Peter Calthorpe is a member of the Society, married to Liz Calthorpe, the NHSA Librarian and they have two adult daughters. Peter completed 27 years’ service in the Royal Australian ...
Naval technology
Captain Jack Bolton Newman RAN – The Grandfather of Information Warfare Officers and RAN Communications
By SBLT Cináed Finall RAN We are pleased to publish this essay, which was written in 2023 in support of the inaugural Information Warfare Officer Course dux award. Cináed joined ...
The Army’s Defence of Merchant Shipping 1939-45
By Adrian Rose In 1644 the Duke of York and Albany’s Maritime Regiment of Foot was raised to protect the crews of Royal Navy warships from attack by French sharpshooters. ...
Occasional Paper 167: Littoral Combat Ship Program Overview
The recent visit by USS Canberra to Australia for commissioning was an historic event which captured the attention of Australians, Americans and many others worldwide. However, many people are impressed ...
Letter: HMAS Wagga – Seeing the Light
On 21 April 2022 we received a request from our dedicated member David Williams for help in identifying some objects from the corvette HMAS Wagga held in the City of ...
Occasional Paper 101: RAN Torpedo Factory, Neutral Bay
By Midshipman Lloyd Skinner, RAN In 1942, the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) Torpedo Factory, located at Neutral Bay, Sydney commenced operations. Previously, the Torpedo Depot at Garden Island across the ...
Occasional Paper 95: Grandfather was a cableman
By Fairlie Clifton Fairlie Clifton is a long-term member of the Naval Historical Society and foundation member of the Australian National Maritime Museum where she volunteers as a guide. Her ...
Occasional Paper 83: Current Australian Ship Naval Building Projects
This story, which was first published in the Australian Naval Architect, Volume 24 Number dated 2 May 2020 is reproduced with thanks to the Australian Division of the Royal Institution ...
Occasional Paper 71: Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) – Entering Troubled Waters
The following summarises a presentation given to the Sydney Branch of the Company of Master Mariners and Australian Institute of Navigation & The Nautical Institute South East Australia Branch first ...
Clearance of Contact Moored Mines by Wire Sweeps
By Mike Turner It is difficult to obtain accurate numbers for the total number of sea mines that have been laid, but the estimate is about 900,000, of which about ...
HMAS Sydney (III) and her Propellers
We recently became aware of two propellers from HMAS Sydney (III) not far away from one another in the Shoalhaven. One was at the recently named Jervis Bay Maritime Museum ...
Radar in the South and Southwest Pacific as at Savo Island in August 1942
By R. W. Madsen This paper was prepared largely from notes made many years ago when I was at university and living with my grandparents. My grandfather, Sir John Madsen, ...
Letter: Up and Downers
We had quite a few responses to the article on Up and Downers in the June 2019 issue with the following which addresses most issues. Dear Editor I enjoyed the ...
Occasional Paper 59: Francis James Ranken
July 2019 Early Career Francis James Ranken was born in 1864 at ‘Saltram’, Eglinton, near Bathurst. He was the eldest son of James Australian Ranken and was educated at All ...
An Essay on Autonomous Ships
By Lieutenant M. De Angelis, RFD, RANR Mario De Angelis enlisted in the Royal Australian Naval Reserve, Melbourne Port Division on 22 January 1974. Initially joining as a Cook, he ...
The Batti-Wallahs’ Society
By John McGrath The President of the Batti-Wallahs’ Society has kindly given us permission to use the following information, with some minor additions, on the history of this unusual maritime ...
Austal Shipbuilders
Austal is an Australian shipbuilder involved in the design, construction and support of commercial and defence vessels. From corporate headquarters at Henderson in Western Australia it manages an impressive worldwide ...
Occasional Paper 32: HMAS Voyager (I) or What’s in a Coat of Paint?
August 2018 During WWII ships of the RAN were painted in a number of different colour schemes as these photos of Voyager illustrate and information on both peacetime and wartime ...
Occasional Paper 38: RAN Returns to the Unit System of Machinery Layout
After World War 2 the Daring Class destroyer was designed taking into account the lessons learnt for the ships damaged during the war. Many destroyers had been rendered unpowered because ...
Garden Island Rangefinding
Before the days of radar an array of optical rangefinders was an important feature of nearly all warships. In Royal Naval vessels, including those of the Dominions, these were mostly ...
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, ...
Telegraphist William Wolseley Falconer RAN
By Richard Arundel* Telegraphist W.W. Falconer, who was the radio operator in AE2 when she penetrated the Dardanelles Straits in 1915, was born in Richmond, Victoria, on 14 October 1892 ...
Naval Fuel Oil
By Peter Colthorpe With recent announcements that the redundant naval oil fuel installation beneath the Sydney Domain is to be used in an extension to the Art Gallery of NSW, ...
Submarine Mining in the Australian Colonial and Commonwealth Armies
Dr J. K. Haken Mines and submarine mining are always associated with the Navy, but internationally and locally the early development was with the Army Engineers. Mines and underwater explosives ...
A Communications Mystery
Of what avail the loaded tube, The cannon or the shell; If flags or W/T default The Fleet will go to hell. WWI – author unknown A few months ...