This continues our voyage to Papua New Guinea in MV Pacific Dawn, with the March 2014 edition of the NHR, detailing experiences encountered at Milne Bay. Further information on Rabaul ...
Publications
The Shot that Stopped Pfalz
By Jim Craigie In August 1914, Germany was second only to Britain in merchant tonnage. In the Pacific, German territories and international trade meant German merchant ships were frequent visitors ...
Up the Dardanelles and Back
By Ken Wright This article covering the exploits of Commander Norman Holbrook, VC, RN, is a timely reminder of these events which occurred a century ago. Surprisingly, looking through back ...
The RAN on D-Day
By Greg Swinden With 2014 being the 70th Anniversary of the D-Day landings it is timely to remember the part played by the Royal Australian Navy in Operation Overlord on ...
Manus Island in 1949
By Cdre Des Miller, RAN, Rtd Given the present level of political concern with events in these islands the attached commentary by one of our distinguished members who served there ...
Fiji and two Commodores
By Walter Burroughs The Fijian Islands are strategically situated in the southwest Pacific straddling the trade route between the eastern seaboard of Australia and the west coast of the United ...
SMS Komet, the RAN’s first captured warship: a valuable prize and our first aircraft carrier
By Leyland Wilkinson In the latter part of the 19th century, Germany had been actively developing her Pacific island colonies and by 1900 had large holdings to the north of ...
The Troops Depart: Mail from the 1st AIF Convoy, 1914
By Richard Breckon ‘My Darling Mother, I am writing this in a hurry. All letters are being opened and so I’m getting this posted by a civilian lady who is ...
Instructor Captain Richard Gerard Fennessy DSC RAN
By Noel Burgess This extraordinary story concerns a country schoolmaster who mainly served through WW II in one ship in which he won the DSC and afterwards rose to become the ...
Betano Bay Today
By John Ellis This article first appeared in the United Service Journal 65(1) March 2014 and is reproduced with the kind permission of the Royal United Services Institute of New ...
The Royal Australian Navy at Leyte Gulf October 1944
By Kingsley Perry The series of sea battles at and around Leyte Gulf in October 1944 marked a turning point in the Pacific war. Despite together representing the greatest sea ...
Obituary: LCDR Eric Charles Talbot-Booth, RNR
The March 2013 edition of the NHR contained an article A Paymaster and a Master of Ship Recognition on LCDR Talbot-Booth who gained world fame for his books on ship ...
Milne Bay Revisited
The Naval Historical Society is not here to promote the travel industry, but in this instance it may be warranted, as some members may be interested. A recent initiative by ...
Tales from the Dockyard – Lawrence Beare Westaway
By Norman Rivett During the period 9 February 1889 to 15 February 1991 at HM Naval Establishment Garden Island (later referred to as HM Naval Dockyard) there were, in addition ...
The Navy of Ecuador through History
By Capitán de fragata (sp) Mariano Alfredo Sanchez Bravo Mariano Alfredo Sanchez Bravo was born in Guayaquil on 9 July 1950. He entered the Ecuadorian Naval Academy in September 1971 ...
First Day Covers
An eagle eyed reader recently sent us a copy of a postal first day cover which appears quite remarkable for the number of errors it contains. The errors are numerous ...
Red Lead – A Cat’s Tail
By Walter Burroughs One of the privileges of writing naval history is occasionally being invited to visit ships and establishments and meeting some of the fine men and women who ...
Memoirs of George William Rayner 15 Oct 1886 – 18 July 1962
These important memoirs provided by Robert Rayner are taken from his grandfather’s handwritten notes discovered in the family’s Sydney home in 2007. Early Life in Prison! I was born at ...
Louis Brennan (1852-1932) – the Wizard of Oz
By Mike Turner Louis Brennan was a brilliant and prolific inventor. Two of his best known inventions were a gyro-stabilised train for a monorail and a type of helicopter, but ...
HMAS Yarra (II) Unit Citation for Gallantry
By LCDR Desmond Woods, RAN On 4 March this year the Governor General Her Excellency the Honourable Quentin Bryce, AC, CVO awarded a retrospective Unit Citation for Gallantry to HMAS ...
The 1963 Tragic Whitsunday Whaler Incident
By Kingsley Perry Commander Kingsley Perry (Retd) was a midshipman under training in HMAS Sydney in 1963 when a tragic boating accident occurred in the Whitsunday Group, resulting in the ...
Letter: SS Kanowna – did she have a mutiny?
Dear Editor I am a volunteer researcher of the Society making sure what may become history, and ensuring an extension of past facts is correct, which is important. Each issue ...
The Lessons Learned from the Actions of Both Sides during the Battle of the Coral Sea
By Midshipman Gerard G. Vejrych, RAN Gerard Vejrych was born in Canberra but raised in Suffolk, England. From an early age he aspired to pursue a career in military aviation ...
Letter: HMAS Kuru
Dear Sir, I was very interested to read the article concerning the above ship which was included in the September 2013 issue of the Review. My father was Commanding Officer ...
Book Review: They Sang Like Kangaroos: Australia’s Tinpot Navy in the Great War
They Sang Like Kangaroos: Australia’s Tinpot Navy in the Great War. By Anthony Delano: Australian Scholarly Press, Melbourne, Dec 2012. rrp $34.95 As his title may suggest, Doctor Delano has ...