Between World War I and World War II, the Royal Australian Navy underwent a severe reduction in ships and manpower. As a result of the Washington Naval Treaty, the flagship HMAS "Australia" was scrapped with her main armaments and sunk outside Sydney Heads in 1924. In the same year, the RAN began a five-year program of obtaining new ships from Britain: the heavy cruisers and and the seaplane carrier . This purchase was partly paid for by scrapping "Brisbane", "Melbourne", "Sydney", and most of the destroyers. The Great Depression of 1929 led to another reduction of manpower; although reduced in size, the available posts were easily filled as many men were unemployed and the offered pay was greater than most jobs. The RAN's personnel strength fell to 3,117 personnel, plus 131 members of the Naval Auxiliary Services. By 1932, the strength of the Reserves stood at 5,446. In the early 1930s, lack of funds forced the transfer of the Royal Australian Naval College from Jervis Bay to Flinders Naval Depot in Victoria. In 1933 the Australian Government ordered three light cruisers; HMA Ships , , and ; selling the seaplane carrier "Albatross" to fund "Hobart". During this time, the RAN also purchased destroyers of the V and W destroyer classes, the ships that would become known as the Scrap Iron Flotilla. With the ever-increasing threat of Germany and Japan in the late 1930s, the RAN was not in the position it was at the outbreak of World War I.