Prepared from inspiration provided by our Queensland member and mining engineer Colin Randall. William Knox D’Arcy and John Arbuthnot Fisher both came from families with prominent distant relatives but they ...
Naval Historical Review
The Last National Servicemen – Part I
By Robert Graham Stephenson – Official No 7662 (NS) This article has been taken from an original paper written by Robert Stephenson and published by the National Servicemen’s Association of ...
Former HMNZS Rotoiti and Pukaki off to Ireland by Heavy Lift Ship
The following article has been sourced from various local and overseas news outlets. The post-war Royal New Zealand Navy was based around two Dido-class light cruisers, HMNZ Ships Black Prince ...
A Bar of Soap
By Walter Burroughs That fine old Aussie expression ‘I don’t know you from a bar of soap’ has now fallen out of favour as we move from the utilitarian bar ...
Inside ‘Nuke School’, the elite US Training Ground preparing Australian Submariners for an AUKUS Future
The following article has been taken from an ABC News summary of 8 July 2023. In America’s deep south, a group of students has just completed one of the most ...
USS Canberra commissions in Sydney
An historically significant ceremony occurred at Sydney’s Fleet Base East on Saturday 22 July 2023 when the Freedom-class Littoral Combat Ship USS Canberra commissioned into the United States Navy. This ...
Letter: The Big Guns of Tarawa
I’m reading the latest NHR after having read the latest CTH and Buzz, and the Occasional Papers/articles, and they’re all excellent – of a high standard and an enjoyable read, ...
The Rapid Wartime Growth in Royal Australian Navy Shore Establishments
On Monday, 17 September 1945, the Cairns Post newspaper featured a lengthy coverage of the RAN’s shore establishments. This illuminating summary is reproduced below. How many of us can now ...
New Entry Officers’ Course Essays
In 1985 the Naval Historical Society (NHS) first donated an essay prize to the college. The prize consisted of a one-year subscription to the Society and a six-volume bound collection ...
Irregular Warfare in the Royal Australian Navy
By MIDN C.A.F. Cumberlidge RAN MIDN Christopher Cumberlidge hails from the Sunshine Coast and already has a nursing degree. However, he is changing stream as he has a keen interest ...
Education News
The following article is taken from The Australian Naval Architect Vol 27 No 1, February 2023 and is reproduced by kind permission of that organisation. The first student in naval ...
Our First Patrol Boats – Part 2
By Walter Burroughs The December 2022 edition of this magazine contained an article Our First Patrol Boats concerning a class of five topsail schooners built in Sydney in the 1870s, ...
Women Leaders in the Royal New Zealand Navy
The following article stems from a press release issued by the New Zealand Department of Defence on 8 March 2023. The attached photo and explanation have been kindly supplied by ...
Tristan da Cunha and a Tribute to John Smith
The Naval Historical Society is an association of individuals bound together by a love of the navy. Occasionally a member of this band of brothers and sisters stands out from ...
Australia’s Nuclear Submarines – Costs and Timelines
By Jack Dillich* The recent government announcement on the acquisition of nuclear submarines is one of the most significant events in the history of the Royal Australian Navy. This article, ...
Letter: The Newport Ship
I was very interested to see the article on the Newport Ship in our recent journal. I saw the timbers in tubs in Newport in 2005 and had a good ...
Book Review: Love, Oil and the Fortunes of War
Love, Oil and the Fortunes of War is a fictionalised history by Sydney-based author Paul Ashford Harris. Published by Ventura Press in 2023, a paperback edition of 288 pages and ...
Book Review: Nelson’s Lost Son.
Nelson’s Lost Son. The recently published Nelson’s Lost Son is the second part of a trilogy by author Oliver Greeves. Part One, Nelson’s Folly, was reviewed in the December 2021 ...
Health Support for Naval Operations: Not just Treatment Services
By Commander Neil Westphalen, RAN Let us assume it’s 0915 on a Monday and you are the CPOCSM for a major fleet unit that is due to sail at 1000. ...
Regal and would-be Regal Yachts
In the era just past we became accustomed to hearing of the Royal Yacht Britannia and there was a tinge of sadness when obsolescence and economies led to her demise. ...
The Frigates that ‘did nothing in particular, and did it very well’ – with apologies to W.S. Gilbert.
By John Ingram Fifty years ago, the Whitlam Labor government cancelled the troubled Light Destroyer (DDL) project and set in place the acquisition of six patrol frigates of the Oliver ...
The Maritime Strategic Fleet Taskforce and its Implications for the RAN
The findings of a Maritime Strategic Fleet Taskforce may have a considerable bearing on the future of the impoverished Australian maritime industry and be of great benefit. As this may ...
Book Review: The Scrap Iron Flotilla
The Scrap Iron Flotilla by Mike Carlton. William Heinemann Australia. Paperback of 448 pages. rrp $34.99 On Sunday September 3rd 1939, history was tumbling over itself. In the mess decks ...
Book Review: The Hunt for the Storozhevoy; the 1975 Soviet Navy Mutiny in the Baltic
The Hunt for the Storozhevoy; the 1975 Soviet Navy Mutiny in the Baltic. By Michael Fredholm von Essen. From Helion Books, Europe At War Series No 19. Published 2022. This ...
Book Review: The Far Land: 200 Years of Murder, Mania and Mutiny in the South Pacific.
The Far Land: 200 Years of Murder, Mania and Mutiny in the South Pacific. This 327-page paperback edition written by Brandon Presser was published by Icon Books of London in ...