As told by his son CMDR Vic Harvey, RAN, Rtd Fredrick Harold Harvey was a proud Geordie lad, born in Newcastle-upon-Tyne’s suburb of Benwell, on 13 August 1899. Benwell in ...
Petty Officer Fredrick Harold Harvey and Colombian Naval Service
As told by his son CMDR Vic Harvey, RAN, Rtd Fredrick Harold Harvey was a proud Geordie lad, born in Newcastle-upon-Tyne’s suburb of Benwell, on 13 August 1899. Benwell in ...
Un Sous-marin Français Construit aux Antipodes A French Submarine built in the Antipodes
By Commodore Bob Trotter OAM RAN (Rtd)1 ‘The year 1866 stood out because of a remarkable incident, a mysterious and puzzling phenomenon which doubtless has not yet been forgotten. Not ...
Occasional Paper 3: Tobruk – The Lifting of the Seige
December 2016 December 9, 2016 is the 75th anniversary of the lifting of the siege of Tobruk, the port on the north coast of Libya, that proved such a thorn ...
Occasional Paper 4: HMAS Melbourne II
December 2016 By Tom de Voil Introduction I recently had a brief article about HMAS Melbourne, the aircraft carrier, published and consequent on that I was asked to give this ...
Occasional Paper 2: Operation Damask – HMA Ships Brisbane and Sydney
November 2016 The following story was contributed by Hugh Hyland. Hugh worked for the variously named Defence departments for over 50 years until retiring in December 2015. He held numerous ...
Centenary of Shackleton’s Antarctic Rescue by the Chilean Navy
By Dr. Carlos Tromben-Corbalán, Centre for Strategic Studies, Chilean Navy Tuesday 30 August 2016 was an auspicious day in the Chilean naval calendar marking the centennial of the rescue of ...
Able Seaman William Arthur Alfred Nye (1904-1974)
As told by his son William Douglas Nye The last (June 2016) edition of this magazine contained an article relating to the life story of CPO William Henry Nye. In ...
Women in the RAN: The Conflict of Equality
By MIDN Jaycob Humphreys, RAN We have had other essays on this topic by female officers, but this perceptive discussion from a recent New Entry Officer Course student, is by ...
The Battles for Leyte Gulf: where Australian ships fought in one of the greatest battles in naval history
By David Scott David Horace Ford Scott grew up on a soldier-settler block near Holbrook, NSW but his parents were forced to walk off the property during the Depression and ...
Climate Change and ‘future wars between nation-states’?
By John W. Wells (1) This controversial article takes us out of our normal comfort zone as the author has definite views which are not necessarily shared by the Society. ...
HMAS Moreton and Brisbane Naval Depots
By George Franki The name Moreton is synonymous with naval history in southeast Queensland but to date little mention of it appears in our historical records. We trust this small ...
Occasional Paper 1: Battle of Australia Day Commemoration
By Commander Rebecca Jeffcoat, RAN Sydney 07 Sep 16 Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen, First I would like to acknowledge the Gadigal people, the Traditional Custodians of this Land on ...
The Whitsunday Tragedy
By Allan Miles Whenever a tragedy happens resulting in the lives of young Australians who have chosen a career in service of this country, it is a great loss. Such ...
Who was Jose?
By Walter Burroughs The Bean Connection Most Australians interested in military history will have heard of Charles Bean, the war correspondent with a later responsibility for compiling and editing the ...
Operation DAMASK: RAN Operations Against Iraq During The Gulf War
By SBLT Nathan Willrow, RAN Following completion of secondary education at Melbourne High School Nathan gained entry to the University of Melbourne where he graduated as a Bachelor of Science ...
Simply a Question of Duty: A Coastwatcher in North Australia Part 2: Coastwatching on Groote Eylandt during WWII
By John Harris Japan’s sudden entry into WWII, threatening the whole Pacific region, galvanised Naval Intelligence into immediate action to formalise and expand the old pre-war Coastwatcher program in coastal ...
HMS Vanguard– The Battleship That Never Arrived
By Alf Batchelder On 6 March 1948, the Melbourne Argus reported that ‘…never before in modern times has the sea-going strength of the Royal Navy been so low.’ After recent ...
River Cruises and the Big River
By Leyland Wilkinson There are many rivers in the world with clear access from the open sea for ocean going vessels, and over the years units of the Royal Australian ...
Aurora: the Ship that Started a Revolution
By Walter Burroughs Many great maritime nations have been able to preserve fine examples of their prestigious naval vessels. Most of us have been brought up on tales of the ...
A Disproportionate Consequence: The Significance of Effective Joint Operations Doctrine and Technology on the Battle of Cape Matapan
By MIDN Conor Byrne, RAN This essay from the 53rd New Entry Officer Course intake won the Naval History Society prize. Introduction In modern naval doctrine the importance of maintaining ...
Australian War Brides at Sea
By Liz Colthorpe In the autumn of 1946 the British aircraft carrier HMS Victorious undertook possibly her most unusual task, in transporting approximately 700 Australian war brides to their new British ...
The Missing DDG
By John Smith A question was recently posed why hull number 40 is not used by HMA Ships. The DDGs Perth 38, Hobart 39 and Brisbane 41 are to be followed by the ...
‘Simply a Question of Duty’ A Coastwatcher in Northern Australia Part 1: Coastwatching Before World War II
By John Harris Around Australia’s northern coast and islands before and during World War II a small band of civilians in remote locations was asked to volunteer as official Coastwatchers. ...
Naval Historical Review Vol 37 – No 1 March 2016
An assortment of short stories and articles. The Review has been published quarterly since 1970. ...