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You are here: Home / Archives for Article topics / Naval history / Biographies and personal histories

Biographies and personal histories

Admirable Ancestors

Graham-Smith, Mick · Sep 21, 2009 ·

This is a copy of a lecture recently delivered to the WA Chapter of the Naval Historical Society of Australia by Mick Graham-Smith Firstly, I would like to introduce myself. ...

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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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Obituary: Jenny of ‘Jenny’s Side Party’, Hong Kong

Mobley, Mark, (Naval Reservist) · Jun 21, 2009 ·

Mrs Ng Muk Kah, BEM Generations of sailors who visited Hong Kong will mourn the death of Jenny. She was a much loved living legend who, for all the colony’s ...

Leadership: Sir Ernest Shackleton – 1874-1922

Taylor, Megan, Midshipman, RAN · Dec 5, 2008 ·

‘Superhuman effort isn’t worth a damn unless it achieves results.’ Ernest Shackleton, 1916 ‘It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It ...

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AE2 – Unsung Hero of Gallipoli

Spencer, Mark · Dec 5, 2008 ·

On May 24, 1914, Australia acquired its first submarines from England as part of a new post‑federation initiative to achieve more autonomy in the protection of our shores. These were ...

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A Letter from HMAS Sydney

Barrey, R.B., Flying Officer · Sep 5, 2008 ·

Editor’s note: This letter was written by Flying Officer R.B. Barrey who was the pilot of the Walrus Amphibian aircraft in HMAS Sydney in 1941. He did not survive the ...

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Leadership: Captain Alfred T. Mahan USN

Waring, P.S., Midshipman, RAN · Sep 5, 2008 ·

Academic leadership, writings on the history of seapower and his influence on the international struggle for command of the sea pre-WWI (submitted as an entry in the RANC Graduation Naval ...

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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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Letters: Obituary of Rear Admiral Dovers

Letter Writer · Jun 12, 2008 ·

Dear Sir, I note Tony Howland’s obituary [your Editor assures you he is in fact alive and well!] published in the December 07 edition. I have also read other obituaries ...

Book Review: Flinders Year 1947

Book reviewer · Jun 5, 2008 ·

Flinders Year 1947 Presents the stories of twenty four young men who joined the Royal Australian Navy at age thirteen by entering the Naval College at Flinders Naval Depot, HMAS ...

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Japanese Surrender in Toyko-from Warramunga’s Surgeon

Rischbieth, H.G., Surgeon-Lieutenant, RAN · Jun 5, 2008 ·

Henry George Rischbieth, second son of Harold and Eileen Rischbieth (nee de la Poer Beresford) served in the Royal Australian Navy as a Surgeon Lieutenant during World War II. He ...

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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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Book Review: Cochrane the Dauntless

Book reviewer · Mar 5, 2008 ·

Cochrane the Dauntless. The Life and Adventures of Thomas Cochrane. By David Cordingly. Published by Bloomsbury and available from Allen and Unwin Book Publishers This is yet another biography of ...

Obituary: Rear Admiral W. J. Dovers, CBE, DSC (RAN, Ret’d)

Howland, Tony · Dec 4, 2007 ·

The death occurred on 4 October 2007 of Rear Admiral Bill Dovers. His contribution across so many areas of the Royal Australian Navy marked him out as not only a ...

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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 Story of Ordnance Artificer Gordon Robertson

Swinden, Greg · Sep 12, 2007 ·

In the quiet Presbyterian Section of GoreHill Cemetery (Sydney), only 50 metres or so from the busy Pacific Highway upon which the people of the city travel to and from ...

RAN Heritage Management: The Long Memory

Periodical, Semaphore · Sep 10, 2007 ·

This article was first published in Semaphore, the newsletter of the Sea Power Centre – Australia, Issue 20, November 2006. The Naval Historical Society is grateful for their permission to ...

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Leadership: Admiral Bruce Fraser, RN

Plater, Robert, Midshipman, RAN · Sep 4, 2007 ·

The aim of this essay is to examine the circumstances and life experiences which contributed to leadership qualities seen in Admiral Sir Bruce Fraser that allowed him to rise to ...

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Book Review: RN Navy List 1943

Book reviewer · Sep 4, 2007 ·

O.U. 5513 (10) 43 The Navy List, containing list of ships, establishments and officers of the Fleet, October, 1943. Published by order of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty for ...

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Leadership: Admiral of the Fleet Isoroku Yamamoto

NHSA Webmaster · Jun 4, 2007 ·

Editor’s Note: This essay was submitted as a graduation essay in History at the RANC, and is reproduced here with the kind permission of Lieutenant Desmond Woods, RAN, History Co-ordinator, ...

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Book Review: The Indomitable Captain Matthew Flinders, RN

Book reviewer · Mar 4, 2007 ·

The Indomitable Captain Matthew Flinders, Royal Navy. By Peter Ashley. Published by Pierhead Press, England. rrp A$22.00. Reviewed by Dave Rickard The author, Peter Ashley, has spent nearly four decades ...

Georgetown, Guiana – The Riots of February 1962

Pfennigwerth, Ian · Mar 4, 2007 ·

The four Type 15 frigates of the Dartmouth Training Squadron were berthed in Bridgetown, Barbados as part of their West Indies cruise, and the RN cadets and RAN and RN ...

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A Naval Career in Clearance Diving – Jake Linton

Linton, E.W. (Jake), BEM, MCD, Commander, RAN (Rtd) · Mar 4, 2007 ·

It was late 1954, I was 19 years old, married, an Able Seaman employed as a Main Gate Sentry at Naval Headquarters at Potts Point, not making enough money to ...

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Leadership: Vice Admiral Nagumo & the Third Wave Decision

Thomas, Mitchell, Midshipman, RAN · Dec 3, 2006 ·

Royal Australian Naval College New Entry Officers’ Course History Essay – Prizewinner INTRODUCTION: ‘But for chance and a critical loss of nerve by the Japanese commander (author’s emphasis), the attack on ...

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Reflections on the Sydney/Kormoran Battle 1941

Captain Peter Hore, RN · Dec 3, 2006 ·

Ninety two year old Baron Reinhold von Malapert is today the senior surviving officer of the German raider Kormoran and as Radio Officer he had a grandstand view of the ...

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