Commander William Thomas Alldis Moran
Australian War MemorialWilliam Moran was born 11 December 1903 in Fremantle, Western Australia, to William and Rose Moran. His family soon moved to Kalgoorlie. His father, “Billy” Moran, was a well-known sportsman and hotelier on the Kalgoorlie goldfields.
William Moran went to Kalgoorlie State School but was determined to join the navy. In 1917, he went to the Jervis Bay Naval College, proving a keen and able sailor. In 1922, he was seconded to the British Royal Navy for three years and studied at the Greenwich Naval College. During this time he was regularly promoted.
Moran returned to a post on HMAS Adelaide, and HMAS Brisbane. In 1928, he again served in the British navy for two years. He also became a qualified pilot. Back in Australia he continued to study with the navy, specialising in torpedo strategy, and was posted to HMAS Repulse. At the outbreak of war in 1939, he was a commander serving at HMAS Cerberus.
In October 1941, he took command of the outdated 1917 destroyer, HMAS Vampire in Singapore.
On 10 December 1941, HMAS Vampire was accompanying the HMS Prince of Wales and Repulse when both were sunk off the east coast of Malaya. Vampire managed to rescue 200 of the 800 survivors of the Repulse.
In early 1942, Vampire was ordered to attack Japanese transports 80 miles north of Singapore. Vampire and HMAS Thanet encountered “a veritable hornet’s nest”: a Japanese cruiser and six destroyers protecting the transport. Vampire got away but Thanet was sunk.
In February, Moran took HMAS Vampire to Ceylon (Sri Lanka), escorting two merchant ships, and later joining the East Indies Station. Within two months, the Japanese had taken control of the Bay of Bengal and threatened local waters. Allied vessels began leaving the station but many were sunk by enemy aircraft.
On 9 April 1942, Vampire left Trincomalee with the aircraft carrier Hermes, sailing south down the Ceylon coast. They were spotted and attacked by dive bombers. Hermes was sunk, leaving Vampire.
A crew member later recalled:
“We were a mile or so head of [Hermes] and zig-zagging to evade dive-bombing attacks when the first bomb got us. We were hit again, and it seemed that there were clouds of bombers overhead … soon the Vampire was sinking. She broke in two and sank in 10 minutes.”
Seven crewmen were lost, including Commander William Moran, who went down with his ship.
A survivor recalled:
“Commander Moran was an ‘A’ grade naval officer in every way … He was the best friend any man on the ship ever had; he was exceedingly popular and knew his job thoroughly. He told me to ‘get over the side’ and that was the last I heard of him. What happened to him then I don’t know.”
Moran was mentioned in despatches for his courage.
His body was never recovered, and today he is commemorated on the Plymouth Naval Memorial in Devon, England.
Meleah Hampton, Historian, Military History Section
Image: Destroyer HMAS Vampire I
- Australian War Memorial https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C2278412
