On This Day - 21 December
- 1939
- A cartoon in the Australian magazine, The Bulletin, depicted a cruiser with a badly crumpled stern passing the flagship, and the Admiral turning to the Flag Captain:- 'Send for her Captain Prendercast. I'll teach him to play boomps a daisy'. The cartoon alluded to HMAS SYDNEY, (cruiser), colliding with a wharf at Fremantle some weeks previously.
- 1940
- HMAS AUSTRALIA, (cruiser), sustained damage when bombed in dry dock at Liverpool, England. A 1588 kg aerial torpedo fell between the ship and the dockside, but failed to explode.
- 1942
- HMAS QUIBERON, (destroyer), took off troops and crew from the bombed and burning transport STRATHALLAN, torpedoed off North Africa.
- 1956
- HMAS Arunta (I) passed to dockyard control for refitting for Operational Reserve. She had steamed 95,221 miles during her second commission bringing her total mileage to 357,273 since commissioning in 1942. Arunta (I) remained in Operational Reserve at Sydney from 1957 to 1968. She was sold for scrap to the China Steel Corporation of Taipei, Formosa, on 1 November 1968
- 1969
- HMAS JEPARIT, the former Australian National line 6,341 ton general purpose bulk carrier, reported fully loaded and ready for sea. The ship was the subject of union disputes from August, 1966, until commissioned on 11 December 1969.
- 1970
- HMAS PERTH, (guided missile destroyer), engaged in a counter-battery duel with Viet Cong guns in the Long Hai hills, Vietnam.
- 1995
- The badly damaged hulk of HMAS DERWENT was finally scuttled, by charges set by CDT 4, in deep water to the west of Rottnest Island, WA. During the previous 10 weeks, the old ship had been subjected to a series of tests by DSTO staff, to observe the affect of bomb and shell damage on a warship. Due to the damage to the vessel she was sunk in very deep water to prevent divers attempting to dive on the wreck.
'On This Day' is based on the book "Navy Day by Day: Historic Naval Events in Australia and Abroad" written by the late Lew Lind. More information.