The article by Sub-Lieutenant N.J. Laing, RAN in the June 2013 Review quotes the myth that the sea mine ‘accounted for more shipping losses than any other weapon’ during World ...
Naval Historical Review
Letter: The Phantom Paradise
I refer to the article The Phantom Paradise in the September 2013 edition of the NHR and offer a little more information on the doctor. In November 1882, the Queensland ...
Manus Memories
By David Mattiske A recent article in the June 2013 edition of the NHR brought back memories to the author who served in HMAS Shropshire during an important shore bombardment ...
Operation Damask: RAN Operations against Iraq 1990-2001
By Sub-Lieutenant D. A. L. Thomason, RAN Danielle Thomason was born in Sydney and raised at Lake Macquarie. She attended Avondale College and attained a Bachelor of Business – Marketing ...
William Creswell – What Maketh the Man
Age of Change It was the age of change when centuries old maritime practice collided with the industrial revolution. Over two millennia past and more, man had conquered the great ...
One King, One Fleet, One Nation?
By Lindsey Shaw Lindsey Shaw is a former Senior Curator at the Australian National Maritime Museum, Committee Member of the Naval Historical Society and Member of the Board of Directors ...
Book Review: Lost – The stories of all ships lost by the Royal Australian Navy.
Lost: The stories of all ships lost by the Royal Australian Navy. Written and published by Allen Lyne in Adelaide, 2013. ISBN 980-0-646-90375-0 in soft cover, 305 pages with plentiful ...
Letter: The Hammerhead Crane
A number of our readers have pointed out an erroneous comment made in the article regarding the Hammerhead Crane contained in the June 2013 edition of this magazine. This concerns ...
RAAF Orions: Watching Over the Middle East
The prominence of ISR … is a clear reflection of its growing importance in enabling operational success in the increasingly complex environments in which the ADF is called upon to ...
Royal Australian Navy Border Protection: A focus on illegal immigration since 1975
By Sub Lieutenant R.E. Whitby, RAN Rian Whitby was born in Bowen and spent his childhood in rural Queensland. There is a strong family tradition of service in the ...
Rugby in the RAN – the Navy’s first Australian Services Rugby Premiership
By Ian Wrigley With a proud sporting heritage we surprisingly hear little in the way of naval sporting activities and achievements in these pages. This short article looks at some ...
HMAS Kuttabul Remembered both sides of the Harbour
As the Naval Historical Society was recently represented at similar events on both sites of the harbour our members might be interested in their reports. Unfortunately restricted access to the ...
Reflections on four decades in the profession of Naval Engineering – and Jacky Fisher got it right!
By Rear Admiral David Holthouse, AO, RAN (Rtd) David Holthouse entered the Australian Naval College in 1950, just a few days after his 14th birthday. He had an outstanding career ...
HMAS Adelaide Memorial Mast Restoration – Two for the Price of One
By Leyland Wilkinson HMAS Adelaide I was a 6 inch cruiser built at Cockatoo Island Dockyard. She was originally laid down in November 1915 but was not commissioned until August ...
The Admiral’s Ladies
Two women influenced the greatest naval hero’s life, the first his wife and, the second his mistress of many years. It was perhaps prophetic that the next generation produced no ...
The Phantom Paradise
By Jerry Lattin From the 1960s to the 1990s, I spent several periods driving small ships in PNG waters. When there was spare time on passage I used it to ...
HMA Ships Kuru and Vigilant
The Patrol Vessel Vigilant was a prototype built by Cockatoo Island Dockyard. She was a handsome vessel and the first ship in Australia built with an aluminium hull and superstructure; ...
John Browne: the Navy’s Oldest Man and his Tattoo
This article has been largely prepared from early newspaper cuttings discovered by Mrs Pat Raymond, an alert South Coast reader, and we thank her for the contribution. Over a century ...
HMA SHIPS Kanimbla and Manoora: the final chapter
The two Landing Platform Amphibious class ships HMA Ships Kanimbla and Manoora were respectively paid-off in November and May 2011 and after some time alongside at Garden Island had been ...
Book Review: The Forgotten Cruiser HMAS Melbourne 1913-1928
The Forgotten Cruiser HMAS Melbourne 1913-1928 By Andrew Kilsby and Greg Swinden, Longueville Media, Woollahra, NSW, 2013. Available from cooeehistory.com RRP $49.95. On 26 March 1913, HMAS Melbourne, Australia’s first ...
Book Review: War to War: Australia’s Navy 1919-1939
War to War: Australia’s Navy 1919-1939 by Bob Nicholls. Australian Military History Publications, Sydney, 2012. ISBN 9780 98077451. rrp $35. (02) 9542 6771 Bob Nicholls died in 2010. After serving ...
Book Review: A Parting Shot: Shelling of Australia by Japanese Submarines 1942
A Parting Shot: Shelling of Australia by Japanese Submarines 1942 by Terry Jones and Steven Carruthers. Published by Casper Publications Pty Ltd, Sydney, 2013. 320 pages with illustrations and photographs. ...
Obituary: Lieutenant Commander Peter Churchill, RN (Rtd) 1921-2013
One of the founding members of the Naval Historical Society has passed over the bar and this fitting obituary by Paul Cosgrave was recently published in the Blue Mountains Gazette. ...
HMS Penguin (VII) and her 64 Pounder Gun
When I first started work at Garden Island in January 1955, there was a small wharf at the southern end of Riggers Lane known as Kuttabul Steps, not to be ...
Tokyo Rose
What’s in a name? That which we call a rose By any other name would smell as sweet. Shakespeare’s enduring couplet from Romeo and Juliet, now often shortened to ...