IN HONOUR OF ALL THOSE WHO SERVED ON HMAS YARRA II
Come tonight and tell me again of how the war came to an end and repeat the tale a 100 times and every time I’ll cry.
(Neil Bouwman. Dutch poet)
HMAS YARRA II
During World War II, on 4th March 1942 in the Indian Ocean, south of Java, Yarra was escorting a small convoy to Australia. A Japanese flotilla of cruisers and destroyers found the convoy. With no hope of survival, Yarra put itself between the enemy and her charges. The thirty 8 inch guns of the Japanese soon destroyed Yarra and she sunk with the loss of 138 men. All officers perished and only 13 sailors were rescued 5 days later by chance by a Dutch submarine.
