Teddy Sheean

Teddy Sheean

Ordinary Seaman Edward (Teddy) Sheean (28 December 1923 - 1 December 1942) was a sailor in the Royal Australian Navy during World War II.

Teddy Sheean was posted on the "Bathurst" class corvette HMAS "Armidale" in 1942, when the ship was given the mission of landing 60 Netherlands East Indies troops at Betano, Portuguese Timor. "Armidale" encountered Japanese aircraft during the voyage to Betano, and was consequently a day late for the scheduled landing rendezvous. Rather than land the troops with the possibility of waiting Japanese defences, "Armidale" aborted the mission and returned to Darwin, where she was ordered to attempt the landing again, the risk of Japanese air attack was "to be accepted as ordinary routine secondary warfare".

On 1 December 1942, during the second attempt to reach Betano and land the troops, "Armidale" came under Japanese air attack once again, by thirteen aircraft. This time she was sunk by air launched torpedoes, resulting in the death of 40 of her crew and 60 of the commandos aboard her. Thirty-six members of the crew survived the attack. During the engagement Teddy Sheean manned an Oerlikon anti-aircraft gun and was wounded by strafing Japanese planes while attempting to defend the ship. He went down with the ship, still strapped into the gun and still shooting at the attacking aircraft.

Due to the way Teddy Sheean died, fighting to the end against impossible odds, he was recognised as a hero, "an ordinary bloke who did an extraordinary thing", epitomising the phrase "fight on", a common saying uttered by those trying to encourage their fellow sailors or by the tired sailors themselves. Teddy Sheean was the only Australian ordinary seamen posthumously mentioned in despatches during World War II and was further honoured when be became the first Australian seamen to have a naval vessel named in his honour when the submarine HMAS "Sheean" was named after him, with the motto "Fight On".

Awards

Ordinary Seaman Edward Sheehan has been awarded with the following honours:

References

* LEUT Laura Bulloch RAN, LCDR Judith Rowe RANR, LCDR Brett Brace RAN "Australia's Navy Annual 2001" Fine-Line Publishing Pty Ltd
*cite web |url=http://www.navy.gov.au/w/index.php/HMAS_Sheean |title=HMAS Sheean |accessdate=2008-08-21 |publisher=Royal Australian Navy

External links

* [http://www.navy.gov.au/w/index.php/Submarine_Names Submarine Names on the Royal Australian Navy website] - contains brief biographies of the personnel the six "Collins" class submarines were named after


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужно решить контрольную?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Teddy Sheean — Edward Sheean (rechts) Edward (Teddy) Sheean (* 28. Dezember 1923 in Barrington auf Tasmanien; † 1. Dezember 1942 vor Betano auf Timor) war ein australischer Matrose im Zweiten Weltkrieg. Teddy Sheean besuchte eine katholische Grundschule. Aus… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Edward Sheean — (rechts) Edward (Teddy) Sheean (* 28. Dezember 1923 in Barrington auf Tasmanien; † 1. Dezember 1942 vor Betano auf Timor) war ein australischer Matrose im Zweiten Weltkrieg. Teddy Sheean besuchte eine katholische Grundschule. Aus einfachen… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • HMAS Sheean (SSG 77) — HMAS Sheean (SSG 77), is one of six Collins class submarines serving in the Royal Australian Navy (RAN).Construction Sheean was laid down by the Australian Submarine Corporation at Osborne, South Australia on 17 February 1994. She was launched on …   Wikipedia

  • Collins-Klasse — Allgemeine Daten Schiffstyp: U Boot …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Histoire de la marine australienne — Article principal : Royal Australian Navy. On peut faire partir l histoire de la Marine royale australienne de l année 1788 avec la colonisation de l Australie par les Britanniques. De 1788 jusqu en 1859, les navires de la marine de guerre… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • History of the Royal Australian Navy — The History of the Royal Australian Navy can be traced back to 1788 and the colonisation of Australia by the British. During the period until 1859, vessels of the Royal Navy made frequent trips to the new colonies. In 1859, the Australia Squadron …   Wikipedia

  • HMAS Armidale — Dienstzeit …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • J240 — Dienstzeit …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • List of World War II topics (T) — # T 26 # T 27 # T 28 Super Heavy Tank # T 28 # T 34 variants # T 34 # T 35 # T 37 tank # T 38 tank # T 40 # T 43 tank # T 44 # T 50 tank # T 6 Texan variants # T 6 Texan # T 60 tank # T 70 # T G Building, Brisbane # T. E. Burridge # T. H. Jordan… …   Wikipedia

  • Victoria Cross for Australia — Infobox Military Award name= Victoria Cross for Australia caption= Obverse of the medal and ribbon. Ribbon: 32mm, crimson awarded by= Australia type= Military decoration eligibility= Australian military personnel for= ... most conspicuous bravery …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”