Author James Duff Introduction In the final months of and in the years after World War Two, many resources, documents and records relating to Royal Navy camouflage were purposely destroyed. ...
History - WW2
Royal Navy Colours of World War Two – The Patterns 507, G10 and G45
Collaborative works by: Michael Brown, Sean Carroll, James Duff, Lindsay Johnson Introduction In the final months of and in the years after World War Two, many resources, ...
An American at War in the Pacific Memoirs of Chief Radioman John Ottomar Adams, USNR
A long standing member of our Society, David Mattiske, was a friend of John Adams who died early in 2017. David presented us with a self-published memoir of John Adams ...
They Also Served – LCDR Donald R Wilson, DSC, RANVR
Lieutenant Commander Don Wilson had a remarkable wartime career but as this was mostly spent on loan to the Royal Navy, there is little mention of his exploits in our ...
Letter: HMAS Arunta and Operation Hamburger
Dear Editor The December 2017 edition of the NHR contains an article on the evacuation of Lancer Force from Timor by HMAS Arunta in January 1943. As my father was CO ...
Lieutenant (SP) H.L. Billman, DSC, RANVR
By Hector Donohue Harold Leon (Bill) Billman had a relatively short war in the RAN of just three years, but as a bomb and mine disposal officer he was regularly ...
Tales of the South Pacific, Broadway and a South Pacific World War II Museum
The South Pacific has a wondrous reputation as the home of tales from the sea, producing great characters such as Robinson Crusoe and Bligh of the Bounty. In later times ...
Another Coastwatcher – Ron (Dixie) Lee
As told to our Editor by Ron (Dixie) Lee The December edition of this magazine contained a story The Last Coastwatchersfeaturing James (Jim) Burrowes. Mention was also made of endeavours ...
Book review: The Rag Tag Fleet (and George Franki)
By Ian W Shaw. Published by Hachette Australia, Sydney, 2017. Soft cover of 310 pages with black & white photographs. Available from booksellers and online from $32.99 but discounts readily ...
Australian Political and Military Strategies in the Second World War – to Lead or to Follow
This paper is by Mike Fogarty a former RAN officer and diplomat. In 2016, he completed an MA (Military History) at UNSW with ADFA. The war in the Pacific was ...
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 ...
Occasional Paper 16: HMAS Australia and Atlantic rescue of Coastal Command Sunderland – 1940
October 2017 On Monday 28th October 1940, I was serving as an eighteen year old Midshipman in HMAS “Australia”, an 8 inch gun cruiser. At that time, we had arrived on ...
Book review: Under the Water Under the Wire and the men who sank the Sydney
By Grahame Wilson. Self-published via Publicious P/L in 2015. Paperback, 281 pages with b&w illustrations. Available from Amazon and Booktopia and selected booksellers from $30. EBook version is also available ...
AK 121 Aroetta
A previous edition of this magazine (March 2017) outlined the exploits of HDML 1321 and favourably mentioned her commanding officer, Lieutenant Ambrose Palmer, RANR. This article explores an earlier career of ...
Occasional Paper 13: Local Australian/USA Submarine Initiative Helps Turn the Tide of War Against Japan in 1942
August 2017 The following story provided by Commodore Bob Trotter OAM RAN (Ret’d), National President of the Submarine Association is about a little-known part of the shared Australia/USA submarine history ...
Occasional Paper 10: The Loss of HMAS Kuttabul
The following address was delivered Captain Christopher Skinner RAN Rtd during the 75th anniversary ceremony conducted by HMAS Kuttabul on Garden Island, Sydney 1 June 2017. Good morning to you ...
Book Review: HMAS Sydney II in Peace and War
By Wes Olson, Privately Published at Hilton, WA in 2016, 610 Pages with maps and photographs. Available direct from the author at email: wes.dale@westnet.com.au. Price $60.00 plus postage. Aside from ...
Book Review: HMAS Canberra – Casualty of Circumstance
By Kathryn Spurling, Publishers New Holland, Sydney, 2016. Paperback, 255 pp with b & w illustrations, maps and portraits. Available most bookshops from $33.00 with discounts available. The author served ...
The Ship that Started the Second World War
By Walter Burroughs In September 2016 the author was a passenger on a cruise ship which berthed at the Baltic port of Gdansk in almost the same position as a ...
HMAS Patricia Cam
Graeme Andrews, one of our long serving members with a sharp wit and fine pen, wrote an excellent article Cam’s Trawlers first published in the May 2006 edition of Afloat magazine. After ...
Harbour Defence Motor Launches, Seaward Defence Motor Launches & Seaward Defence Boats
Wooden Ships and Iron Men – unofficial motto of RAN HDMLs1 The March 2017 edition of this magazine contained an article HDML 1321 and what she represents which states that after ...
Book review: Flagship: The Cruiser HMAS Australia II and the Pacific War on Japan
By Mike Carlton. Penguin Random House, Sydney, August 2016. Hardcover 642 pages with illustrations and many b&w photographs. RRP $50 – discounts available. Some naval history books traverse well-worn tracks ...
Unpicking the Goldsworthy Myths
By Hector Donohue When Lieutenant Commander Leon Goldsworthy GC, DSC, GM, MID died in 1994, the New York Times published an obituary which included the following: Lieut. Comdr. Leon Goldsworthy, a ...
HMAS Norman – far from Home
By Peter Nunan Background The N-class destroyers operated in many parts of the globe but HMAS Norman was the only one of her ilk to have made an operational voyage to ...