PROLOGUE

The reason for this book was to gather the facts as near as possible from the official files and private records of ex-crew members, to present an interesting and informative history of HMAS Shropshire.
The history is presented in eleven chapters, some short, some long, based on tours of duty; the dates, commencing from the day we left Sydney, our base port, until we left for the next tour of duty from Sydney. The first chapters relate to the early history of Shropshire before she became an Australian warship as well as information on her specifications.

To gather this information I delved into many books to try to confirm some statements which could be taken as contradictory, however at no time do I claim copyright to statements that I have drawn on and may have altered to suit the meaning of a sentence as well as quoting statistically recorded information on the specification and sea trials.

Sadly, some records are missing, so some liberties had to be taken to fill the missing gaps, eg. the 'Night Encounter' report from Arunta's Captain is missing, subsequently spoiling the finale of the Surigao Strait's battle.

This whole effort would not have been possible without the help of the Department of the Navy historian; the National Archives at the Canberra War Memorial and the National Archives in Sydney and Melbourne.

Several diaries came to light, two of which gave a day by day account of our history and I thank Ken Stock and Len Burgess for allowing me access to them. The 200 letters I hand delivered at our national reunions did not bear much fruit, but the few that did deliver me information, was greatly appreciated. The paper, a special edition of the Shropshire Journal put together by Ron Russell and George Wellington as well as the In the Phillipines book by Frank Hoolihan were great memory joggers and very helpful. The account of the 'Victory March' in London by Arthur Cooper will, I am sure, stir your imagination.
Please read the list of acknowledgements.

S. NICHOLLS