Karl Gammler

constructed in early WW2 in Sydney, a Bathurst classed Corvette was named after Deloraine. 

On January 20, 1942 off Darwin Harbour she was given instructions to follow a course to a suspected sighting of an enemy submarine.

At 1.35pm upon arriving at the given co-ordinates, she was greeted with a sighting of an enemy torpedo quickly approaching the ship.

She immediately swung astern and narrowly avoided the attack by 10 feet.

Moments later a good echo contact was obtained and she retaliated by swiftly dropping a pattern of six depth charges.

Success was assumed when the submarine briefly broke the surface along with multiple huge air bubbles followed by large continuous slicks of oil.

Nevertheless the attack continued until Deloraine had expended all her charges and she was joined by two other ships before she went to re-load and return in the early morning.

She obtained a second contact and dropped a further series of charges.

Post war investigations showed that the first attack was successful and HMAS Deloraine.

Katoomba, Lithgow and Edsall were all officially credited with destroying the Japanese Submarine I-124 (a vessel of 1142 tons).

On June 28, 1977 a decleration was signed establishing the remains of the I-124 a historic shipwreck.

To commemorate the 80 year anniversary of the decleration, a virtual reality video was made detailing the remains. The video can be found on YouTube at www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHlySgpCEso

The full framed article, which was given to the club by Don Simpson, can be read in the bar.

Two scale models of the HMAS Deloraine J232 and photos of the ship, the original ship’s bell and helm are proudly displayed in the bar as well.