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 ...
Naval technology
Mine Hazards during Mine Clearance Operations by the RAN
By Mike Turner Awards for Rendering Mines Safe (RMS) operations give some indication of the hazards involved. The George Cross (GC) was awarded four times and the George Medal (GM) ...
Un Sous-marin Français Construit aux Antipodes A French Submarine built in the Antipodes
By Commodore Bob Trotter OAM RAN (Rtd)1 ‘The year 1866 stood out because of a remarkable incident, a mysterious and puzzling phenomenon which doubtless has not yet been forgotten. Not ...
Submarines: The History and Future Underwater Warfare
The following article is taken from a feature first broadcast on ABC National Radio on 25 June 2016. It is reproduced with the kind permission of the author Keri Phillips ...
Breaking Up is Hard to do
The title of the 1960s worldwide hit song recorded by Neil Sedaka seems appropriate to our next story concerning the disposal of warships. Living in an age of global consumerism ...
The Early Years of the Electrical Branch in the Royal Australian Navy
By Des Miller Most generations can look back upon significant changes but in our modern naval history there have only been two revolutionary changes, from wood to iron and then ...
Louis Brennan (1852-1932) – the Wizard of Oz
By Mike Turner Louis Brennan was a brilliant and prolific inventor. Two of his best known inventions were a gyro-stabilised train for a monorail and a type of helicopter, but ...
The Lessons Learned from the Actions of Both Sides during the Battle of the Coral Sea
By Midshipman Gerard G. Vejrych, RAN Gerard Vejrych was born in Canberra but raised in Suffolk, England. From an early age he aspired to pursue a career in military aviation ...
Reflections on four decades in the profession of Naval Engineering – and Jacky Fisher got it right!
By Rear Admiral David Holthouse, AO, RAN (Rtd) David Holthouse entered the Australian Naval College in 1950, just a few days after his 14th birthday. He had an outstanding career ...
The Hammerhead Crane
In the 42 years of this publication there has not been one article dedicated to Garden Island’s Hammerhead Crane. It is timely to correct this omission which has been done ...
RAN Mine Countermeasure Forces: The Conception and Birth of the Australian Clearance Diver
By Sub-Lieutenant N.J. Laing, RAN Nathan Laing graduated from Emmanuel College in 2004 undertaking diploma studies in Justice Administration before joining the Queensland Police Service. During his time as a ...
Azimuth Thruster Propulsion Systems
By Warrant Officer Hugh Johnson One of the enduring features of naval engineering is a desire for reliability, which may lead to conservatism. In some respects warship design has changed ...
General Managers of Garden Island Dockyard
Foreword In the century past (plus two more years, until 10 May 1989) Garden Island was a Naval Dockyard managed by a succession of twenty six Naval Engineering Officers of ...
Our First Engineer Admiral Vice Admiral Sir William Clarkson, KBE, CMG, RAN.
By Chris Clark When Engineer Rear-Admiral Sir William Clarkson retired from the Royal Australian Navy on 1 November 1922 with the honorary rank of Vice-Admiral, it brought to a close ...
The Impact of Jet Propulsion on RAN Aviation Squadrons
Chloe and Sadie – or 100% Pitched and Ditched
This article is by Fred Haynes who for many years worked at Garden Island Dockyard firstly as a Scientific Instrument Maker and later as Technical Officer in charge of the ...
Whales and Active Sonar: Challenges and Opportunities
Book Review: Captain Eric Nave, Australian Codebreaker
A Man of Intelligence – The Life of Captain Eric Nave, Australian Codebreaker Extraordinary By Dr Ian Pfennigwerth, Captain, RAN (Rtd) Reviewed by LCDR Ron Robb, RAN (Rtd) This book ...
HMA Anti-Submarine School – The Rushcutter Story
Book Review: Compass
Compass by Alan Gurney W.W. Norton & Company, New York, 2005. rrp A$30.00 Reviewed by Tony Howland In the year 1552, one John Hamilton wrote ‘a skipper can not guide ...
Carley Life Rafts of WW2
The Carley life-float (Admiralty Seamanship Manual 1956 terminology) was the principal method of lifesaving equipment during WW2, fitted to all warships, and not superseded by the present form of inflatable ...
Letters: HMAS Adelaide
Dear Sir, Congratulations on Graeme Andrews’ excellent and timely article on the “forgotten” cruiser, HMAS Adelaide. The front cover shows one of the 6″ Mark XII guns, not gun mounting ...
Anti-Submarine Measures from World War I
Abridged from an article in “History of the World Wars”, previously published in the RAN Corvettes Association Newsletter Vol. 1 Issue 98 and kindly permitted to be reprinted here. AT ...
Watchers of the Sea and Sky – 13th Radar
Ken Wright revisits one of Australia’s first coastal radar stations and remembers the time when busy shipping lanes were menaced by enemy ships and planes. The Japanese submarine I-25 lying ...
Captain Cook Graving Dock
The sixtieth anniversary of the official opening of the (then) largest dry dock in the Southern Hemisphere by the Governor General, HRH the Duke of Gloucester, falls on 24 March ...