The following story provided by Commodore Bob Trotter OAM RAN (Ret’d), National President of the Submarine Association is about a little-known part of the shared Australia/USA submarine history which helped ...
Naval Engagements, Operations and Capabilities
Occasional Paper 5: Ken Brown: Service in HMAS Nestor
By Warrant Officer Martin Grogan SBLT Ken Brown, RAN Mr Ken BROWN (aged 95) a retired RAN Lieutenant Commander and World War Two veteran was recently awarded the British ...
Occasional Paper 3: TOBRUK – THE LIFTING OF THE SEIGE
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 in Rommel’s ...
Occasional Paper 1: Battle of Australia Day Commemoration – Sydney 7 Sep 16
By Commander Rebecca Jeffcoat RAN Distinguished Guests, Ladies andGentlemen First I would like to acknowledge the Gadigal people, the Traditional Custodians of this Land on which we are gathered, and ...
Irregular Warfare in the Royal Australian Navy
By MIDN C.A.F. Cumberlidge RAN MIDN Christopher Cumberlidge hails from the Sunshine Coast and already has a nursing degree. However, he is changing stream as he has a keen interest ...
Occasional Paper 161: HMAS Tobruk (II) Recognized for Operation SOLACE Service
Thirty years after the event, HMAS Tobruk and the crew members of her 1992-93 Operation SOLACE deployment to Somalia received approval from the Minister for Defence Personnel, Matt Keogh for ...
The Big Guns of Tarawa
By Walter Burroughs The December 2022 edition of this magazine contained an article A Lonely and Dangerous Vigil regarding New Zealand Coastwatching operations in the Gilbert and Ellice Islands. Comments ...
Book Review: Flying Stations II
Flying Stations II. The Royal Australian Navy’s Fleet Air Arm 1998-2022. This fine book edited by Lieutenant Commander Desmond Woods OAM RAN is published by the RAN Fleet Air Arm ...
Occasional Paper 149: Nor West Capture
By Steve Chaplin, former RAN Leading Seaman Weapons Mechanic (LSWM) What could be more calming and restful, other than relaxing and taking in the serene ice blue, flat calm waters ...
Book Review: The Scrap Iron Flotilla – Five valiant destroyers and the Australian war in the Mediterranean.
By Mike Carlton, published by Random House Australia. A 448-page illustrated paperback with photographs. Available at all good booksellers from about $30.00. Some chroniclers are ideal authors for their subject ...
Book Review: On Contested Shores
On Contested Shores. The Evolving Role of Amphibious Operations in the History of Warfare. This large paperback of 452 pages edited by Timothy Heck and B. A. Friedman was published ...
Occasional Paper 133: Operation C – The Indian Ocean showdown between British and Japanese naval might, 4 – 9 April 1942.
By Angus Britts Wednesday 8 April 1942 was a day of ignominy for the greatest naval power the modern world had thus far known. Since 30 March the Royal Navy’s ...
The Battle of Cape Spada – 19 July 1940 Part 1: The Genesis of Italy’s Light Cruiser Force
By Andreas Biermann Introduction This article is the first of two that aim to provide a new perspective on the Battle of Cape Spada on 19 July 1940, one of ...
Occasional Paper 77: HMAS Assault. WWII Combined Operations Directorate Establishment – Port Stephens NSW
By Dennis J Weatherall JP TM AFAITT(L) LSM – Volunteer Researcher HMAS Assault, also known as the Amphibious Training Centre to American personnel, was a combined operations establishment for training ...
Occasional Paper 75: The Vietnam War and the Royal Australian Navy
The following address was delivered by Captain Ralph T. Derbidge MBE RAN (Retired) at the Melbourne Shrine of Remembrance to mark Vietnam Veterans Day on 18 August 2010. It describes ...
Book Review: A Game of Birds and Wolves: The Ingenious Young Women Whose Secret Board Games Helped Win World War Two
A Game of Birds and Wolves: The Ingenious Young Women Whose Secret Board Games Helped Win World War Two. By Simon Parkin. Hardback and paperback, 329 pages, Hachette, 2019. From ...
Appear where you are not expected
By Lieutenant Commander Chris Watson RAN1 This essay won the Smith Prize, which is open to all members of the Department of Defence in the Chief of Navy’s 2019 Essay ...
Occasional Paper 45: HMAS Adelaide – Boarding Party, Persian Gulf 2004
The following story was first published in the June 2007 edition of the Naval Historical Review. At the time, very little news about the RANs day to day activities was ...
Book Review: THE LAST CRUISE OF A GERMAN RAIDER – THE DESTRUCTION OF SMS EMDEN
THE LAST CRUISE OF A GERMAN RAIDER – THE DESTRUCTION OF SMS EMDEN by Wes Olson. Seaforth Publishing, Pen and Sword Books, Barnsley, United Kingdom, 2018. Hard Cover, 274 Pages, ...
Book Review: Tobruk and Beyond: War Notes from the Mediterranean Station 1941–1943.
By Albert Lawrence Poland, Published by Halstead Press, Canberra, 2018. Hard cover, 176 pp with b&w illustrations, maps and portraits. Available from booksellers at about $33.00. Peter Poland, the editor ...
Book review: The Rag Tag Fleet (and George Franki)
By Ian W Shaw. Published by Hachette Australia, Sydney, 2017. Soft cover of 310 pages with black & white photographs. Available from booksellers and online from $32.99 but discounts readily ...
Book Review: HMAS Sydney II in Peace and War
By Wes Olson, Privately Published at Hilton, WA in 2016, 610 Pages with maps and photographs. Available direct from the author at email: wes.dale@westnet.com.au. Price $60.00 plus postage. Aside from ...
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 ...
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 ...
Book review: False Flags – Disguised German Raiders of World War II
By Stephen Robinson. Publishers Exisle, Wollombi, NSW, August 2016. Hardcover, 359 pages with many b&w photographs and good quality maps. RRP $28.00. There is a plentiful supply of publications on ...