, discipline and development of a new naval force of the Commonwealth. The Governor-General may raise, maintain, and organize such naval forces as he deems necessary for the defence and protection of the Commonwealth and of the several States. Admiral Henderson's scheme of 1911, which waa accepted by the Australian Government, was based on the assumption that Australia, in proportion to population and trade, was prepared to spend as much on the navy as was Britain.