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

Biographies and personal histories

Letters – First Australian life lost in a Naval action in WWII

Letter Writer · Mar 14, 1995 ·

I have been assisting author Dennis Newton (“A Few of the Few” about Australians involved in the Battle of Britain) with research for his next book,” First Impact”, and seek members advice.” First ...

Obituary: Lewis James Lind 1922-1994

Hinchliffe, L.M. · Mar 1, 1995 ·

Lew, as he was universally known, was born on 27th August, 1922. His great grandfather came from Finland and his great grandmother from Scot­land. His love of things nautical probably ...

Pages: Page 1 Page 2 Page 3

Port Adelaide – Memories 1924

Jarrett, Hugh · Dec 11, 1994 ·

In 1925 our family packed and moved to South Australia where my father took up a new appointment as Sub-District Naval Officer, having transferred to the Naval Auxiliary Service, the ...

Pages: Page 1 Page 2 Page 3

Biography of Lieutenant Commander R.W. Rankin RAN, and the loss of HMAS Yarra

Swinden, Greg · Sep 11, 1994 ·

“In the early morning of the 4th March, 1942 the following ships of the No. 2 Fleet were cruising in the area Latitude South 12° 15′ Longitude East 1100 10′; ...

Pages: Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7

Obituary: Lieutenant C.L.M (Jack) Shepperd, MBE DSM

A.N. Other · Sep 11, 1994 ·

Anybody who served in HMAS NIRIMBA between 1956 and its closure in 1994 would have known Jack Shepperd. He died on Wednesday, 17th August, 1994 aged 86. Apart from family ...

Captain Frank Edmund Getting, RAN – 1899-1942

Smith, Peter · Jun 11, 1994 ·

Frank Edmund Getting was born on 30 July, 1899, the son of Mr. and Mrs. P.E. Getting of Quarantine Street, Manly, New South Wales. In 1913 Frank applied for entry ...

Pages: Page 1 Page 2 Page 3

Book Review: Blue Watch, All the Blue Watch

Book reviewer · Jun 11, 1994 ·

“Blue Watch, All the Blue Watch” By John Allerton I have not read the “1st Impression” of John Allerton’s book but this “2nd Impression” of this record of his service ...

Book Review: The Quay to the Sea

Book reviewer · Jun 11, 1994 ·

By Captain Surtees M. Rothery The story begins with the author as a young lad growing up in the Vaucluse area of Sydney in the 1920s. Captain Rothery paints a ...

Obituary: Rear-Admiral W D H Graham, CBE

Hinchliffe, L.M. · Dec 12, 1993 ·

Rear Admiral William D.H. Graham born on 3rd September, 1916 in Queensland, died on 30th August, 1993 after a long illness, in A.C.T. He had a distinguished career in the ...

McConnochie – History of a Family’s RN Service 1845-1980

McConnochie, Ian, Lt Cdr, RAN · Sep 12, 1993 ·

I recently gave custody of the Service Documents of my paternal great grandfather, grandfather, maternal grandfather and father, to the Naval Historical Society so that interested persons could view them ...

Obituary: LT. CDR. Palgrave Ebden Carr, D.F.C., RAN (Rtd.)

Davies, Barry · Sep 12, 1993 ·

Whilst documentation of our Naval history regarding ships and battles is well covered in our Naval Historical Review, these battles could not have been won or lost without the brave ...

Old Sailors Memorial to Rear Admiral Sir David Martin

Zammitt, Alan · Sep 12, 1993 ·

April 4th, 1993 was the day about 200 old shipmates and friends of Rear Admiral Sir David Martin attended a service of worship at the Garden Island Naval Dockyard Chapel ...

Lieutenant-Commander R.W. Rankin of HMAS Yarra

A.N. Other · Jun 12, 1993 ·

On 14th August, 1992, shortly after HMAS CRESWELL’S annual Passing Out Parade, Miss Trish Rankin presented her father’s medals to Captain C.S.H. Harrington, RAN, Commanding Officer of HMAS CRESWELL. Fifty ...

Loss of HMAS Canberra – 9 August 1942

Morris, Kenneth N., Surgeon Lieutenant, RAN · Jul 12, 1992 ·

Extract from a letter written by Surgeon Lieutenant Kenneth N. Morris to a medical colleague following the sinking of HMAS CANBERRA on 9th August 1942. (Citation: AWM PR 82/86) “Doubtless ...

Pages: Page 1 Page 2 Page 3

Obituary: Commodore Rodney Rhoades – The man who fed Tobruk

A.N. Other · Apr 27, 1992 ·

Commodore Rodney Rhoades RAN, who commanded HMAS Vendetta of the celebrated “Scrap Iron Flotilla” which supplied Tobruk during the World War II siege, has died in Sydney. He was 83. ...

Obituary: Rear-Admiral H.A.S SHOWERS, CBE

A.N. Other · Sep 11, 1991 ·

With his death an historic link with the beginning of the RAN has been severed as Rear Admiral H.A. Showers, CBE was the last survivor of the first entry of ...

Pages: Page 1 Page 2

Royal New Zealand Navy’s Fairmile Patrol Craft (Part 2)

Cassells, Ken · Sep 11, 1991 ·

Conditions on this leg were easier but there was still a long swell to contend with. At Noumea we were officially handed over to the Commander South West Pacific for ...

HMS Barham – Survivors Account Of Sinking

McDonald, I.H., Captain, RAN (Ret) · Jun 11, 1991 ·

It is just over 49 years since H.M.S. BARHAM was torpedoed by U.331 and lost off the Western Desert of Egypt – off Sollum and Sidi Barrani. She was the ...

Pages: Page 1 Page 2 Page 3

Royal New Zealand Navy’s Fairmile Patrol Craft (Part 1)

Cassells, Ken · Jun 11, 1991 ·

At the beginning of World War II the principal threat to shipping in New Zealand waters was perceived as the German raider, Lessons learned during the Great War pointed to ...

Pages: Page 1 Page 2

Obituary: Commodore ARL Lindsey, AM VRD RD RANR (RET)

A.N. Other · Jun 11, 1991 ·

Commodore Lindsey was the first Australian Reserve Officer to reach Flag Rank. He was only 51 when he died but had had a rewarding life both in the R.A.N. Reserve ...

Pages: Page 1 Page 2

Profile of Vice Admiral I.D.G. MacDougall, A.O.

A.N. Other · Jun 11, 1991 ·

Vice Admiral MacDougall accepted our invitation to be patron of the Society when he succeeded Admiral Hudson as Chief of Naval Staff on 8th March, 1991. His curriculum vitae follows: ...

Scharnhorst – Life on the Other Side of the Mirror

Yeomans, Jim · Mar 11, 1991 ·

He must have been a lot like me; same age, similar family conditions, same era and enjoying his life. My introduction to him quite recently was via his younger sister ...

Pages: Page 1 Page 2

Recollections of founding the Naval Historical Society

Churchill, Peter, Lieutenant Commander, RN (Rtd) · Dec 3, 1990 ·

In 1970 Lew Lind, Rod Atwill, Alan Payne and myself found ourselves with the responsibility of putting together an association which we were to call the Naval Historical Society. There were ...

Pages: Page 1 Page 2

Captain Arthur Phillip – Bathampton’s link with Australia

Darling, Sylvia M. · Jun 29, 1990 ·

Quite a number have heard about it, but not many have seen it, said my hostess as we drove over the crest of a hill in a heavy squall to ...

Pages: Page 1 Page 2 Page 3

Adding to the Routine!

Thomson, Max · Jun 21, 1990 ·

The Human Side of the War at Sea… Backgrounded by years and years of experience, day to day life on a warship of the RAN – even in wartime – ...

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