Australian Naval History on 30 July 1951

The first intake of 500 RAN National Service recruits commenced training following the Governments decision to reintroduce compulsory service the previous year. After 6 weeks basic training followed by technical training the recuits completed 6 months of National Service Training in a naval unit at sea. By the end of National Service in 1957 the RAN had trained nearly 7000 servicemen and the last one was discharged from the RAN on 7th June 1957.