Militaria

Lot 3408    SESSION 12 (11.30AM THURSDAY 1ST AUGUST)    Militaria

Estimate $500
Bid at live.noble.com.au

WWII HMAS NIZAM DIARY, (20.5x30.5cm), hard cover with ruled pages, handwritten in pencil on p4 'DIARY/1941/HMAS NIZAM', then in pen, pp6-113, 2/7/41 to 22/3/43, written on inside at top of first entry page, 'Diary from my joining ship at Alexandria', each page typically records the date (exact timings), the ship's location or course, a summary of events and many remarks or references to the day's activities. Cover loose, otherwise very fine.

Note: These types of diaries are rare as the keeping of them was frowned upon in case the ship was captured and the diary with all its information fell into enemy hands. An example of one of the above diary's entries is on p26 Sunday 23rd (November 1941) and reads as follows, '0300 Left Alex. In/c with "Napier", "Jackal", "Kipling" + "Hasty" to do anti sub sweep in front of A.M.C. "Glenroy" + A/A Cruiser "Carlisle". "Glenroy" loaded with tanks and troops for Tobruk. 1600 the two ships were attacked by torpedo bombers & "Glenroy" hit Aft. "Carlisle" took her in tow. We raced back at full speed & just before we reached scene we were attacked. Fierce barrage drove them off and they machine gunned the Jackal killing one man. Fish dropped at us but missed by a mile. Caught up with "Carlisle" + "Glenroy" + did A/S sweep around them.'

HMAS Nizam was a N-class destroyer commissioned into the RAN in 1940. During the period of the above diary entries, Nizam was ferrying troops from Crete to Alexandria. She was then assigned to the Tobruk Ferry Service running supply runs to forces under siege at Tobruk. She made 14 runs before being damaged on 14 September by a near-miss bomb which cracked her oil pipes. After being repaired she spent the rest of 1941 escorting Malta convoys on bombardment operations in north Africa and transporting troops to Cyprus and Haifa. On 21 October, while evacuating Australian infantry Rats of Tobruk to Alexandria, she came under attack by German Stuka dive bombers.

At the start of 1942 she sailed for Singapore as one of the escorts for the aircraft carrier HMS Indomitable. In June Nizam was one of the escort ships for a large convoy to Malta and was then assigned to the Madagascar Campaign. On 22 September 1942 she was assigned to Durban to patrol for Vichy French merchant ships capturing one and forcing another to scuttle. Then, after a refit in South Africa, she was attached to the British Eastern Fleet participating in sweeps of the Indian Ocean for enemy ships.

With research.