Between WW I and WW II

"The Australian reception of the squadron was tumultuous, ecstatic; something that people in Fremantle, Melbourne, Perth and Hobart still talk about.  The advent of the ships coincided with Australia's new sense of herself as a growing country, with a large stake in the future.  It was the first time that the friendly open-hearted Australians had had a chance to see the great ships about which they had heard so much.  It was a chance for many of them to renew old friendships formed with the Navy in the Dardanelles and other theatres of the World War.

The Hood was the focus of attention.  Every move and activity aboard her was watched by dozens of reporters circling round her in motor boats.  As soon as the official reception was over and the Admirals had gone ashore, one Fremantle journalist noted that the sailors, "set to cleaning their ship, polishing and painting, while those who were not on duty leant over the sides and whistled at the pretty girls in our boat."  He remarked that: "Several motor cars are carried aboard her, including the Admiral's Rolls Royce. All of these were quickly disembarked."  

Today, it is common enough for large warships to land motorised patrols, but Hood was probably the first ship to carry her own motor transport.  The Rolls Royce itself lends the flavour of a more sumptuous and 'jeepless' age.

The Western Australian interviewed Admiral Field in his day cabin and commented:

"In its space and appointments and quietness there is nothing to distinguish it from an apartment in some luxurious city hotel - nothing, that is to say, but the occasional piping of a whistle or the faint echo of a smartly rapped-out order overhead.  In the adjoining room, with its dining accommodation for 35 or 36 persons, the mahogany furniture was matched by two mantelpieces enclosing capacious grates designed for coal fires."

He remarked on the ornaments on the mantelpieces, and the absence of any 'fiddles' or retaining pieces for glasses, photographs and china. The Admiral told him that, except in very heavy weather, the ship's motion was so easy such things were unnecessary.  Field's charm and easy manner endeared him to the Press as much as to the official reception committees.  "Many of the published photographs of Admiral Field are libellous.  One expected to meet a man of sunken cheeks and world-weary eyes.  Instead one was confronted with a cheery countenance - bright alert eyes and a twinkle of humour in them."

At Melbourne the city went mad.

"... I was a girl of eighteen at the time and I remember quite clearly my father taking us all out to Port Phillip Heads to see the squadron come in.  It was early March and glorious weather.  There were thousands of other people up with us.  Every road and pathway was thick and many families were making a day of it, taking out all the children and hampers of food and bottles of beer.  The Bay was dotted with sailing boats.  Everyone who had anything that would float - big yachts to small rowing boats - was out there on the water.  It was hot and very still, and at sea there was a white sea mist.  I believe the papers said there were 500,000 people waiting to see the ships.

'Here they come!' said my father, and then we could hear the aircraft.  It was a wonderful sight - something I can never forget.  The mist out at sea, and then the aircraft coming through it, and then few minutes later the Hood herself with the white cloud seeming to peel away from her as she came on into the bright sunlight of Port Phillip.  Everyone cheering and the kids running up and down and the sirens of all the ships in the harbour going off…"

It had been the same at Albany and Adelaide.  When they left the latter, the weather had been perfect, with a light heat haze lying over the water. The Advertiser had reported her departure:

"The sea as calm as a mill pond. The pinnacles from the cruisers at the jetty at an early hour, gathering up final supplies, mails and papers. At 9.15 the light cruisers, which had cast off from the wharfs at the outer harbour, were picked up 4 or 5 miles in the offing, lying almost hull down in the horizon, and appearing like ghost ships as they leaned through the light haze. The winking of a signal lamp on one of the distant craft elicited answering flashes from high up in the superstructure of the Hood, and in a few minutes the water began to churn beneath her stern. The flagship of the Special Service Squadron moved out into the waters of the gulf. With the bright rays of the sun glinting on her brass-work and throwing into relief the grim turrets and guns, set off by the regulation dreadnought grey, she furnished a never-to-be-forgotten sight as she sped away with all the grace of a launch. Scarcely less majestic was the Repulse which followed a few cable lengths astern. Thousands along the foreshore, from the Outer Mole to Marino, watched the grey hulls as they gradually grew less and less and finally faded away into the haze...."

At every port of call there were sports events against local teams, ceremonial marches through the cities, and, as well as official dinners and banquets, there were dances, cocktail parties and open-air barbecues.  At Melbourne the same lady recalls a dance given by the junior officers:

"... I and my elder sister were both invited.  People sometimes talk about the first big dance that a young girl goes to, but I think no one could have had a more wonderful time than I did.  Dinner was at half-past seven, I think, and before that we had champagne.  Champagne seemed to 'go with' the ship somehow and I never drink it now without remembering the Hood.  At that time I had never tasted it before.  I remember my sister telling me not to have more than one glass!  Then there was the dance on the quarterdeck.  They had a squadron song, I am afraid I have forgotten it ... I remember sitting on one of the turrets of the big guns, there was a whole group of us and a young lieutenant with a ukulele, he was playing the tune and the others were singing."

"Gangway, please, let the girl see the big gun!" was the cry as the guests were ferried ashore.

At Perth a correspondent to the local paper confirmed the opinion of the young girl at Melbourne: "...but to be filled with the joy of life and to experience the exhilaration of the dance one must accompany the lieutenants and midshipmen.... Cocktails, champagne and liqueurs started things going!"

It was at this moment that in America the magazine Scientific American was rash enough to publish the statement that U.S.S. Colorado was the largest battleship afloat.

Australian Press, primed with data, sprang to battle and compared the dimensions of the Hood with the Colorado: "Our American friends need to get their facts right."

The fact was that the Colorado certainly carried a heavier main armament, but Australia was in no mood at that moment to accept the suggestion that there could be any ship in the world to compare with the 'Mighty Hood'.  At every port, more trophies and more mascots joined the ship.  A number of parrots were easy enough to house, but one wonders what happened to the kangaroo that was formally presented in Adelaide?

Everywhere the sailors were welcome and popular.  It was not surprising that, with Australia crying out for young immigrants and offering them many inducements, a few of the sailors deserted.  It was not only the lure of a new and rich country that attracted the adventurous:

"There is no doubt the sprinkling of uniforms of the sailors about the streets during the last few days has gone a long way towards brightening up the city [Adelaide].  At any rate the ladies appear to think so, for it is very noticeable that every tar has his admirers among the fair sex, and the undisguised glances of admiration that follow the men in blue as they stroll unconcernedly down the streets would turn the heads of many older men less used to being the cynosure of all eyes."

As the Hood left Melbourne, a broad web of coloured streamers was spun between the flagship and the pier, officers and men holding one end of the paper streamers: 'frail link with the friends they were leaving behind'.  The twisting, coloured ribbons grew longer and longer, rainbow bright in the early sunlight, and then trailed broken in the water as the battle-cruiser crept out to sea.

The Admiral and his company could congratulate themselves on one of the most successful visits in history.

The attitude of the Australian Press was summarised by the editorial of the Melbourne Sun: "To say that Australia was cradled in the strong arms of the British Navy is more than a figure of speech.  It was the command of the seas that made a British Australia possible.  It is due to British sea-power that Australia is the only continent that has never had to suffer an invasion...."

There was only one dissentient voice. If it is worth quoting today, it is only because it faithfully reflected the attitude of Labour throughout the inter-war years, both in Australia and in Great Britain.  Frank Cotton in the Australian Worker wrote: "The amount of money expended in building a battleship like the Hood would have built 10,300 comfortable cottages for British one-room slum-dwellers. The idea that a state of military or naval preparedness is any factor in the security of a nation is a myth that has long since been exploded."