There was considerable Axis naval activity in Australian waters during World War II. A total of 54 German and Japanese warships and submarines entered Australian waters between 1940 and 1945 and attacked ships, ports and other targets. Among the best-known attacks are the sinking of HMAS Sydney by a German raider in November 1941, the bombing of Darwin by Japanese naval aircraft in February 1942, and the Japanese midget submarine attack on Sydney Harbour in May 1942. In addition, many Allied merchant ships were damaged or sunk off the Australian coast by submarines and mines. The level of Axis naval activity peaked in the first half of 1942 when Japanese submarines conducted anti-shipping patrols off Australia's coast and Japanese naval aviation attacked several towns in northern Australia. The Japanese submarine offensive against Australia was renewed in the first half of 1943 but was broken off as the Allies pushed the Japanese onto the defensive. Few Axis naval vessels operated in Australian waters in 1944 and 1945 and those that did had only a limited impact. Due to the episodic nature of the Axis attacks and the relatively small number of ships and submarines committed, Germany and Japan were not successful in disrupting Australian shipping. Read the rest of this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axis_naval_activity_in_Australian_waters _______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries: 1594: The King of Navarre was crowned King Henry IV of France at the Cathedral of Chartres near Paris, beginning the Bourbon dynasty. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_IV_of_France) 1801: Washington, D.C., a new planned city and capital of the United States, was placed under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Congress. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Washington%2C_D.C.) 1933: The Reichstag building in Berlin, the assembly location of the German Parliament, was set on fire, a pivotal event in the establishment of the Nazi regime in Germany. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reichstag_fire) 1940: American biochemists Martin Kamen and Sam Ruben discovered the radioactive isotope Carbon-14, which today is used extensively as basis of the radiocarbon dating method to date archaeological, geological, and hydrogeological samples. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon-14) 1976: The rebel movement Polisario Front proclaimed the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic in Western Sahara. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sahrawi_Arab_Democratic_Republic) _____________________ Wiktionary's Word of the day: muse: To become lost in thought, to ponder. (http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/muse) _____________________ Wikiquote of the day: The heights by great men reached and keptWere not attained by sudden flight,But they, while their companions slept,Were toiling upward in the night. -- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Henry_Wadsworth_Longfellow)