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Clearance Divers Now 25

Blue, Ross, Lieutenant Commander · Dec 25, 1976 ·

The Silver Anniversary of the Royal Australian Navy’s Clearance Diving Branch was celebrated this month and to mark the occasion we are publishing extracts from United and Undaunted by Lieutenant ...

North of Gallipoli – Black Sea 1914-1917

Nekrasov, G., Commander, RAN · Sep 30, 1976 ·

ON THE 25TH APRIL 1915 ANZAC troops stormed ashore at Gallipoli – and established a new tradition. The objective of that operation was to force Turkey out of the war, ...

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Gun Battle on the Han

Roberts, W.O.C., DSC, Lietutenant Commander, RAN · Sep 30, 1976 ·

IN THE LATTER PART of World War 2, twelve British designed frigate hulls were built in Australian shipyards. These were ships of 300ft. overall length fitted with two triple expansion ...

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The Holman Projector

Lind, L.J. · Sep 30, 1976 ·

The emergencies of war and the unpreparedness of Britain for a world war have tested the inventiveness of the nation to build new and often quite bizarre weapons. World War ...

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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The Sea War in Korea 1950 – 1953

Murray, D.S., Rear Admiral · Jun 19, 1976 ·

Rear Admiral D. S. Murray is Deputy Chief of Naval Staff. He served as ADO in HMAS Sydney during the Korean conflict and was Mentioned in Despatches. His commands in ...

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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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Boxer Rebellion Journal

Murmin, Midshipman C.E. NSW Naval Brigade · Mar 30, 1976 ·

Midshipman Murmin was an officer of the NSW Naval Brigade contingent which sailed in the troopship, Salamis, for China on 8th August 1900. The Australians arrived too late to become ...

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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 ...

The Indian Navy

Grazebrook, A.W., Lietutenant Commander · Dec 31, 1975 ·

IN THE THIRTY YEARS since 1945, the Indian Navy has developed from a force of sloops, minesweeper and trawlers to an independent oceangoing Navy, operating its own carrier task force, ...

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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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Japanese Destroyers In Battle of Sunda Strait

A.N. Other · Sep 30, 1975 ·

The Battle of Sunda Strait was won by Japanese destroyers. In no other action in the Pacific War were their destroyers given the opportunity of using the tactics they had ...

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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