May 1st [1941] was celebrated in great style with the greatest display of fireworks I’ve yet seen. We arrived safely in Alex at 0730 and tied up at the fairway ...
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HMAS Perth: Battle of Matapan
HMAS Perth: Malta – Hell in Grand Harbour
HMAS Perth: 1941-Norris’ reflections
I pray we never have to face again all we went through in those savage seven months. “Malta” – the realisation of what we were up against – just previous ...
HMAS Perth: Athens – A Joy Forever
HMAS Perth: Bombardment of Tripoli
Saturday [19 April 1941] quiet. Sunday we rendezvoused according to plan. Beautiful weather and they gave the ships company roast turkey and trifle for dinner. During the forenoon a Fulmar ...
Letter: HMS Pickle
Trafalgar in a Pickle Some sharp eyed readers have queried the flags worn by HMS Pickle which featured on the cover of the September edition of this magazine. She displays ...
Book Review: Vietnam The Complete Story of the Australian War
Vietnam: The Complete Story of the Australian War. By Bruce Davies with Gary McKay. Published by Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 2012. Hardback, 690 pages with photographs. rrp $55. ‘You ...
They Also Served – Arthur Irwin Chapman, 11 January 1916 – 21 August 2012
By Jo Morrice Commander A.I. Chapman RAN (Rtd) died recently at the age of 96. This is the story of a remarkable and redoubtable man who was affectionately known to ...
Royal Naval Engineering College Manadon’s Centenary
By Ron Robb Most engineering officers serving in the RAN have at some time or other studied in HMS Thunderer, the Royal Naval Engineering College at Plymouth in England. Ex-students ...
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 ...
Cocos and Christmas Islands
These small isles to our north represent a microcosm of historical events taking place on a larger world stage. They encompass early exploration, colonial rule, resource booms, communications technology, and ...
District Officers Boats
By Leyland Wilkinson Leyland Wilkinson is a member of the NHS and was the former head of the trade school for apprentice training at the Garden Island Dockyard Training School, ...
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 ...
Was Parramatta a Defender and Yarra a Druid, and would Warrego have been at home in Rio?
By Driftwood The massive shipbuilding programs leading up to WWI were dominated by the construction of capital ships. These unsustainable programs involved increases in the national debt of Britain and ...
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 ...
Letter: Piper Report and Dangers to Navigation
Dear Sir, Well done for the September issue of the Naval Historical Review. Another good read. May I say that as far as my service with the Royal Australian Navy ...
Letter: Allegations of abuse
Dear Editor I thought I would share my concern at the claims made on the ABC 7.30 report tonight. My concern is that the problem is portrayed as being systemic, ...
Letter: Wallaroo’s Submarine Attack
Dear Sir, I was very interested in Mr Les Heap’s report of Wallaroo’s submarine attack (NHR September 2012), outside Sydney Heads on 1 June 1942. Your Editor, in discussing the ...
Translators in the RAN – Theodore Eric Nave
By Sub-Lieutenant Y.L. Zhang This essay came a close second in the Naval History Prize of the New Entry Officer Course intake No. 46. Sub- Lieutenant Yanyi Zhang is a ...
Wallaroo’s Submarine Attack
On 14 JULY 2012 a short letter was received from Mr Les Heap of Lane Cove providing brief information, which may be historically significant, on the Bathurst Class minesweeper HMAS ...
HMAS Australia Night Order Book Raises Kamikaze Queries
Dangers to Navigation
By Lieutenant Commander Tony Maskell, RAN (Rtd) OVER THE YEARS since the arrival of the First Fleet there have been a number of notable shipwrecks. Examples can be found from ...
Garden Island and Cruise Ships
For more than two centuries, and almost continuously since the arrival of the First Fleet in 1788, naval ships have found safe berths at Garden Island. Recent commercial pressures on ...
The White Ensign in the Middle East
By Greg Swinden Having recently returned from a second deployment to the Middle East a colleague suggested that I put down in writing some of my thoughts and recollections of ...