Perth (Fremantle)
The Indian Ocean city of Western Australia, and one of the U.S. Navy’s most beloved liberty ports.
AustraliaThe Port
Perth, the capital of Western Australia, faces the Indian Ocean; its harbor is the port of Fremantle, at the mouth of the Swan River. It is among the most isolated major cities on earth — closer to Singapore and Jakarta than to Sydney — a sunlit, low-slung city of broad beaches and easy distances.
Fremantle, the historic port at the river’s mouth, is a working harbor of limestone warehouses and cafes that has received ships under sail and steam for more than a century and a half.
A Wartime Friendship
Western Australia has welcomed American sailors since the Second World War, when Fremantle became one of the largest Allied submarine bases in the Southern Hemisphere. From its wharves, U.S., British, and Dutch submarines sailed on war patrols into the East Indies against Japan.
That bond has held for generations. Perth’s reputation for hospitality to visiting crews is legend across the U.S. Navy, and the city has thrown its doors open to the fleet for as long as American ships have called there.
Ashore
For Constellation’s crew, Perth was one of the bright stretches of the cruise — a run ashore of broad beaches, the cafes and pubs of Fremantle, and warm autumn days, after the long Indian Ocean transit on the road toward home.
See Perth (Fremantle) in the cruise book →Questions & Answers
Why is Perth a beloved Navy liberty port?
Western Australia has hosted U.S. sailors since World War II, when Fremantle was a major Allied submarine base. Perth and Fremantle are known throughout the fleet for their hospitality to visiting crews.
Was Fremantle a submarine base?
Yes. During World War II, Fremantle was one of the largest Allied submarine bases in the Southern Hemisphere, home to U.S., British, and Dutch submarines operating against Japan.