In 1945, Mr William McKell, the Premier of New South Wales (and later to become Sir William McKell, Governor-General of Australia) crossed the Atlantic in Australia when on a wartime tour of ...
Publications
HMAS Swan and the Dampier Memorial – 1938
After the September Crisis HMAS SWAN, which had been in Western Australia at the Crisis, was ordered by the Naval Board to proceed to Broome to unveil a memorial to ...
Book Review: The Naval Steam Reciprocating Engine
Title: The Naval Steam Reciprocating Engine Author: Norman Rivett Published by: Naval Historical Society of Australia Card No. ISBN 09587 456 0 9 The Naval Historical Society of Australia is to ...
RAN Ships Routines – effective 1934
Diary of John Ernest James – Part 1
Written whilst serving in HMAS Sydney II John Ernest James was born at Gateshead England, and came to Australia with his family in 1928. He joined the RAN when he ...
HMAS Westralia – A brief summary of WW2 Service
Armstrong, J M – Naval Wartime Hero (Part 1)
The Blackout at Sea
The War of Words
Few things bugged wartime Australians more than censorship. When it came to news from the far-flung battlefronts where Australians in thousands were involved in the fighting, the lack of knowledge ...
One of our Destroyers: HMAS Norman journeys to Russia
Home, Home on the Range: Degaussing
Commodore J.M. Armstrong, CBE, DSO, RAN 1900-1988
Read at the funeral service at St. Brelade’s Church, Jersey, January 6th, 1989 by Michael Marett- Crosby. JOHN MALET ARMSTRONG, Jamie to his wife and friends, was born in Sydney, ...
Order of Battle at Midway
Services Reconnaissance Department Memorial
Perhaps the least known of service memorials in Australia is that to the Services Reconnaissance Department which is located on Garden Island, Western Australia. It is appropriate the memorial has ...
Rear Admiral Farncomb
BETWEEN MAY 4 AND MAY 8 1942 the battle of the Coral Sea took place. The Coral Sea Battle was just one of the many highlights of the Naval career ...
The Fighting Tribals
DURING THE 1930S the Tribals were designed to lend heavier gun support to existing flotillas and were influenced by similar contemporary German (Type 1934), Japanese (Asashio Class) and the American ...
Evolution of the Royal Navy – Wood to Iron, Sail to Steam
Vampire in the Med.
The Tragedy of the Centaur
MAY 14 1988 marks the 45th anniversary of the sinking of the Australian hospital ship Centaur, with the loss of 268 lives. Tony Stephens, who was three years and eight ...
The Cruiser Choir
Anon AT THE OUTBREAK OF WAR I was organist and choir master at St Andrews Church, Wahroonga. I mention this fact because it has a bearing on the short story ...
The Battle for the Boom
SYDNEY HARBOUR has always presented a racy scene! Yachts thrash about in all manner of class events, Sydney’s ‘Great Ferry Race’ captures the imagination of all who pack vantage points ...
Evolution of the Capital Ship 1906-1914
DREADNOUGHTS – the name given to battleships and battlecruisers of the navy, were ships to inspire men’s imaginations and by their majestic increase in tonnage and fire power, became the ...
Sons of the Sea – 1947 RAN College Entry
Changi and the HMAS Perth Survivors
Warramunga to the Rescue of SS Starr King
DURING 1943 several Japanese submarines operated off the east coast of Australia. In all about 14 ships were torpedoed by these subs. Surface escorts for ships operating off the coast ...