On This Day

1946-1959 > Post WW2

December 19, 1955

HMAS Shoalhaven paid off into Reserve at Sydney. A year later, on 20 December 1956, the ship was accepted into extended Reserve. Without being brought forward for further service, Shoalhaven was sold in January 1962 to HC Sleigh & Company, acting on behalf of Mitsubishi (Australia) Pty Ltd.

December 15, 1955

HMAS Kangaroo paid off at Sydney and was later classified as a Net Laying Ship in reserve at Sydney and also served as an accommodation ship for Base staff. On 28 August 1967 Kangaroo was sold to Hurley and Dewhurst Pty Ltd, Sydney. The ship was broken up for scrap in 1968.

December 6, 1955

The first aircraft landed on HMAS MELBOURNE, (aircraft carrier). It was a Westland Whirlwind helicopter.

December 2, 1955

HMAS Condamine paid off into Reserve at Sydney. Condamine was sold on 21 September 1961 to the Tolo Mining and Smelting Co Ltd of Hong Kong

November 16, 1955

HMS NIZAM, (destroyer, ex-HMAS NIZAM), was paid off for breaking up.

November 9, 1955

HMAS Lae was sold for scrapping after being in reserve since 1948. Lae and the former HMAS Labuan left Sydney under tow for Hong Kong on 28 October 1956 carrying a load of scrap metal. On 3 November Lae ran aground on South Percy Island off the coast of Queensland and was abandoned after an attempt to recover her cargo failed.

October 28, 1955

The aircraft carrier HMAS MELBOURNE, (ex-HMS MAJESTIC,), was commissioned. MAJESTIC was laid down in Vickers Armstrong Yard, Barrow in Furness, England, on 15 April 1943, and launched on 28 February 1945. Lady Anderson, (Wife of the Chancellor of the Exchequer), performed the launching ceremony. She was renamed MELBOURNE, (CAPT G. G. O. Gatacre, DSO, DSC, RAN), in Barrow in Furness, by Lady White, (Wife of Sir Thomas White, High Commissioner for Australia in the United Kingdom).

October 25, 1955

HMAS Vengeance decommissioned and reverted to the Royal Navy.

September 23, 1955

HMAS QUICKMATCH was re-commissioned as an anti-submarine Frigate

August 30, 1955

LEUT J. R. Bluett and LEUT P. McNay, (of 805 Squadron, RAN Fleet Air Arm), shot down a pilotless Auster aircraft, three miles to seaward off Sydney. The aircraft took off without its pilot from Bankstown Airfield, and flew over Sydney for two hours. Bluett and McNay, flying Sea Furies, fired a burst each into the Auster, which crashed in flames into the sea.

August 23, 1955

808 Squadron recommissioned at the Royal Navy Air Station (RNAS) Yeovilton in the south of England. Then equipped with de Havilland Sea Venoms, the Squadron participated in the RAN’s new carrier, HMAS Melbourne’s flying trials in England. 816 and 817 Squadrons commissioned at the Royal Naval Air Station at Culdrose to fly the Fairy Gannet

 

 

August 15, 1955

816 squadron recommissioned at RNAS Culdrose in Cornwall, England equipped with Fairey Gannet AS1s anti-submarine aircraft.

June 1, 1955

724 Squadron commissioned into the RAN at NAS Nowra as a fixed-wing conversion training unit with a variety of aircraft. (Was previously a RN Sqdn number).

May 23, 1955

HMA Ships ARUNTA and WARRAMUNGA, (destroyers), were despatched to Singapore, on the first permanent deployment of naval forces in South-East Asia.

May 1, 1955

The last flying operations took place from HMAS SYDNEY, while she served as a frontline aircraft carrier. The ship was then converted to a training ship, and by the mid 1960’s had been further converted into a fast troop transport, to convey Australian troops to South East Asia and Vietnam. The last flights from Sydney were in 1973 when she embarked helicopters while carrying Army units.

April 27, 1955

Both 816 and 817 Squadron was decommissioned at Nowra as the Firefly was phased out of service and replaced by the Fairey Gannet

 

April 25, 1955

HMAS VENGEANCE, (aircraft carrier), was returned to the RN after service in the RAN. She was later sold to Brazil, and renamed MINAS GERIAS.

April 1, 1955

The Prime Minister, Robert Menzies, announced the decision to commit Australian forces to the Far East Strategic Reserve, (FESR), in Malaya. The Navy’s contribution was to include two frigates or destroyers and an annual visit by HMAS MELBOURNE, (aircraft carrier). The first two RAN warships sent to South East Asia as part of the FESR were the destroyers HMAS ARUNTA and HMAS WARRAMUNGA. The FESR duties for the RAN continued until 1971.

March 26, 1955

HMAS AUSTRALIA, (heavy cruiser), departed Sydney under tow of the Dutch tug RODE ZEE, for breaking up at the yard which built her at Barrow-in-Furness, U.K.

February 24, 1955

VADM Sir Roy Dowling was appointed as Chief of Naval Staff.

February 23, 1955

The Naval Health Benefits Society, (NHBS) was formed to provide private health insurance for the families of serving members, and ex RAN personnel.

February 14, 1955

HMAS HAWKESBURY, was paid off for disposal. After being declared for disposal early in 1961, she was sold to the Tolo Mining and Smelting Co Ltd of Hong Kong on 21 September 1961. She was later resold to a Japanese firm, Amakasu Sangyo Kisen Co Ltd, but remained at her Navy mooring until 7 September 1962. During that month Hawkesbury and her sister ship Murchison, also bought by the Japanese firm, left Sydney under tow, bound for the Far East to be broken up.

January 5, 1955

HMAS AUSTRALIA, (8 inch cruiser), was advertised for disposal at Sydney.

December 7, 1954

HMAS QUEENBOROUGH was re-commissioned as an anti-submarine Frigate. During conversion she became the first ship of the RAN fitted with Type 170 Asdic and the Mk 10 Limbo mortar.

October 27, 1954

HMAS VENDETTA, (Daring class destroyer), was launched at Williamstown, VIC.