Which ship of the RAN wore the flag of an Admiral of the Fleet longer than any other? Answer Though her commission in the RAN was very brief, HMAS Suva ...
The Story of a Hundred Gallon Barrel
UK Defence Bullying Report – RAF Worst of the Three Services
A recent report by the Equal Opportunities Audit Team has found that allegations of ‘a culture of widespread bullying and brutality’ within the British Forces are, in the most part, ...
Cannon Balls – Dispelling a Myth
In days of old, when muzzle-loading cannons constituted the main armament in ships of war, it was necessary to keep a good supply of cannon balls near the cannons. The ...
KÖNIGSBERG: The Thorn in the Rose Garden
The harbour of peace is the English translation of Dar-es-Salaam, the capital of the large and potentially wealthy colony of German East Africa. East Africa was the prize possession of ...
Reminiscences about the wartime activities of HMAS Australia
Broke of the Shannon – Boston 1813
Christmases Past …
1776 Captain James Cook with HM ships Resolution and Discovery, arrived at Kerguelen or Desolation Island and named it after Capitan de Kerguelen, the French navigator. 1789 Entry in New ...
Women in the RAN – a Personal Perspective
A Reminiscence – Bombers and MTBs in the Med
Sinking of HMS Peterel – Shanghai 1944
Carley Life Rafts of WW2
The Carley life-float (Admiralty Seamanship Manual 1956 terminology) was the principal method of lifesaving equipment during WW2, fitted to all warships, and not superseded by the present form of inflatable ...
Submarines of the British Pacific Fleet
Although largely unseen except on setting out and returning to base at Fremantle WA, British submarines of the BPF mainly T and S classes, achieved a great deal through their ...
British Pacific Fleet 1944-46
Obituary: Lieutenant W E Allen RAN (Retd) 1899-2005
Bust of Lord Nelson at MHQ garden Island
The inscription reads: This bust of Lord Nelson Presented to the Royal Australian Navy by the Naval Auxiliary Patrol Association NSW Was erected in its present (sic) position On the ...
Sea Power Ashore and in the Air
HMAS Pioneer – Blockading German East Africa, 1915-16
Nelson’s Coat and the Bullet that Killed Him
Horatio Nelson’s “Trafalgar Coat”, the uniform he was wearing when he was shot, has been reunited with the French musket ball that passed through it and killed him in 1805. ...
Anti-Submarine Measures from World War I
Abridged from an article in “History of the World Wars”, previously published in the RAN Corvettes Association Newsletter Vol. 1 Issue 98 and kindly permitted to be reprinted here. AT ...
Captain John Cooke, HMS Bellerophon
Captain John Cooke, HMS Bellerophon || Killed at Trafalgar 1805 In a small column of the Sydney Morning Herald on 14-15 May 2005 ((Community RSVP)) a plaintive request was noted ...
Sydney’s Anti-Submarine Boom Defences 1942-46
A small, lonely memorial can be found near the water’s edge at the westernmost shore of Green Point at Watson’s Bay, Sydney Harbour, recalling the erection of a considerable seaward ...
A Short History of HMAS Albatross
Reprinted from a Welcome Aboard pamphlet (date unknown) The decision to build an airfield on the land now occupied by the Naval Air Station was taken soon after WWII was ...
Visit To HMAS Sheean – Garden Island 2003
The Editor managed to score an unexpected conducted tour of one of the RAN’s latest Collins Class submarines, HMAS Sheean, alongside the dedicated submarine berth in Fleet Base East. ON ...