HMAS Parramatta, a torpedo boat destroyer of the River Class, launched in 1910, was the first ship of the Royal Australian Navy. It was decommissioned in 1928 and, with HMAS ...
Naval history
The Countess of Hopetoun Incident, December 1915
Book Review: Very Ordinary Officer
Very Ordinary Officer describes itself on the cover as the social and naval story of a Yorkshire-born Australian called Geoff Feasey. The two strands of the story run side by ...
Raine Island Beacon
Drake and his game of bowls and Nelson recalling a boat for a sailor’s letter are loved legends from long past wars. But legends also flow from the Golden Age ...
Splice the mainbrace – HMS Urania
In August 1945 HMS Urania had been at sea for 36 days. We were part of Task Force 37, commanded by Admiral Rawlings RN, the strike component of the ...
Obituary: Captain Barbara MacLeod AM
“To achieve the marvellous,” wrote Tom Robbins, “it is precisely the unthinkable that must be thought”. When a 24 year-old school teacher from Capel in Western Australia went by train ...
HMAS Jervis Bay II announced
Obituary: Captain Gerald Haynes
Captain Gerald Haynes’s wartime career combined skill and daring at sea and in the air. He was officer of the watch in HMS Victorious in the chase that destroyed the German ...
Captain Glossop describes Emden action to Banjo Patterson
Huon Class Minehunters – Progress Report
The first of this new class of minehunters, HMAS Huon, was handed over to the RAN on 25 March 1999 after a series of successful sea trials, “the major milestone ...
The Dardanelles Campaign
Letters – Australians at War documentary
The 1999-2000 Federal Budget provided $5 million for the production of a TV documentary series, Australians at War, which will cover the major conflicts in which Australia has participated, and ...
The Grave of Annie Dorrington – Australian Flag Co-Designer
It doesn’t mean we owe allegiance To a forgotten Imperial dream: We’ve the stars to show where we’re going And the old flag to show where we’ve been. (from a ...
NZ Scow ECHO – role in World War II
The New Zealand scow was developed from the Canadian/US log barges that plied the Great Lakes during the 1800s. First built in New Zealand in 1873 for Septimus Meiklejohn of ...
Loss of HMS Orpheus
Serving in Harmony – The Band of the Royal Australian Navy
The Discovery of AE2
The Nelson Toast
The association of the word ‘immortal’ with Nelson is enshrined in the famous toast which is still drunk, immediately after the Loyal Toast, at Trafalgar Night dinners the world over. ...
Book Review: The Raider Kormoran
Operation Downfall – The Invasion Of Japan
HMS Powerful, Gunner Sims and the Boer War
Sailor’s Escape from AE2
The diary of a Woy Woy man has become a vital piece of the puzzle for historians putting together the history of the Australian submarine AE2, which sank near Gallipoli ...
HMAS Sydney Grave No Longer Unmarked
In late 1998 the Guided Missile Frigate HMAS Canberra visited the remote Australian Territory of Christmas Island. During her visit a group of young sailors journeyed to the old European ...
Obituary: Rupert Robison
Rupert Robison Born: Springwood, May 29, 1909 Died: Rozelle, June 7, 1999 Lieutenant-Commander Rupert Robison was captain of HMAS Voyager when it ran aground on Timor in 1942. The commander ...
Book Review: Atlantic Odyssey
Title: Atlantic Odyssey Author: Michael Thwaites Publisher: Self-published This is a fascinating account of a little-known aspect (in Australia at least) of the Battle of the Atlantic, seen through the ...