17th April 1908: Ship ordered to sea daybreak 18th. 18th April 1908: Sailed from Malta at 0400 and made speed of 12 knots but were soon ordered to increase to ...
Naval Historical Review
New South Wales Naval Forces in 1901
WITH THE BASING of the Australian Squadron of the Royal Navy in Sydney, the State of New South Wales saw little need to raise a large naval force and turned ...
The Story of HMCS Protector
The Gift Fleet
The Gift Fleet – from the RN to Australia, 1919 WITH THE END OF THE GREAT WAR the Imperial Government found itself with a considerable number of naval vessels on ...
HMAS Bataan
The Last of the Australian Built Tribal Class THE LAST OF THE THREE Tribal class destroyers built at Cockatoo Island was to have been named Kurnai after an Aboriginal Tribe ...
Siting of guns at Flinders Naval Depot
In December 1941 CPO Don Walker was instructed to take a group of seamen, train them as a crew for a 3.7 inch howitzer and, when they were considered to ...
The Will of an Old Sea Dog
Mr. John Harding was a member of the China Naval Contingent of 1900 and served in the Boxer Rebellion with the Victorian Section. He had been a member of the ...
Warramunga’s Badge
WHEN HMAS WARRAMUNGA commissioned for service in November 1942 no official badge had been authorised for the ship, and being wartime this was of no great consequence. Early in 1943 ...
Further information on Bathurst class minesweepers
Recently an article concerning the Bathurst class mine-sweepers was featured in this Review. For completeness a few minor points that were not covered are now mentioned. With regard to the ...
Memories of the Emden and her Captain Karl Von Meuller
The Luftwaffe Anti-Shipping Missile Threat During WW II
Bathurst Class Minesweepers (Corvettes)
HERMAN GILL IN HIS HISTORY of the Royal Australian Navy 1939-1942 stated that the Bathurst class minesweepers or corvettes were ‘an Australian modification of an Admiralty design’ and this view ...
The Battle of Tsushima, 1905
Editor’s Note: On the night of 8th February 1904, Vice Admiral Togo led the Japanese Combined Fleet against Russian naval units anchored at Port Arthur at the western end of ...
Bomb Alley, 1942
IN 1942 THE BOMB ALLEY of this story extended 400 miles along the central Mediterranean with every mile within 30 minutes of enemy airfields. At the eastern end the strategically ...
Corvette Maryborough 1941-1946
HMAS MARYBOROUGH was built by Walker’s Ltd at Maryborough, Queensland and commissioned by Lieutenant Commander G. L. Cant, RAN on 15th June, 1941. Known as the Bathurst class of mine-sweepers, ...
Anti Submarine Warfare – June 1944, English Channel
In command of HMS Loch Killin, one of the first of a new class of frigate, Lieutenant Commander Darling joined the Second Escort Group under the legendary Captain Walker in ...
Coastal Motor Boats – 1916
In the early summer of 1915 three young Naval Officers from the Harwich Destroyer Force (Lieutenants Hampden, Bremner and Anson) conceived the idea of a small fast motor boat, capable ...
On the Gunline – HMAS Perth’s 3rd deployment in Vietnam
Slow Boat to China – USS Wachusett, 1865
The Tobruk Run
WHILE I WAS IN COMMAND of HMAS Vendetta in 1940-41, she ran a record number of trips to Tobruk. If my memory serves me right we went into that port ...
The Battle of The Glorious First of June, 1794
Destroyer Design – HMS Kelly
HMS Nelson, Armour Belted Cruiser 1882
IF A SINGULAR BRITISH WARSHIP could be called the harbinger of the formation of the Royal Australian Navy, that warship is HMS Nelson. The Colonial Defences Act of 1865 provided ...
HMS/HMVS Nelson – 120 gun Line-of-Battleship 1814
THIS THREE-DECKER BATTLESHIP was laid down in December 1809 and launched on 4th July 1814. Nelson was the first three-decker to be launched in England after the victory at Trafalgar ...