The Pacific War Online Encyclopedia
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Exmouth Gulf (114.14E
21.96S) is located at the extreme northwestern point of Australia. Lockwood tried to
establish a forward submarine
base here in 1942 after Darwin was
ruled out because it was in range of Japanese
bombers. The plan was opposed by Lockwood's staff because the area lacked
facilities,
experienced heavy surf from northwest winds, and was exposed to tropical cyclones part of
the year. When Japanese reconnaissance
planes detected forward units in
the area, and bombers from Kupang
raided the nascent base, the plan was dropped. However, the gulf was
used as a forward refueling station, extending the endurance of
submarines operating from Fremantle.
References
The Pacific War Online Encyclopedia © 2007, 2013 by Kent G. Budge. Index
