Download - Royal Australian Navy

14 AUSTRALIAN MARITIME ISSUES 2006: SPC-A ANNUAL
the army — an ‘absolutely indefensible’ arrangement — and was a decrepit outfit, fit
only for abolition. 6
After six weeks’ work, helped or hindered by his immediate boss — and punctuated
by a tiger-shooting expedition and Jellicoe’s promotion to Admiral-of-the-Fleet 7 — their
report duly recommended the establishment of a Royal Indian Navy, with five to seven
light-cruisers, one aircraft carrier, two river gunboats for the Tigris and Euphrates, six
submarines with a depot ship, and twenty convoy escorts — plus all the infrastructure
to support such a force. Although an Indian Navy would eventually be founded, after
a delay of 15 years, little came of its proposed order of battle.
New Zealand departed India and headed for Western Australia via Colombo and the
Cocos Islands.
15 May:
Arrived Albany Sound 0700 & anchored off pier in Princess Royal Harbour.
Admiral Creswell & Captain Hyde came onboard. Also mayor. Civic
reception in Town Hall. A of F & full staff left Albany in special for Perth.
Adm Creswell & Hyde came too. 8
While the ship followed at her own speed, Jellicoe and his entourage took the overland
route to Perth. At every stop they were greeted by cheering crowds, dinners and
speeches, while his staff were making enquiries and taking notes. Australia would be
the keystone in their work, partly because she was the most advanced of the Dominions
in naval defence, but also in light of their growing certainty that Japan was the logical
next enemy and that Imperial defence would have to focus on the Western Pacific. 9 A
core staff, including Ramsay, then went on to Melbourne to prepare for the Admiralof-the-Fleet’s
arrival in the Australian Federal capital.
In Melbourne, they were welcomed at Federal Government House (FGH, in Ramsay’s
diary) by the Governor-General. ‘Though essentially kind and of a convivial disposition’,
Sir Ronald Munro-Ferguson was said to be ‘subject to outbursts of temper which
appeared to threaten physical violence to any unfortunate who may have provoked
his wrath or who happened to be near him’. 10 But to Lord Jellicoe’s mission, and
subsequently New Zealand’s officers, his hospitality was unstinting: in this, he had
form. During the war he had made available the amenities of his Scottish estate (in his
own absence) to officers on leave from the Grand Fleet. Now, he laid on a succession
of dances, dinners and tennis parties at FGH, while Jellicoe’s staff got down to their
work.
Of the Interwar period, it was said that:
to travel extensively, to be entertained in every corner of the world as an
honoured guest, is usually considered the fortune of a few privileged men