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You are here: Home / Archives for Navies / Colonial navies

Colonial navies

Occasional Paper 140 : The Factors that Led to the Formation of the RAN in 1911

David Stratton · Jun 29, 2022 ·

This short account of the May 1942 Battle of the Coral Sea focuses on the strategically significant outcomes of the battle and how they related to the future of World War 2 and Australians in particular. ...

Book Review: Australia’s Colonial Navies

Book reviewer · Sep 27, 2021 ·

Australia’s Colonial Navies by Ross Gillett is a revised and expanded edition published by the Naval Historical Society of Australia and released in 2021. In the 21st century most Australians ...

Occasional Paper 28: Cockatoo Island – An Historical Account

A.N. Other · Oct 29, 2018 ·

June 2018 Cockatoo Island has a long association with the RAN. The Island has World Heritage Listing and some additional information can be found on our website at https://navyhistory.au/naval-heritage-sites/cockatoo-island. This ...

Admirable Ancestors

Graham-Smith, Mick · Sep 21, 2009 ·

This is a copy of a lecture recently delivered to the WA Chapter of the Naval Historical Society of Australia by Mick Graham-Smith Firstly, I would like to introduce myself. ...

Pages: Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4

The Naval Defence of the Australian Colonies to Federation

Vickridge, G.L.W., Lieutenant, RANR · May 24, 2008 ·

The question with regard to naval defence is ‘what were the differences with the Mother Country’ and, if there were any, what impact did they have on the federation of the six colonies? ...

Cerberus – First of the modern battleships

Rogers, John · Jun 30, 2003 ·

PRIOR TO FEDERATION, VICTORIA’S DEFENCES were exposed as the British naval presence was located in far away Sydney. As a result a powerful 16 ship fleet evolved. This Victorian Navy ...

American Plans for Invading New Zealand & Australia – Part2

Nicholls, Bob · Mar 14, 2003 ·

The first part of this article, which appeared in the December 2002 edition, reviewed American plans for the invasion of Auckland and Sydney. This part considers plans for Melbourne and ...

Pages: Page 1 Page 2

American Plans for Invading New Zealand & Australia – Part1

Nicholls, Bob · Dec 14, 2002 ·

Preposterous, you say. Not necessarily so. It sometimes seems that the ‘Special Relationship’ between Great Britain (and thus, until quite recently, by extension, Australia) and the United States has existed ...

Pages: Page 1 Page 2 Page 3

Torpedo Boat 191

Pennock, R.J.R. · Jun 27, 1998 ·

The 2nd Class torpedo boat (TB 1 or TB 191) inherited by the Navy in South Australia in 1905, was somewhat of an enigma. The Engineer Corps of the Tasmanian ...

Pages: Page 1 Page 2

Naval Medicine in Australia – Some Origins in Northern Waters

Pearn, John · Mar 6, 1997 ·

The health of all sea-encircled nations depends in time of conflict, on the health of its seamen. Australia’s “discovery” by European naval commanders and the subsequent colonisation by British fleets ...

Pages: Page 1 Page 2

HMQS “Gayundah” – Conduct Unbecoming – 1888

Wilson, Graham, Warrant Officer Class Two, Australian Intelligence Corps · Jun 5, 1996 ·

Introduction On a spring afternoon in Brisbane in October 1888, twenty armed policemen, under the command of the Commissioner of Police, marched down Edward Street and deployed to take up ...

Pages: Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6

A Brief History of HMVS Cerberus

A.N. Other · Apr 1, 1992 ·

In 1866, the Government of Victoria requested a ship from the British Admiralty to bolster the Colony’s defences. At this time, in England, a new type of ship designed for ...

No. 191 – the Tasmanian Torpedo Boat

NHSA Webmaster · Mar 30, 1983 ·

THE TASMANIAN GOVERNMENT decided in 1883 to form an engineer torpedo corps, and by 11th June that year the unit was in operation. Commanded by Captain Boddam, and with Lieutenant ...

Pages: Page 1 Page 2

Formation of the Royal New Zealand Navy

Tonson, A.E. · Sep 28, 1981 ·

TO UNDERSTAND how the Royal New Zealand Navy came into being it is necessary to look back to World War I and the preceding years, and to follow through the ...

Pages: Page 1 Page 2 Page 3

NZS Amokura – New Zealand’s First Training Ship

A.N. Other · Sep 28, 1981 ·

LITTLE IS KNOWN in Australia of Amokura, being a training ship operated by the New Zealand Government from 1905 until 1921, but by her former name of HMS Sparrow she ...

Pages: Page 1 Page 2

Success & Failure – The Story of the Torpedo Gunboat

Kurumba · Mar 25, 1981 ·

ORIGINALLY THERE WERE THIRTY-THREE BUILT, comprising five classes in all. They were the torpedo gunboats of the Royal Navy, a smaller but faster variant of the traditional cruiser, but capable ...

Pages: Page 1 Page 2

New South Wales Naval Forces in 1901

A.N. Other · Dec 31, 1980 ·

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

Gillett, Ross · Dec 31, 1980 ·

One Ship, One Navy – No Collisions The Story of HMCS Protector IN JULY 1882, motions were brought forward in both houses of the South Australian Parliament for a cruiser-type ...

Pages: Page 1 Page 2

New South Wales Naval Forces

A.N. Other · Sep 30, 1975 ·

This article appeared in The Navy and Army Illustrated dated 15th October 1897. The New South Wales Naval Brigade was the least developed of the Colonial Navies for the obvious ...

Origins of the QUEENSLAND Navy

A.N. Other · Jun 30, 1975 ·

Old Thunder and Lightning – the Origins of the Queensland Navy IT WAS A RUSSIAN SCARE in the eighteen seventies that caused the Queensland Government of the day to form ...

Australian Naval History on 13 May 1884

On This Day · May 13, 1884 ·

HMQS GAYUNDAH, (gunboat), was launched at Newcastle upon Tyne, England. ...

Australian Naval History on 29 December 1860

On This Day · Dec 29, 1860 ·

The Naval Brigades of HMS PELORUS, (wood screw corvette), flagship of the Australian Station, and HMCS VICTORIA, landed at Kairau, New Zealand, to support British troops under attack from Maoris. ...

Australian Naval History on 19 December 1860

On This Day · Dec 19, 1860 ·

HMCS VICTORIA, (CMDR Norman, RN), landed a detachment of seamen, and captured Matarikoriko Pa, New Zealand. ...

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