HMAS PERTH I

Date1935-1939

Object number00054678

NameShip badge

MediumPlastic, paint, wood

DimensionsOverall: 235 × 195 × 25 mm

ClassificationsCommemorative artefacts

Credit LineANMM Collection Gift from Rhod Cook

Terms

DescriptionShip badge from HMAS Perth (I) acquired by Captain William Cook, RAN when he served aboard the vessel in the late 1930s during the early phase of his naval career. This object is one of a large collection of documents, photographs, uniforms, ship badges and ephemera associated with the Royal Australian Navy service of brothers William Cook and Frederick Cook. Both men entered service prior to the Second World War, were seconded to the Royal Navy, and underwent training at Greenwich and Portsmouth. Frederick Cook later gained fame as the only Australian survivor of HMS Royal Oak, torpedoed by a German U-boat in October 1939. William Cook was the youngest commander of an Australian destroyer during the Second World War, and was First Lieutenant of HMAS Wyatt Earp, the primary research vessel for the Australian National Antarctic Research Expedition in 1947-48.SignificanceThis badge is associated with HMAS Perth (I), a Modified Leander Class cruiser that served with distinction during the Second World War, but was later sunk in Indonesian waters during the Battle of Sunda Strait on 1 March 1942. The badge is also directly associated with William Cook, who served aboard Perth during the early phase of his naval career, and was one of the vessel's commissioning officers. Cook would later assume command of HMAS Nizam in February 1945 and become the youngest Australian naval officer to command a destoyer during the Second World War. He would also serve as First Lieutenant aboard HMAS Wyatt Earp, the first Australian naval vessel to participate in an Antarctic research expedition (the Australian National Antarctic Research Expedition) in the immediate post-war period.