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You are here: Home / Archives for Article topics / Naval history / History - WW2

History - WW2

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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Coastwatchers – Thank God Such Men Lived

Wright, Ken · Mar 21, 2010 ·

Their contribution was out of all proportion to their numbers. The Coastwatchers Memorial Lighthouse was erected in 1959 at Kalibobo Point in Madang, Papua New Guinea, by public subscription and ...

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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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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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We Regret to Inform You . . . .

Wright, Ken · Jun 21, 2009 ·

With rising concern about the threat of Japanese militarism in the Asia-Pacific region, the Australian Chiefs of Staff sent the 2/22 Battalion AIF to Rabaul, the capital of Australian Mandated ...

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Tales from the Dockyard: Dan Craig’s Medal

Rivett, Norman C · Jun 15, 2009 ·

During the First World War many Garden Island employees wished to volunteer for service with the Armed Forces but were dissuaded by the Management, being told that they were doing ...

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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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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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Halvorsen’s – boat building during WW2

Svensen, Randi · Sep 5, 2008 ·

This article is an edited extract from Wooden Boats, Iron Men – The Halvorsen Story published by Halstead Press and with the kind permission of the author, Randi Svensen of ...

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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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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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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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The Sinking of MV Koolama, 1942

Wright, Ken · Mar 5, 2008 ·

For anyone fortunate enough to be holidaying in the top end of Western Australia and find themselves on the old section of the Wyndham pier, spare a thought for the ...

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Book Review: A Very Rude Awakening

Book reviewer · Sep 4, 2007 ·

A Very Rude Awakening: The night the Japanese midget subs came to Sydney Harbour. By Peter Grose Allen & Unwin Reviewed by Tim Duchesne On 31 May 1942, three cruisers, ...

Further Reflections on the Sydney/Kormoran Battle, 1941

Arundel, Richard, Captain, RAN Rtd · Jun 4, 2007 ·

The article ‘Reflections on the Sydney/Kormoran Battle 1941‘ in the December 2006 Naval Historical Review, referring to an interview with the now ninety-two year old Radio Communications Officer of the ...

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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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U-859 – From Germany to Penang

Wright, Ken · Mar 4, 2007 ·

By May 1943, Germany had lost the U-boat war in the Atlantic. U-boat losses had reached an intolerable level with the loss of 38 U-boats for May alone. The Allies ...

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The Battle of the Atlantic – Contribution by Code Breakers

Keegan, John · Mar 4, 2007 ·

Editor’s Note: In 2006, the Review published an article tracing the history of HMAS Rushcutter during the period 1939-45, when that establishment was the primary A/S training school throughout the ...

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Book Review: Shadow Voyage – Escape of the SS Bremen

Book reviewer · Dec 3, 2006 ·

Shadow Voyage – The Extraordinary Wartime Escape of the Legendary SS Bremen, by Peter Huchthausen, Published by John Wiley Reviewed by Ian Pfennigwerth In July 1929 the new Nord-Deutscher Lloyd ...

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