Lieutenant Frederick Norton Cook, RAN, Southsea (Portsmouth), England
Date1926
Object number00054696
NamePhotograph
MediumBlack and white photographic print on paper, mountboard, wood and glass frame.
ClassificationsPhotographs
Credit LineANMM Collection Gift from Rhod Cook
DescriptionPhotograph by James Russell & Sons, Southsea, of Royal Australian Navy Lieutenant Frederick Norton Cook in his dress uniform. The photograph was taken in 1926 when Frederick Cook was undergoing training with the Royal Navy in Portsmouth.HistoryFrederick Norton Cook joined the Royal Australian Naval College as a Cadet Midshipman in 1919.
In 1936 he served as Flag Lieutenant to the Fleet Commander, Rear Admiral W.T.R. Ford CB. In the same year he was promoted to Lieutenant Commander and posted to the destroyer HMAS WATERHEN as First Lieutenant, Executive and Gunnery Officer. In 1938 he was sent to England and posted to the battleship HMS ROYAL OAK and was on board when it was sunk by a German U Boat on Saturday 14 October 1939. On completion of survivors leave Lieutenant Commander Cook was posted to the cruiser HMS CURLEW as Second in Command and Executive Officer. HMS CURLEW participated in the Norwegian Campaign of April - May 1940 where it was bombed and sunk on 26 May 1940.
Cook was promoted to Commander, his next posting was to establish and command a commando training base at Southampton which he named HMS TORMENTOR. In mid-January 1942 he was appointed naval commander for the Operation Biting better known as the Bruneval Raid.
Later in 1942 he returned to Australia and established a commando training base at Port Stephens called HMAS ASSAULT.
From late 1943 he served in HMAS HOBART as Executive Officer operating in Cebu, Tarakan, Wewak, Brunei and Balikpapan and was in Japan for the surrender on 2 September 1945.
After WWII he commanded HMAS ARUNTA 1947-1949, then was promoted Captain and commanded HMAS BATAAN 1949-50 operating in Japan.
He was the Australian Naval Attaché in Washington 1951-53 (Korean War), Captain of the Port of Sydney 1953-56, Naval Officer in Charge Northern Australia 1956-58 and CO HMAS PENGUIN 1958-60.
He retired after 41 years’ service, including 10 years with the Royal Navy, on 19 February 1960. Captain ‘Freddie’ Cook died on 1 August 1985.SignificanceThe photographic portrait of Frederick Cook as a RAN Lieutenant dates to the interwar years, and is particularly significant because it depicts the types of dress uniform worn by RAN junior officers at this time. It is one of three dated photographs in the collection that depict Cook in naval uniform at different phases of his career.Frederick Cook served with distinction during the Second World War and was mentioned in despatches twice. He was also presented to King George IV and awarded the DSC for gallantry. He was also the only Australian aboard HMS Royal Oak when it was torpedoed at Scapa Flow in September 1939, and one of only 400 of Royal Oak's complement of 1200 to survive the ship's loss.
