Fremantles Secret Fleets PDF Download

Secret Fleets is the story of how, in World War II, the Western Australian port of Fremantle was secretly transformed from an isolated outpost of Australia to the most successful submarine base of its kind, second only in size to Pearl Harbour. The US Navy placed a number of 16mm cameras with colour film on some of their submarines based at Fremantle. Classified for 50 years the remarkable footage illustrates an extraordinary story of heroism and dramatic social and cultural change experienced by the local population.. Between 1942 and 1945, a secretive war was waged from an Australian base which caused enormous damage to the Japanese war effort. For fifty years the story remained untold. This is the story of how the sleepy port of Fremantle, in isolated Western Australia, was secretly transformed into a vital command centre for one of the most relentless campaigns of the war against Imperial Japan. It is also the tale of men who went to war in extreme circumstances. Men who risked their lives in the claustrophobic confines of that most feared and fearful of all naval craft - the submarine. Their world is brought to life through remarkable colour archive footage of the Fremantle submarines in action. Most of this material has not been seen since it was shot by American cameramen on board the submarines on patrol during the war.. Secret Fleets tells the untold story of the men and women who took part in this most clandestine war. It tells of their fears, their hopes and their tragic losses: not only for those who faced combat but also those that experienced the social and cultural upheavals behind the lines. Secret Fleets uncovers a long forgotten and neglected part of Australian, American, British and Dutch history. The reasons for the base remaining a virtual secret are many. Secret Fleets explains some of these circumstances. Including the geographical position of Fremantle, so far from the centres where history is written; the wholesale removal of virtually all evidence of the base's existence after the end of the war; and the fact that some of the activities originating from this base remained classified well after war's end.