Turbine rotor wheel from the cruiser HMAS Hobart (I) after the ship was torpedoed. After losing ...

Turbine rotor wheel from the cruiser HMAS Hobart (I) after the ship was torpedoed. After losing the propeller the turbine raced and this rotor wheel expanded beyond its elastic limit. The Official History records that on 20 July 1943 Task Force 74 was proceeding to Espiritu Santo. The two cruisers, Hobart and Australia were in column, with Hobart 600 yards astern of Australia, and three destroyers providing anti-submarine screen. The weather was fine and clear with extreme visibility and the sea was moderate. The ships were darkened, steaming at 23 knots and zigzagging. At 6.45 pm, in position 15 degrees 7 minutes south and 163 degrees 34 minutes east, Hobart was struck by a torpedo aft on the port side. The ship suffered considerable structural damage in the vicinity of the wardroom, lost all high power electric supply and steering control, and took a slight list to port . Casualties were seven officers and six ratings killed, and six officers and one rating injured . Power and steering were quickly restored and the crippled cruiser reached Espiritu Santo on 21 July. There was no indication of the presence of a submarine prior to the torpedoing, nor had any reported D/F fixes indicated that there was one anywhere near the position where Hobart was torpedoed . In a subsequent reconstruction, Admiral Crutchley concluded that the attacking submarine, on the surface, had probably sighted T.F. 74 against the afterglow in the western sky at about 6 .15 at a distance of about 10 miles . It was right in the course of the Task Force, submerged, and fired a salvo of torpedoes, probably at long range, aimed at Australia and spread towards Hobart. Underestimation of the speed of the force caused the torpedo zone to miss Australia, and it was probably the first torpedo of the salvo which only just caught Hobart, the remainder passing ahead of that ship. (NAVAL HISTORICAL COLLECTION)