UNA
SMS Komet (HMAS Una)
Description
Horizontally striped black,white and red Imperial German flag with the white stripe expanding to a roundel in the centre. The roundel is finely screen printed with a crowned Prussian eagle in black, red and gold.
Summary
The 977 ton German Government steam yacht KGS Komet was built in Bremerhaven in 1911, and dispatched to German New Guinea as an administrative vessel for the protectorate. She was based at Rabaul on the island of New Britain, and fitted out in a luxurious manner for the use of senior German staff.
When war was declared in August 1914, she was at Morobe, New Guinea, having transported the German acting Governor, Dr Eduard Haber, there on a visit of inspection. Having narrowly avoided interception en route by the Australian squadron, she was able to return to New Britain, landing Haber at Herbertshohe, near Rabaul.
The Komet was then placed by Haber at the disposal of Admiral von Spee's German fleet, and used as a supply vessel to the auxiliary cruiser Prinz Eitel Freidrich until late September. As Rabaul had been captured by Australian forces, and British ships were known to be in the area, she then sought refuge at a remote location on the north coast of New Britain which became unofficially known as 'Komethafen' (Komet Harbour).
Her presence here was reported to the Australian administrator in Rabaul, and at dawn on October 11, HMAS Nusa, an armed yacht which had itself been captured from the Germans some weeks earlier, surprised and captured the Komet. Her crew of 5 Germans and 52 native sailors were removed, and the vessel sent to Sydney for refitting.
Following this refit, she served with the Royal Australian Navy as HMAS Una. As the Una, she served in the islands until 1924, when she was privately sold and renamed the Akuna. The Akuna again served with the RAN during the Second World War, until late 1943, when she was returned to her owner. The Akuna was broken up in 1959.
German Imperial ensign : KGS 'Komet'
The 977-ton German government steam yacht KGS Komet was built in Bremerhaven in 1911. It was sent to German New Guinea (Kaiser Wilhelmsland) as an administrative vessel for the German protectorate and was based at Rabaul, New Britain. The yacht was finely fitted out for senior German staff who undertook regular inspection trips of German holdings. The acronym ‘KGS’ stands for Kaiserliches Gouvernement Schiff (Imperial Government Ship).
War was declared in August 1914, finding Komet at Morobe, New Guinea. It had transported the Acting German governor, Dr Eduard Haber, for an inspection. Komet had narrowly avoided interception by the Australian Squadron and was able to sail to New Britain, landing Haber at Herbertshohe, near Rabaul.
Haber put Komet at the disposal of Admiral von Spee’s German fleet where it was used as a supply vessel to the auxiliary cruiser Prinz Eitel Freidrich until late September, 1914. Rabaul was captured by Australian forces, and because of other British ships in the vicinity, Komet sought refuge at a far location on the north coast of New Britain, west of Willaumez Peninsula – which became unofficially known as ‘Komethafen’ (Komet Harbour).
ONE OF THE SPOILS from the capture of the German New Guinea colonies in 1914 was the steam yacht Komet. Built in 1911 as the Government yacht for the colonies, Komet was commissioned into the Imperial Navy just prior to the outbreak of the Great War in 1914. Her capture by the RAN is well covered in the official history.
Sent back to Sydney, Komet was renamed Una and commissioned as an HMA Ship. Her armament comprised three BL 4 inch Mark VIIIs, arranged with one gun on the foc’sle, with the other two sited on the quarter-deck. She has been described as a sloop and also a gunboat, but whatever her designation she was a workhorse during her time with Grey Funnel Line. The name chosen was a good one, but not actually the proper one for the message to be given. She was meant to signify that she was the first of many, and as such the name Primo would have been appropriate. As it was, Una was properly translated as ‘the only one’.
Once Una commenced duties with the RAN she was quickly sent back to the New Guinea area, on a truly flag showing exercise. It was reasoned that seeing as the ship was well known by the natives in the islands as a German ship, she would have a great impact when she turned up wearing the White Ensign.
Evidently the natives were more impressed with the cook’s false teeth than they were with the change of ownership.
The following diary of movements are given to show just how Una travelled on her lawful occasions. Dealing with only one period of 1918-19, it illustrates the use the ship was put to.
Bismarck Archipelago. c. 1914. The RAN armed vessel H M A S Una in harbour at the Witu Islands which are close to the north coast of New Britain.
WITU ISLAND, NEW BRITAIN. C. 1914. ROYAL AUSTRALIAN NAVY PATROL VESSEL UNA BERTHED IN WITU HARBOUR.
RABAUL, NEW BRITAIN. 1914. HMAS UNA, FORMERLY THE GERMAN NAVAL YACHT SMS KOMET, AND AUSTRALIAN DESTROYERS IN THE HARBOUR.
Thursday Island. HMAS Una at anchor. Una was formerly the German naval yacht Komet which operated in the Pacific area during the Second World War until captured by an Australian naval vessel on 10 October 1914. Una then served as a unit of the RAN. Sailors are in a row boat in the foreground.
HMAS UNA – December 1915 to December 1917, Australian waters, South West Pacific
From 10.4.18 to 31.12.18, Una steamed 14,455 miles.
The above timetable comes from the notebook of the late Dan Clifford, a former Royal Marine Light Infantry man. He paid off from the Marines in Sydney before the Great War, and was called back to the colours, serving with the RAN. He spent a great deal of his time in Una.
THE VOYAGES OF H M A S UNA, 1915-1919
H M A S Una
Rabaul, New Britain. c 1915. HMAS Una, believed to be arriving in Rabaul, carrying coffins for the funeral of five unidentified members of the Australian naval and Military Expeditionary Force (AN&MEF). HMAS Una was previously a German naval yacht named SMS Komet. It was armed and commissioned as HMAS Una in October 1914, and was stationed in New Guinea waters. SMS Komet was captured by Commander J. M. Jackson on HMAS Nusa on 10 October 1914 at Talassia, a small plantation approximately 160 miles south west of Rabaul.
abaul, New Britain. 31 July 1917. The patrol vessel HMAS Una, formerly the German Administrative vessel SMS Komet which was captured by the Australian Navy & Military Expeditionary Force (AN&MEF) in 1914
HMAS Una at anchor. The Royal Australian Navy patrol vessel Una was the German ship Komet until captured by Australians at Komethafen on the Talasea (or Talassia) north coast of New Britain on 11 October 1914.
Nov. 1914: HMAS UNA, formerly the captured German government yacht KOMET - Cockatoo Is. Dockyard.The former colonial governor of German New Guinea Dr Eduard Haber's government yacht, the 1438 ton KOMET was captured by a boarding party from the tiny RAN gunboat HMAS NUSA on October 11, 1914.Brought back to Cockatoo Island Dockyard, where she is seen here, she was fitted with three 4-inch guns, two 12-pounders for patrol duties, and re-named HMAS UNA.
Singapore 1915
AKUNA
ex UNA
Australian
Photo taken 1925
Pilot vessel, 970 tons. Built 1911 as the German yacht Comet; captured by the RAN off New Britain in 1914 and commissioned as the Una. Purchased by Port Phillip Sea Pilots in 1924 and renamed Akuna. Ex Port Phillip pilot boat Akuna, ex-HMAS Una and the former captured German yacht Komet To recap, she was the former Governor of German New Guinea's yacht Komet, captured off New Britain by the little armed yacht HMAS Nusa in late 1914, during the RAN's seizure of German colonial possessions in the South West Pacific. Actually a unit of the German Navy at that point, she was subsquently armed with three 4-inch guns and two 12-pounders at Cockatoo Island Dockyard, and commissioned as the armed sloop HMAS Una. Most of her duties in WW1 were around the islands north of Australia. After the Great War, in 1924 she was sold to the Port Phillip Sea Pilots Association and was renamed Akuna [not to be confused with the later Melbourne Ports and Harbours vessel Akuna, which was the former WW11 Bathurst Class corvette HMAS Gladstone]. The former steam yacht Akuna also performed naval duties as an examination vessel in Port Phillip Bay during WW11, but she was not commissioned into the RAN during that conflict. She was eventually broken up on the Maribyrnong River at Footscray in Melbourne in 1954.
GERMAN GUNBOAT KOMZI'. The Minister for Defence (Senator Pearce) announced to-day that the Ger man gunboat Komet, which was captured in New Guinea and brought to Sydney, would be handed to the Australia fleet. She would be named H.M.A.S. Una, and commissioned on November 17..
CAPTURED GUNBOAT KOMET
TO BE RENAMED H.M.A.S UNA. Melbourne, Nov. 13.
The Minister of Defence (Sena tor Pearce) has approved ^ of the captured ship Komet being re named H.M.A.S. Uua on her re- j commissioning on Nov. 17.
' A Punitive Expedition.
Recently the conduct of a tribe of natives on Malekula Island, New Hebrides, became so threatening that it was thought advisable to send a British warship on a punitive expedition. H.M.A.S. Una was at once detached from patrol work in the Bismarck Archipelago, took aboard a small contingent of native troops and joined tho French cruiser Ker saint at Vila at the end of October. On November 3rd the two .ships readied the scene of operations and landed contingents of both na tives and police. These encountered heavy bush lighting.
(Tho natives aro well armed. Australian sailors were in the thick of tho lighting. The Una had only one casualty, but tho native police lost more than half their number. Tho Australian sailors acted with great gallantry, in the thick, of the bush expedition, which is considered \thoroughly suc cessful, and has done much to se cure tho future safety of the white residents. Cannibalism is still prac tised in that particular island.