Naval history

Lord Nelson’s Prayer

A.N. Other · Sep 30, 1976 ·

On the morning of 21st October, 1805, the combined fleets of France and Spain then in sight. May the great God, whom I worship, grant to my country and for ...

A Battleship for the RAN – considerations 1937-49

Grazebrook, A.W., Lietutenant Commander · Jun 19, 1976 ·

‘I have not dwelt on the strategic value of a (RAN) capital ship at Singapore as that is so obvious from our point of view. The presence of the battle ...

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The Mystery of Airship R31

Payne, Alan · Jun 19, 1976 ·

THERE ARE SEVERAL MYSTERIES about the design, construction and eventual fate of the British Naval airship R31. Completed at Bedford, England, just before the Armistice in 1918, the R31 Class ...

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Spectacle Island Command 1894 – 1900

Capper, Lieutenant Commander · Mar 30, 1976 ·

Lieutenant Commander Capper assumed command of Her Majesty’s Magazine and Ordnance Depot on March 1895. Capper was one of the first lower deck men to be commissioned in the Royal ...

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Alan Payne – Naval Constructor Supreme

Payne, Alan · Mar 30, 1976 ·

A naval constructor may at first glance appear an odd subject for biography but there was nothing odd about Britain’s greatest builder of modern ships, Stephen Payne. This is the ...

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The Fleet off Crete

Lind, L.J. · Mar 30, 1976 ·

This extract from the address The Land and Sea Battle for Crete illustrates the great difficulties under which the Royal Navy operated in the Mediterranean in 1941. In this campaign, ...

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HMAS Cape Leeuwin

Rowell, J · Mar 30, 1976 ·

The Cape Leeuwin was built by Cockatoo Docks & Engineering Co. in 1925 for the lighthouse service. Commissioned in 1943 she served in New Guinea and the Philippines. She was ...

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Ship Badges – Royal Australian Navy

A.N. Other · Mar 20, 1976 ·

HMAS Penguin, the Navy’s depot at Balmoral on Sydney Harbour, celebrated its 30th Anniversary in July 1972. The name Penguin goes back to 1831 and has been handed down through ...

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The Entire Convoy was Sunk

Collins, R.A.C., Able Seaman, RAN · Dec 31, 1975 ·

Able Seaman Bob Collins was captured in March 1942 after the sinking of HMAS Perth and USS Houston at the Battle of Sunda Strait. After working on the Burma-Siam Railway, Collins ...

Captain A.S. Rosenthal DSO and Bar, OBE, RAN

Parker, R.G., OBE, Captain, RAN (Rtd) · Dec 31, 1975 ·

ALVORD SYDNEY ROSENTHAL was born in Sydney on 16th January 1901. He came from a distinguished military family, being the younger son of Major-General Sir Charles Rosenthal, a Divisional Commander ...

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The Catapult Fighters

Payne, Alan · Dec 31, 1975 ·

For two years during World War II, from 1941 to 1943, the Catapult Aircraft Merchant Ships, assisted by Fighter Catapult Ships of the Royal Navy, played an important role in ...

Battle Cruisers in Collision

Ross, Trevor Wilson, OBE, Captain, RAN · Dec 31, 1975 ·

By some remarkable coincidences no Australian warships took part in the Battle of Jutland. Due to a collision HMAS Australia and HMS New Zealand missed the action. ON 21ST APRIL ...

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Australians at Zeebrugge

Burness, Peter · Dec 31, 1975 ·

Reprinted by kind permission of Editor of ‘Despatch’ ZEEBRUGGE LAY ON THE BELGIAN COAST at the mouth of the inland port of Bruges, a major German U-boat base. Operating out ...

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HMAS Perth Loses her Walrus

Bowden, D.M., PO (Telegraphist), RAN · Dec 31, 1975 ·

SHORTLY AFTER HER ARRIVAL in Alexandria, HMAS Perth was ordered to Suda Bay in Crete, to detach the A/C for land-based operations. She arrived in that port on 1st January ...

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Battle Honours for HMA Ships and Fleet Air Arm Squadrons

A.N. Other · Dec 3, 1975 ·

THIS IS A COPY OF AN UNCLASSIFIED AUSTRALIAN NAVAL ORDER The award of Battle Honours to Her Majesty’s Australian Ships is intended to foster esprit de corps among their officers ...

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This article is published by kind permission of the Belgian Nautical Research Association and originally appeared in The Belgian Shiplover No. 151 by C. de Saint Hubert, BNRA-Brussels. THE ARGENTINE ...

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HIRMS Rynda Arrives

A.N. Other · Sep 30, 1975 ·

THE LAST QUARTER of the 19th century saw a wild scramble by the European powers to annex unclaimed islands in the Pacific. During this period ships of the Russian, Austrian, ...

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Christmas in the RAN 1944

Gill, C. Hermion · Sep 30, 1975 ·

Christmas 1944 was celebrated in a variety of ways and under widely differing conditions in the RAN. Here are just a few recorded by C. Hermion Gill. THERE WERE, HOWEVER, ...

Commissioned for 69 Days-HMAS Boonaroo

A.N. Other · Sep 30, 1975 ·

THE SHORT AND UNUSUAL HISTORY of HMAS Boonaroo constitutes a historical first in the story of the RAN. It was the first, and so far the only, occasion on which ...

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Admiral Sir Lionel Halsey, GCMG, GCVO, KCIE, CB, DLJP 1872-1949

Grazebrook, A.W., Lietutenant Commander · Sep 30, 1975 ·

LIONEL HALSEY served in several posts closely associated with the RAN during the years immediately prior to, and following, its birth. To his distinction of having commanded the Australian Fleet ...

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Merchant Ship Losses in Australian Waters in WW2

A.N. Other · Sep 1, 1975 ·

Forty four Allied merchant vessels were lost by enemy action in Australian waters in World War II. With a total tonnage of 196073 the ships ranged from the 12568 ton ...

HMAS Bendigo – New Guinea 1942

Richardson, G · Jun 30, 1975 ·

In our last issue we featured the first year in the career of HMAS Bendigo. The corvette’s multifarious duties earned the title of ‘Maid of all Tasks’. Between June and ...

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White Lady of the North – HMAS Moresby

A.N. Other · Jun 30, 1975 ·

At the end of World War II most of the older small ships of the RAN, which had served valiantly in peace and war, were disposed of. At this time ...

Pacific Chase

Bridge, Clarence, OBE, BE, Captain, RAN · Jun 30, 1975 ·

An account of the search for the German Pacific Fleet (Scharnhorst, Gneisenau, Leipzig, Dresden, Emden) by the battle cruiser Australia after the German ships had left Rabaul on 11th August ...

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Honorary Commodore – Captain A. V. Knight

Swan, W.M., Lietutenant Commander, RAN · Jun 30, 1975 ·

This biography of Australia’s most distinguished Reserve Officer is told by his former First Lieutenant. Captain A. V. Knight, OBE, DSC, RD, US Legion of Merit RANR(S) Rtd, served with ...

Naval history

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