[Extracts from a letter from Marsden Hordern: …I was recently on Three Hammock Island with the 87 year old John Alliston – you may have read his book, “Destroyer Man‘ ...
Publications
What flag was that?
Amid the saga of events in Jakarta over recent times, the red over white horizontal halves of the flag of the Republic of Indonesia have figured in high prominence. Displayed ...
The raid on St Nazaire 1942
1942, and the British were clinging on while their convoys were only just getting enough supplies through to keep the people and the war effort going. But on the Biscay ...
Obituary: Admiral Sir Victor Smith AC, 1913-1998
Named for his uncle, the famous Australian cricketer Victor Trumper, Admiral Sir Victor Smith, who has died in Canberra at the age of 85, was the first RAN officer to ...
Radar Equipment, HMAS Shropshire
When “Shropshire” was being prepared in England for handing over to the RAN in 1942/43 she was fitted out with a full complement of the current RN equipment. (This is ...
Attack on Sabang, Northern Sumatra, 1944
This article refers to the British Eastern Fleet’s first attack on Sabang in Northern Sumatra, in April, 1944. To relieve some of the pressure on his own forces, Admiral King had ...
The Marines of the First Fleet
In the early morning of Saturday 12 May 1787, a small fleet of eleven ships prepared to leave Portsmouth’s Mother Bank in the UK to found a penal colony halfway ...
SS Queen Mary & the loss of HMS Curacoa 1942
Navy Square – Port Melbourne
The concept of a naval memorial in Port Melbourne arose in May 1997 when it was observed that following the 1994 decommissioning of HMAS Lonsdale, there was no feature in ...
HMAS Canberra’s Crest – Return from P&O Liner Canberra
On the 24th April, 1964 a small group of survivors from HMAS Canberra met on board the P&O Liner Canberra to present to the captain a replica of HMAS Canberra’s crest, i.e., the ...
Book Review: Sensuikan I-124
Author: Tom Lewis This is the story of the Japanese minelaying submarine I-124, built at Kobe in 1928 and sunk off Darwin on 20th January, 1942. The author also discusses ...
How the USA Flexed its Industrial Muscle in 1941
From December 7, 1941 to August 15, 1945, American shipyards constructed 10 battleships, 13 heavy cruisers, 33 light cruisers, 27 aircraft carriers, 110 escort aircraft carriers, 352 destroyers, 498 destroyer ...
Obituary: Alan Willis OBE 1926 – 1997
The Hammock
The issue hammock, the beloved pusser sack – one of man’s most endearing inventions – has vanished, alas, from Navy messdecks and establishments. It has been replaced by the impersonal ...
In Remorse Mode about the Morse Code!
Extracts from The Sydney Morning Herald (Kendall Hill) and The Sun-Herald (Peter Robinson) It revolutionised the way humans communicated long before the likes of the telephone, the radio and e-mail. ...
Letters – The Pathos of Palawan
As usual Max Thomson has entertained us with an interesting story ‘The Pathos of Palawan’ (Vol. 19, No. 1, (January) 1998). Although not part of the main story, he touches ...
Letters – Royal Navy Trawlers
I noticed in a past issue some correspondence from member J. Simm, J.P. regarding RN trawlers named after the cricketers `Bradman’ and ‘Hammond’. There were a number of trawlers so ...
Torpedo Boat 191
Obituary: Geoffrey Ingleton 1908-1998
ENTERPRIZE
Sinking of HMS Royal Oak at Scapa Flow by U-47
Book Review: H.M. Bark Endeavour: Her Place in Australian History
HMAS Hawkesbury – The Pathos of Palawan
The Gallipoli Campaign – Pictorial of Naval Ops
These four pictures capture different aspects of the naval side of the operation. ...
Book Review: King of the Australian Coast
Title: King of the Australian Coast. Author: Marsden Horden Publisher: Melbourne University Press at the Miegunyah Press In 1813 James Byrne crossed the Blue Mountains. James who? Byrne did, but we ...