WWII operations

Schooner Gerard – WW2 Service in New Guinea

NHSA Webmaster · Sep 21, 2010 ·

It was only three years after the close of WW I that Gerard, as we knew her, was built by the famous Krupp Company in, of all places, Kiel in ...

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HMAS Maryborough – Indian Ocean May 1942

Ogle, Brian · Sep 10, 2010 ·

On 6th May 1942 the Captain of HMAS Maryborough, Commander Cant, sent the following signal by Aldis lamp: ‘Get all those bloody passengers into the stokehold.’ This is recorded in ...

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The ‘Highball’ bomb/mine

Nicholls, Bob · Sep 10, 2010 ·

Narellan, south west of Sydney, is the site, at the local airport, of the Camden Museum of Aviation, which houses a collection of some 22 vintage aircraft. One of these ...

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U-Boat Battle – Convoy ONS5

Downes, A.M., Captain · Sep 10, 2010 ·

This article is an edited version of a talk given by Captain A.M. Downes to the Company of Master Mariners, Sydney Branch, on 24th November 1993. Tonight I want to ...

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The Story of the Willie D

Fazio, Lieut. V. RANEM · Jun 21, 2010 ·

Editor’s Note: This story was discovered and contributed by Vince Fazio. He wishes it to be known that he is no relation to the Torpedoman Fazio mentioned in the text. ...

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The Royal Australian Navy at War South-West Pacific Area

A.N. Other · Jun 21, 2010 ·

Editor’s Note: This article was first published in 1942 in a book called HMAS, the first of an annual collection of articles and pictures compiled and distributed throughout WW II ...

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Malta Revisited

Hill, Gordon · Jun 10, 2010 ·

Memories of HMAS Vendetta in Malta in World War ll The George Cross Island Association Reunion 2004 gave me the opportunity to revisit Malta. I knew that if I put ...

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RMS Operations by the RAN in the Pacific – World War II

Turner, Mike · Jun 10, 2010 ·

RMS officers in the RAN conducted numerous Rendering Mines Safe (RMS) operations along the Australian coast and at islands to the north of Australia. Most of the RMS operations were ...

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RMS Operations by the RAN in Europe – World War II

Turner, Mike · Jun 7, 2010 ·

Bombs and mines were rendered safe by the RAN in the United Kingdom, Europe and the Middle East during World War II. RAN personnel were highly decorated for their extraordinary ...

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Battle of the Bismark Sea

Wright, Ken · Dec 21, 2009 ·

‘We Sent the Japs to Hell and There They Learnt to Swim’ In 1942, the involvement of the Royal Australian Navy in operations against the Japanese in Malaya, Java, Timor, ...

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Book Review: Sydney – Cipher and Search

Book reviewer · Dec 1, 2009 ·

Sydney – Cipher and Search By Captain Peter Hore RN (formerly Head of Defence Studies for the Royal Navy and currently chairman of the research committee of the Society for ...

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Organisation of Coastwatching in the New Guinea WW 2

Wright, Ken · Sep 10, 2009 ·

People over-impressed by spies and espionage are fond of quoting the observation attributed to the French General Napoleon Bonaparte around 1795 when he estimated that a spy in the right ...

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The Long Journey Home – Unknown HMAS Sydney Sailor

Swinden, Greg · Jun 21, 2009 ·

He was badly wounded and dying, but somehow he made it into the Carley Float. Whether he fell into it, was blown in by a bursting shell or was placed ...

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The Story of a Hundred Gallon Barrel

A.N. Other · Mar 21, 2009 ·

This story is without attribution. Its origins are unknown. The only clues we have are the date, ‘1940’, in the date/time/groups, and the distinctively British way they are written. As ...

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Leadership: Admiral Raymond Spruance, USN

Sutton, Andrew, Sublieutenant · Mar 21, 2009 ·

Admiral Raymond Spruance was one of the great Naval leaders of the 20th Century. His decisions at the Battle of Midway and subsequent battles in the Pacific theatre of World ...

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Loss of HMAS Yarra – 4 March, 1942

Periodical, Archives · Dec 5, 2008 ·

HMAS Yarra, under the command of Lieutenant Commander Robert ‘Oscar’ Rankin, was sunk while defending a convoy against a vastly superior Imperial Japanese Navy squadron commanded by Vice Admiral Nobutake ...

RANVR – The Forgotten Few

Wright, Ken · Dec 5, 2008 ·

When Hitler declared war on Great Britain in 1939, here in Australia, the Prime Minister Robert Menzies addressed the nation on 3 September: ‘Fellow Australians, it is my melancholy duty ...

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Lifeboat No. 7 – 23 days at sea

McIntosh, Ian, Sub-Lieutenant, RN · Sep 5, 2008 ·

Note: Sub Lieutenant McIntosh RN was later to become Vice Admiral Sir Ian McIntosh, RN, KBE CB DSO DSC I was brought up on the family property Camperdown in Victoria’s ...

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Report of Engagement between HMAS Sydney and Kormoran

NHSA Webmaster · Jun 5, 2008 ·

On Wednesday 19th November 1941 we intended to lay mines at the approaches to Shark Bay off Carnarvon in Western Australia. It was intended to use the hours of darkness ...

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Obituary: Reinhold von Malapert

Newspaper, London Daily Telegraph · Mar 5, 2008 ·

This Obituary was first published in the UK’s Daily Telegraph and appears here with that paper’s kind permission Capitan-Leutnant Reinhold von Malapert, who has died aged 93, witnessed the last ...

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Torres Strait – Small-ship Refuelling Stopovers

Thomson, Max · Mar 5, 2008 ·

Thursday Island and nearby Horn Island in the Torres Strait were always welcome stopovers for fuel or water for so many WWII Fairmile patrol vessels as they ‘went north’ to ...

The Midshipman – A Corvette Wartime Experience

Ward, Kirwan · Mar 5, 2008 ·

This article first appeared in As You Were, a compilation of articles by ex-Navy men and women writing about their wartime experiences, and published by the Australian War Memorial in ...

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Reminiscences about the wartime activities of HMAS Australia

A.N. Other · Dec 12, 2007 ·

Being an anonymous reminiscence about the wartime activities of HMAS Australia, first published in the collection entitled HMAS 1945, published by the Australian War Memorial. In the three years of ...

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Leadership: Vice Admiral Sir John Augustine Collins

Dennard, Luke, Midshipman, RAN · Dec 4, 2007 ·

This essay will discuss the role of Sir John Collins in reference to his career in the Mediterranean and Pacific theatres of World War II as captain and commodore in ...

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The China Fleet – Small Ships WW2

Nesdale, Iris · Dec 4, 2007 ·

This article is an extract taken from the book entitled The Royal Australian Navy – Small Ships at War by the late Iris Nesdale. It is published here with the ...

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WWII operations

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