Author James Duff Introduction In the final months of and in the years after World War Two, many resources, documents and records relating to Royal Navy camouflage were purposely destroyed. ...
WWII operations
An American at War in the Pacific Memoirs of Chief Radioman John Ottomar Adams, USNR
A long standing member of our Society, David Mattiske, was a friend of John Adams who died early in 2017. David presented us with a self-published memoir of John Adams ...
They Also Served – LCDR Donald R Wilson, DSC, RANVR
Lieutenant Commander Don Wilson had a remarkable wartime career but as this was mostly spent on loan to the Royal Navy, there is little mention of his exploits in our ...
Letter: HMAS Arunta and Operation Hamburger
Dear Editor The December 2017 edition of the NHR contains an article on the evacuation of Lancer Force from Timor by HMAS Arunta in January 1943. As my father was CO ...
Lieutenant (SP) H.L. Billman, DSC, RANVR
By Hector Donohue Harold Leon (Bill) Billman had a relatively short war in the RAN of just three years, but as a bomb and mine disposal officer he was regularly ...
Tales of the South Pacific, Broadway and a South Pacific World War II Museum
The South Pacific has a wondrous reputation as the home of tales from the sea, producing great characters such as Robinson Crusoe and Bligh of the Bounty. In later times ...
HMAS Arunta and Operation Hamburger
Whichever way you looked at a Tribal class destroyer, she was not just handsome, she was beautiful. The balance between hull and superstructure and the proportions of her two funnels ...
Malta Revisited: Wartime Memories of HMAS Vendetta’s Malta Sojourn in World War II
We are indebted to ex Supply Assistant Gordon Hill for this wonderfully illuminating description of his wartime service in the destroyer HMAS Vendetta when based at Malta. The George Cross Island ...
The Last Coastwatchers
Earlier this year your Editor had the pleasure of meeting James (Jim) Burrowes, aged 94, and Beryl, his ex-WAAF wife of 66 years, aged 93. They were married in 1950. ...
Book review: Under the Water Under the Wire and the men who sank the Sydney
By Grahame Wilson. Self-published via Publicious P/L in 2015. Paperback, 281 pages with b&w illustrations. Available from Amazon and Booktopia and selected booksellers from $30. EBook version is also available ...
‘Mission to Kerguelen’ – An Australian Military Operation in the Sub-Antarctic islands in 1941
By Rohan Goyne I refer to the excellent article Antarctica the forgotten Continent by Hugh Farmer in the Naval Historical Review Vol. 38 No2 June 2017 and offer the following ...
Occasional Paper 14: LCDR Mackenzie Jesse Gregory
September 2017 LCDR Mackenzie Jesse Gregory RAN Ret, (9/02/1922- 27/08/2014) was to my mind a fine example of the qualities a Naval Officer needed to have. He could communicate well, ...
Occasional Paper 12: Personal Experiences: Aftermath Of Japanese Submarine Attack: Sydney Harbour
August 2017 The following are accounts of individual contributions made by two remarkable people in the aftermath of the Japanese midget submarine attack in Sydney Harbour on 31 May 1942. ...
Occasional Paper 9: The Sinking of HMAS Armidale on 1 December 1942
July 2017 The following address was delivered by Dr Kevin Smith OAM to members of the Naval Historical Society of Australia in Sydney 18 April 2017. In 1798 at the ...
Occasional Paper 11: The Remarkable Short Life of HMAS Nestor, The Ship That Never Came Home
July 2017 The following address was delivered Commander Walter Burroughs RAN Rtd during the 75th anniversary ceremony conducted by the RAN on Garden Island, Sydney 16 June 2017. I am ...
Book Review: HMAS Canberra – Casualty of Circumstance
By Kathryn Spurling, Publishers New Holland, Sydney, 2016. Paperback, 255 pp with b & w illustrations, maps and portraits. Available most bookshops from $33.00 with discounts available. The author served ...
Occasional Paper 8: The Gustavo Stefanini Story
June 2017 The following story was provided by Commander Stephen Youll, OAM RAN Retd in relation to the matter of the first RAN ship to sink a submarine in World ...
Occasional Paper 7: HMAS Vampire Memorial Address (9 April 2017)
May 2017 On 9 April 1942, HMAS Vampire (I) was sunk by Japanese bombers in the vicinity of Batticaloa, Ceylon (Sri Lanka) with the loss of eight lives. This action was ...
Book review: Flagship: The Cruiser HMAS Australia II and the Pacific War on Japan
By Mike Carlton. Penguin Random House, Sydney, August 2016. Hardcover 642 pages with illustrations and many b&w photographs. RRP $50 – discounts available. Some naval history books traverse well-worn tracks ...
HMAS Nepal and Operation ES – June and July 1942
The Society received the following letter which explains this unusual circumstance. A recent application to the Defence Honours and Awards Tribunal has cast light on a hitherto unknown operation undertaken ...
HMAS Norman – far from Home
By Peter Nunan Background The N-class destroyers operated in many parts of the globe but HMAS Norman was the only one of her ilk to have made an operational voyage to ...
HDML 1321 and what she represents
Java is heaven, Burma is hell but you never come back alive from New Guinea – Japanese wartime saying An eagle-eyed member of our Society drew attention to this short ...
Occasional Paper 5: Ken Brown: Service in HMAS Nestor
February 2017 By Warrant Officer Martin Grogan Mr Ken BROWN (aged 95) a retired RAN Lieutenant Commander and World War Two veteran was recently awarded the British Arctic Star. This ...
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 ...
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 ...