History ANMEF & AE1 Australian Navy RAN WWI

$65.00

' AE1 Entombed but Not Forgotten ' by J. Foster

Quantity

Last items in stock

Description
Product Details

HMAS AE1 was an E-class submarine of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). She was the first submarine to serve in the RAN, and was lost at sea with all hands near East New Britain, Papua New Guinea, on 14 September 1914. The wreck of the submarine has never been found, despite several searches.

Commanded by Lieutenant Commander Thomas Besant, RN, the AE1 was sent to capture German New Guinea as part of the Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force ANMEF. With the wrecks of the HMAS Sydney and Centaur being found, AE1 remains the most important RAN mystery.

The AE1 has not been forgotten by the navy. The most recent search was carried out in February 2007 when a new effort to locate the submarine was mounted by the RAN. Based on data compiled over the previous 30 years ago, the survey ships Benalla and Shepparton attempted to locate the submarine off East New Britain. HMAS Benalla located an object of the appropriate dimensions using sonar on 1 March but after further physical examintion the object was found to be a rock.

Apart from the History of the AE1, this book also has a great account of the ANMEF action at Rabaul supported by many photographs.