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

History - WW2

Battle of The Baltic 1939 – Poland & Germany

Head, Michael · Dec 12, 1993 ·

In the fifty years since World War II, many commemorative celebrations have been held to remember great battles and long campaigns. This article narrates the shortest and the first naval ...

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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 ...

Coastwatching In The Pacific – Solomon Islands

Gregory, Mackenzie J. · Apr 12, 1993 ·

The Australian Coast Watching Service owed its genesis to a suggestion by the then District Naval Officer, Western Australia (Captain C.J. Clare R.A.N.) in 1919. He submitted, that selected civilians, on ...

Pages: Page 1 Page 2 Page 3

N Class – The Bird Cage

Law, George B. · Apr 12, 1993 ·

Some former “N” Class matelots may remember the additional bit of structural hardware, shaped like a bird-cage, on top of a mast above the four inch gun on the NEPAL ...

Pages: Page 1 Page 2

RAN Ships and Their Commanders at the Outbreak of WW2

A.N. Other · Dec 12, 1992 ·

Commodore in command of Australian Fleet at the outbreak of 1939-45 War: Commodore 2nd Class W.R. Patterson, C.V.O. (R.N.) Commanding Officers, H.M.A. Ships at the outbreak of 1939-45 War: ADELAIDE: ...

USS Mount Hood – Catastrophe 1944

Rothery, Sortees M, Captain, RANR(S) (Ret) · Jul 12, 1992 ·

I was Lieutenant RANR(S) in HMAS Hobart, when seriously injured, saved by being wrapped in the fold of the steel deck in the Wardroom when torpedoed on 20th July 1943. ...

Pages: Page 1 Page 2

The Attack on Darwin – A Pictorial Record

Weaver, Trevor · Apr 26, 1992 ·

On 19 February, 1942 a massed air raid on Darwin, Australia’s northern gateway was made by Japanese aircraft, the first major attack on Australian soil. This first attack was made ...

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Letters: HMAS Sydney and Kormoran

Letter Writer · Sep 11, 1991 ·

Dear Lex, This will most certainly surprise you but will no doubt bring you peace of mind when I explain this epistle to you. Just one month ago I was ...

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USS Mount Hood – Explosion At Manus Island 1944

Thomson, Max · Jun 11, 1991 ·

What is it about the name Hood? Britain’s renowned 42,000-ton battlecruiser H.M.S. Hood met a fiery wartime fate in mortal combat with the German battleship BISMARCK and cruiser PRINZ EUGEN ...

Pages: Page 1 Page 2

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

Book Review: The Midget Submarine Attack on Sydney

Book reviewer · Mar 11, 1991 ·

Lew Lind, Bellrope Press, 74 pages with illustrations and maps. The Japanese midget submarine attack on ships in Sydney Harbour occurred almost fifty years ago and yet is still a ...

The German Ultra

Winter, Barbara · Mar 11, 1991 ·

The book The Ultra Secret by F.W. Winterbotham, has made many people think that the cryptanalysis unit at Bletchley Park was reading German ciphers constantly with the greatest of ease. ...

Pages: Page 1 Page 2 Page 3

HMAS Nepal – a South Atlantic Incident

Cox, Leonard J. · Sep 3, 1990 ·

I walked out on to the upper deck of the Fleet Destroyer on the beautiful afternoon on August 3rd, 1942. Two ‘N’ Class Destroyers, the Australian Nepal and the Dutchman ...

Pages: Page 1 Page 2

Letter – Timor 1942

Letter Writer · Sep 3, 1990 ·

I read with interest John Leggoe’s report in the June edition of Naval Historical Review of the naval operations in support of the Australian commandos fighting in Timor 1942-43. To ...

Ships attacked/sunk – WW2 enemy action on east coast of Australia

Letter Writer · Jun 29, 1990 ·

  SHIP DATE HOW ATTACKED/SUNK CAMBRIDGE* 07.11.40 STRUCK GERMAN MINE NE COAST VIC. CITY OF RAYVILLE* 08.11.40 STRUCK GERMAN MINE NE COAST VIC. NIMBIN* 29.11.40 STRUCK GERMAN MINE OFF PT. ...

Cockatoo Dockyard and the American Fleet Cruisers

A.N. Other · Jun 21, 1990 ·

Cockatoo Dockyard Chief Executive (Mr J.C. Jeremy) has unearthed some fascinating insight into the unique job of work done at Cockatoo Island to provide a new stub bow for the ...

The RAN’s Forgotten War Dead

Swinden, Greg · Jun 21, 1990 ·

In 1987 while posted to Canberra, I visited the Australian War Memorial on several occasions. On one visit I noticed what appeared to me to be several omissions on the ...

Pages: Page 1 Page 2

Book Review: Silencing debate on Shropshire

Book reviewer · Mar 28, 1990 ·

Mr Stan Nicholls wants to silence debate on what did and did not happen to HMAS Shropshire during World War II. So he has written a 330-page hard-cover book on ...

Westralia – Appleleaf

Ramsay, George · Mar 19, 1990 ·

It was interesting recently, when the ex RFA APPLELEAF was acquired and joined the ROYAL AUSTRALIAN NAVY, to be renamed WESTRALIA, (the Second Ship of that name in the RAN ...

Pages: Page 1 Page 2

British Destroyer Losses in WW II

Hill, Roger, DSq DSC, Lieut Cdr, RN (Ret.) · Mar 15, 1990 ·

British Destroyer losses  – Royal Navy Ships only Blanche 13.11.39 Mined in Thames estuary by acoustic mine Gipsy 21.11.39 Mined off Harwich by acoustic mine. Duchess 12.12.39 Rammed and sunk ...

Pages: Page 1 Page 2

Cedric Ashton

Date, John C., RANVR (Rtd) · Mar 1, 1990 ·

At the meeting of The Naval Historical Society of Australia, members have enjoyed the magical effervescence of fine art, music and naval jottings by esteemed member Cedric Ashton. In the ...

Pages: Page 1 Page 2

The Mystery of Australia’s Forgotten Son – Was He Lost from HMAS Sydney in 1941?

Clark, Bryan · Dec 24, 1989 ·

On a steep, scrubby hillside at Flying Fish Cove, on Christmas Island, washed by the waves of the Indian Ocean, is the neglected grave of an unknown sailor who, some ...

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HMAS Perth – A Brief History 1936-1942

Ramsay, George · Dec 22, 1989 ·

HMAS Amphion, a 6″ modified ‘Leander’ Class Cruiser, was commissioned into the Royal Navy in June 1936, under Captain R. L. Burnett, OBE, RN. Of 6,980 tons, 72,000 hp, giving ...

Rear Admiral Farncomb 1899-1971

Zammitt, Alan · Dec 22, 1989 ·

On September 29, 1989, Major General Peter Day, A.O., Commandant at the Australian Defence Force Academy (ADFA) at Canberra invited Mrs J. R. Farncomb, OBE, to officially open Farncomb House ...

Pages: Page 1 Page 2

Vice Admiral Sir John Collins, KBE, CB

Newspaper, London Daily Telegraph · Dec 19, 1989 ·

Vice-Admiral Sir John Collins, who has died in Sydney aged 90, was Australia’s most celebrated sailor of the 1939-45 War.  His destruction of the Italian cruiser Bartolomeo Colleoni at the ...

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