On 9 April 1942, HMAS VAMPIRE (I) was sunk by Japanese bombers in the vicinity of Batticaloa, Ceylon (Sri Lanka) with the loss of eight lives. This action was commemorated ...
Naval history
Occasional Paper 6: Royal Australian Navy Ships Honour Roll
Given the 75th anniversary commemoration events taking place around Australia and overseas in 2017 to honour ships lost in the RAN’s darkest year, 1942 it is timely to reproduce the ...
Occasional Paper 5: Ken Brown: Service in HMAS Nestor
By Warrant Officer Martin Grogan SBLT Ken Brown, RAN Mr Ken BROWN (aged 95) a retired RAN Lieutenant Commander and World War Two veteran was recently awarded the British ...
Occasional Paper 4: Naval Historical Society of Australia PRESENTATION– 26 SEPTEMBER 2016 HMAS MELBOURNE II
By Tom de Voil Introduction I recently had a brief article about HMAS MELBOURNE, the aircraft carrier, published and consequent on that I was asked to give this talk. It ...
Occasional Paper 3: TOBRUK – THE LIFTING OF THE SEIGE
December 9, 2016 is the 75th anniversary of the lifting of the siege of Tobruk, the port on the north coast of Libya, that proved such a thorn in Rommel’s ...
Occasional Paper 2: Operation DAMASK – HMA Ships BRISBANE and SYDNEY
The following story was contributed by Hugh Hyland. Hugh worked for the variously named Defence departments for over 50 years until retiring in December 2015. He held numerous positions in ...
Occasional Paper 1: Battle of Australia Day Commemoration – Sydney 7 Sep 16
By Commander Rebecca Jeffcoat RAN Distinguished Guests, Ladies andGentlemen First I would like to acknowledge the Gadigal people, the Traditional Custodians of this Land on which we are gathered, and ...
Occasional Paper 193: The First Naval Dockyard of the Royal Australian Navy Cockatoo Island, Shipbuilding, 1870 to 1986
Cockatoo Island is the largest Island in Sydney Harbour and is located at the junction of the Parramatta and Lane Cove Rivers, about 3.7 km west of the Sydney Harbour ...
Occasional Paper 192: Exploring a Diorama: The RAN Bridging Train at Suvla Bay during the Gallipoli Campaign
By Geoff Barnes The following story by Geoff Barnes who created a diorama of the RAN Bridging Team at Suvla Bay in 1915 was first published as a blog by ...
HMAS Brisbane and her ‘Baby’ – Embarking aircraft at sea
On 6 May 1917 the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) began its long association with naval aviation. In these early days, the seaplane was the aircraft of choice to be ...
Old timer HMAS Krait
Three views of the Second World War Services Reconnaissance Department (SRD) vessel Krait. The following description is from the Australian War Memorial website: “Operation Jaywick was a raid on shipping ...
Names and Numbers
by Dr. Joe Straczek They’re called hull numbers, others call them pendant numbers, some refer to them as pennant numbers. During the first one hundred years of the Royal Australian ...
US Coast Guard ‘Polar Star’: Veteran sails on
The US Coast Guard icebreaker Polar Star (WAGB 10) has visited Sydney and many other Australian ports numerous times across her 49-year career. She was commissioned in 1976 as a ...
Lower Deck Memories – 1908 to 1911
By L.H. Blakeney Mr. Blakeney wrote these memoirs in 1973 at the age of 83. He had previously served in the Navy for 49 years, beginning as a cadet in ...
Losing a funnel – HMAS Protector: From the Archives
In June 1919, the Royal Australian Navy gunboat HMAS Protector almost sank. The incident took place off Cape Everard, (known as Point Hicks since 1970), the small coastal headland in ...
Box-Brownies’ : HMAS Platypus 1940-44
Good clear images of the veteran depot ship HMAS Platypus (I)during the Second World War, are a rare commodity. A few years back the editor received a number of ...
HMS AMBUSCADE GOING HOME
Plans to repatriate the former Royal Navy Type 21 frigate HMS Ambuscade to the United Kingdom from Pakistan are continuing to move forward. The vessel, which was sold to Pakistan ...
70 YEARS AGO HMAS QUEENBOROUGH’s 1955 TRAINING CRUISE
HMAS Queenborough sailed from Sydney for the United Kingdom on 24 February 1955. Her task, to gain experience in the latest methods of anti-submarine warfare and to evaluate the capabilities ...
Celebrating 80-years of service; The Captain Cook Graving Dock Sydney
In March 2025 the RAN and Garden Island celebrate the 80th anniversary of the famous Captain Cook Graving Dock. This immense piece of ‘naval hardware’ has always been the most ...
QUITE a SIGHT – 101 years later : Melburnians come out in force
The city of Melbourne, then the nation’s capital, hosted the fleet, the Special Service Squadron, from 17 – 25 March 1924. The world’s largest and fastest capital ship, the one-of-a-kind ...
Occasional Paper 191: Aviation in the Royal Australian Navy, the first 65 Years, 1917 to 1982
The following story is based on a Royal Australian Navy News story first published on Friday 23 April 1982, page 4. Australian Naval aviation this month celebrated the 65th anniversary ...
Occasional Paper 190: Captain Cook Graving Dock 80th Anniversary: Engineering and Art
By Lorraine Fildes and Colin Randall This paper was compiled to mark the 80th anniversary of the opening of the Captain Cook Graving Dock at Garden Island in Sydney Harbour ...
The RAN and Cyclone Tracy 1974
During the early hours of Christmas Day 1974, devastated the city of Darwin with winds in excess of 160 knots, killing 49 people ashore and a further 16 at sea. ...
Naval Art: Well Worth the Visit
This story was first published in the Australian National Maritime Museum (ANMM) Volunteers’ quarterly magazine, ‘All Hands’, Issue 129 in December 2024. The author, Geoff Barnes is a volunteer with ...
History of Australian Defence Landing Craft and the Balikpapan Class Landing Craft Heavy (LCH) 1971 – 2014
This Historical Booklet (Monograph 200) by Bjarne Kristensen was published by the Naval Historical Society of Australia in December 2024. This paper discusses the history of Australian Defence Amphibious vessels ...