Souvenir booklet of the US Naval Fleet visit to Brisbane, 1941
Date1941
Object number00046785
NameBooklet
MediumInk on paper
DimensionsOverall: 236 x 175 x 1 mm, 42.9 g
ClassificationsEphemera
Credit LineANMM Collection Gift from Paul Hundley
DescriptionThis booklet commemorates the 1941 US Navy fleet visit to Brisbane. On 25 March a fleet of seven US Navy vessels arrived in Queensland for a three-day visit. This was one of several US Naval visits during that year.HistoryOn 25 March 1941 heavy cruisers Chicago (CA-29) (Rear Admiral John H. Newton, Commander Cruisers Scouting Force) and Portland (CA-33) and destroyers Clark (DD-361), Conyngham (DD-371), Reid (DD-369), Cassin (DD-372) and Downes (DD-375) arrived in Brisbane beginning a three-day good-will visit. The fleet departed on 28 March for Fiji.
There is a long history of US Naval visits to Australian ports starting with the US Exploring Expedition in 1839-1840. In December 1907 United States President Theodore Roosevelt sent a US Atlantic Battle Fleet of 16 battleships on a 14 month goodwill cruise around the world, visiting Australia for 3 weeks in 1908. During World War II, goodwill visits to Australia were conducted by the United State navy as a way of establishing friendship and exhibiting their vessels.
This booklet features a compilation of photographs and text from The Telegraph and Courier Mail newspapers showing images of the ships, sailors, parades and recreational activities that were organized for the visiting vessels and their crew.SignificanceThere is a long history of US Naval visits to Australian ports starting with the US Exploring Expedition in 1839-1840, followed by the 1908 visit of the Great White Fleet and increasing in the 1940's in the lead-up to World War II.
