The Anzac landing at Gallipoli and the theatres of WWI are usually remembered for their trench-warfare, but it was also a time when Australia's navy gained independence in battle.

Operating under the Royal Navy since settlement, it was not until 1909 that Australia began to establish the Australian Fleet Unit by commissioning two destroyers, HMAS Yarra and HMAS Parramatta.

In 1910, King George V granted the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) title to the Commonwealth Naval Forces and Australia's independent navy began.

By the outbreak of World War I in 1914 the fleet consisted of a battle cruiser, six light cruisers, six destroyers, two submarines and many support vessels.

SA Maritime Museum's All the World's at Sea exhibit curator Adam Paterson said the RAN played an important part in Australia's operations.

"One of the first things that the navy did was provide transport for the Australian Imperial Forces to travel overseas to Gallipoli," Mr Paterson said.

The Royal Australian Navy's Gallipoli operations

The RAN was an integral part of the Gallipoli assault, with amphibious operations landing and retrieving troops on the shores, a hospital ship based in the area to treat the wounded and HMAS AE2, a RAN submarine, becoming the first allied warship to enter the Dardanelles and travel through to the Sea of Marmora.

"Their orders were to run amok and wreak havoc, which is what they tried to do, and they were successful in sinking at least one vessel and occupying others," Mr Paterson said.

The Australian submarine AE2 was sunk in the Sea of Marmora after being torpedoed by the Turkish boat Sultan Hissar. It is pictured here in Sydney in 1914. ( Australian War Memorial: H11559 )

The AE2's success came on the same day troops stormed the beaches of what would later be known as Anzac Cove.

"It was later described as the finest feat in submarine history," Mr Paterson said.

While the submarine operated in the Sea of Marmora, RAN crews became the first in and last out of the Gallipoli campaign, with a RAN unit known as the Bridging Train the last to leave in the withdrawal.

The navy also deployed many ships to the Aegean Sea to support ground troops, including the Hospital Ship Formosa.

"Very quickly it [Formosa] was overwhelmed and many of the wounded were taken out to the transports that had just unloaded the soldiers," Mr Paterson said.

"Those ships were not fitted out as hospitals and soldiers were lying on stretchers with tables in the mess halls used as operating theatres."

The RAN's pivotal roles in WWI

The RAN's involvement in WWI extended well beyond troop support and although pictorially it may be remembered mainly for transporting soldiers to and from battlefields, the navy was also involved in several other operations.

From the beginning of the war the fleet was given the role of capturing German colonies throughout the Pacific region and protecting Australia's ports and seaways.

A seaman onboard HMAS Sydney looks out at the wreckage of the German cruiser Emden on North Keeling Island. ( Australian War Memorial: EN0401 )

On November 9, 1914, HMAS Sydney claimed the RAN's first battle success after it drove the German light cruiser Emden ashore on North Keeling Island.

The RAN was also part of the campaign that helped lead to the resolution of war in Europe with HMAS Australia, HMAS Sydney and HMAS Melbourne tasked to the Northern Sea blockade.

"That eventually, in many respects, lead to the end of the war because it meant Germany by 1918 was starving and couldn't continue," Mr Paterson said.

World War I became as much of a coming of age for the RAN as Gallipoli was for the Anzac troops.

All the World's at Sea: A World War One Centenary Exhibition will be held at the South Australian Maritime Museum, 126 Lipson Street, Port Adelaide until October 31, 2015.