By Colin Randall After many years of visiting Japan for coal business I took my family on a holiday to this interesting country. One of the sites visited was the ...
Ship histories and stories
Occasional Paper 58: Postcards Home
July 2019 An interest in philately has led to a collection of post cards from a century past showing the Pacific colonies of the German Empire. These help bring to ...
HMAS Reserve in the Liberation of the Philippines and the Not-so-Little Tug that Could
By Paul Baker On Christmas Day 1944, just as the 34 members of the crew of HMAS Reserve celebrated the occasion aboard their ship in San Pedro Bay in the Philippines, ...
Occasional Paper 51: The Attack Class Patrol Boat
April 2019 By Dennis J Weatherall JP TM AFAITT(L) LSM Volunteer Researcher, Naval Historical Society of Australia Patrol boats have proven to be the most flexible and versatile elements of ...
The German Raider HSK Stier and the American Freighter SS Stephen Hopkins
Many volumes have been committed to the deadly encounter between the Australian cruiser HMAS Sydney and the German raider HSK Kormoran. Depending on which side of the fence you sit, this ...
The debt owed to the Norwegian Merchant Service and MV Herstein
What if anything what does Norway, at the far end of the northern hemisphere, have to do with the wartime security of Australia? As this story unfolds the answer is, ...
Occasional Paper 48: HMAS Anzac (II) – the last ‘Battle’
March 2019 The following paper on the distinguished service of HMAS Anzac (II) was first published in the March 2011 edition of the Naval Historical Review available on the Society ...
The Transition to War: HMAS Perth and the Canadian West Coast Destroyers
By Roger Buxton In the late northern summer and autumn of 1939 HMAS Perth and the Canadian West Coast destroyers HMC Ships Fraser, Ottawa, Restigouche and St Laurent were making the transition from ...
HMAS Albatross, HMS Albatross and SS Hellenic Prince
The first HMAS Albatross was a locally built seaplane tender which had a short RAN career, saw wartime service as HMS Albatross, first as a seaplane tender then as a ...
The Emden Guns
By Wes Olson When the small German cruiser SMS Emden was destroyed by HMAS Sydney at the Cocos-Keeling Islands on 9 November 1914 the British Admiralty was presented with a unique opportunity ...
Occasional Paper 39: The Story Of Commander Paul Hugill Hirst RAN 1899-1963
November 2018 Compelled to Resign: The Story Of Commander Paul Hugill Hirst RAN 1899-1963 by Lieutenant Commander Terry Feltham RAN Ret’d “Just because something ends doesn’t mean it never should’ve ...
Occasional Paper 35: Loss of HMAS Parramatta (II): First Hand Accounts
September 2018 Recently the Naval Historical Society of Australia was favoured with two handwritten letters from survivors of the sinking of HMAS Parramatta (II) off Tobruk overnight 27 November 1941. ...
Occasional Paper 30: HMAS Hobart
Several events concerning the three HMA Ships Hobart come together with a memorial and commemoration service at the Garden Island Chapel on Sunday 22nd July starting at 10.00am. HMAS Hobart ...
Occasional Paper 23: HMAS Darwin Decommissioning
On 8 December 2017 the guided missile frigate HMAS Darwin was decommissioned in a ceremony at Fleet Base East, Garden Island in the presence of former crew and hundreds of ...
Occasional Paper 22: HMAS Advance faces 50
An Article from ‘All Hands’ December 2017 edition The Australian National Maritime Museum Volunteers’ Quarterly Newsletter By Wal Robson The museum’s popular patrol boat has a significant birthday coming up ...
Occasional Paper 36: HMAS Sydney (III) Delivery to Australia 1949
Our thanks go to Debbie Irwin for the letter by her uncle, Stoker Mechanician James (Jim) Ashwood of HMAS Sydney (3) to his sister Nancy dated 8 May 1949 about ...
The Hospital Ships Buenos Aires Maruand Wah Sui
Was the sinking of hospital ships isolated incidents which could be put down to mistaken identity or were they deliberate acts of destruction by those who had thrown away the ...
A Short History of STS Young Endeavour
By Isabelle Hazell Young Endeavour, the tall ship making waves in the lives of young people all over Australia, has a history as rich as the lives it has impacted during ...
Letter: HDML 1321 Update
Dear Walter I have been following your articles and updates on 1321 with interest, and think you may have a use for this informative paper cutting, recently uncovered in one of ...
Two Osborne Houses
To add confusion to our early naval history there are two residences named Osborne House which both became naval academies. The first of these was in England and the second ...
Naval Health Services Memorial
Over recent timeswhat was the Naval Health Services has undergone a significant transformation, becoming part of a unified Defence Health Services organisation. To many past members of the wider naval ...
Letter: HMAS Patricia Cam families visit
The following email was recently received addressed to the President of the Naval Historical Society and your Editor from Michael Owen a Darwin based historian who operates Top End Heritage ...
The Sydney Cove and her impact on early colonial exploration
In an article covering Part 1 of the Australian-Indian Relationship (NHR September 2017) mention is made of the ship Sydney Cove. While she was wrecked on her maiden voyage she ...
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 ...