DETECTING U-BOATS

Evening Post, Volume CXXXI, Issue 123, 27 May 1941, Page 10

DETECTING U-BOATS

AUSTRALIAN SCHOOL

May 28 May 28 MANY ON SERVICE

RIGHT MEN FORTHCOMING

(0.C.) SYDNEY, May 20. Many young Australian naval officers and ratings, who have graduated from j the Anti-submarine School in Sydney, are now helping in the struggle against U-boats in the Atlantic and the Mediterranean. This school, which, it is understood, is the only one of its ldnd in the Empire outside Great Britain, is now working at high pressure and turning out several hundred officers a tid ratings a year, mostly for small ships—destroyers and patrol craft —of the Royal Navy, the Royal Australian Navy, and the New Zealand Navy. ' Most of the graduates have seen service. Many have been in action against enemy submarines, and some have been decorated and mentioned in dispatches. One man, a sub-lieuten-ant not long ago, has been promoted to the rank of a lieutenant-commander with the Royal Navy. About 90 officers and several hundred ratings from the school are now serving overseas. They are nearly all Australian-born. Eleven per cent, of the officers have been decorated. WANT TO KNOW WHY. An English expert, a commander in the Royal Navy, started the school six months before the outbreak of war. Since then it has grown enormously in size and importance. He has found the Australian temperament is such that young men in training want to know the reasons for orders which are given. This quality, he says, has been an advantage, because it has helped them to learn about the anti-submarine equipment quickly. The Australians have shown themselves very adaptable to the service. The actual work of anti-submarine men on a warship is to operate the Asdic submarine detector device and when a submarine is located to give directions for the throwing of depth charges. The use of this equipment is taught in the anti-submarine school. In service the device is operated by ratings under the direction of an officer. NO LACK OF RECRUITS. There has been no lack of recruits for the service! In fact, the naval authorities have had a wide choice to select from. The men at the school are from all walks of life. Some are farmers' sons with a love for the sea. The present practice is to grant probationary commissions to young men who begin the course with the necessary educational and physical qualifications. The Intermediate Certificate is the minimum. At the end of their course, part of which is served in Melbourne and at sea, they are confirmed in their rank and drafted to ships. The course for ratings is shorter and the educational qualifications not so high.