On This Day

1960-1975 > Vietnam era

July 3, 1968

The Attack class patrol boat HMAS ARROW, was commissioned. ARROW was laid down in Walker’s Yard, Maryborough, QLD, in September 1967, and launched on 17 February 1968. Mrs Hansen performed the launching ceremony. ARROW was sunk during Cyclone Tracey in Darwin, NT, on 24/25 December, 1974, with the loss of two of her crew.

June 21, 1968

The Attack class patrol boat, HMAS AWARE, (LEUT D. J. Angus, RAN), was commissioned. AWARE was laid down in Evans Deakin Yard, Brisbane, in June 1967, and launched on 7 October 1967. Dame Annabel Rankin, (Minister for Housing, Queensland), performed the launching ceremony.

June 18, 1968

Investigations showed that HMAS HOBART, (cruiser), was only one of a number of ships attacked in error, by US 7th Air Force fighters, on 16 and 17 June. PCF 19, a US patrol boat, was sunk with the loss of five lives on 16 June. On 17 June US ships BOSTON, EDSON, POINT DUME, and PCF 12, were attacked. Unusual atmospheric conditions prevailing in Vietnamese waters at this period have been commented on by senior US Air Force officers.

June 17, 1968

At 0300 the destroyer HMAS HOBART, (CAPT K. W. Shands, RAN), was accidentally attacked by a US Air Force F-4 fighter, off Cap Lay, Vietnam. The aircraft fired a total of three missiles at HOBART, in two separate attacks. All three missiles hit the ship, and two RAN personnel, Ordinary Seaman R. J. Butterworth, and CPO R. H. Hunt, were killed, and seven others wounded. An enquiry into the incident revealed that due to the darkness, the pilot of the aircraft mistook the radar picture of the ship as an enemy helicopter.

June 13, 1968

The crew of a RAN-manned helicopter was injured when their gunship crashed near the base of Blackhorse, Vietnam. They were rescued by an American helicopter, and returned to their base.

June 5, 1968

Three members of 723 Squadron, Lieutenant P.C. Ward, Petty Officer D.J. Sanderson and Naval Airman Mechanic Airframes and Engines (NAMAE) R.K. Smith, were lost when their Iroquois crashed over the cliff at Beecroft Head Firing Range and fell into the sea while on a range clearing flight.

May 23, 1968

The guided missile destroyer HMAS HOBART, (CAPT K. W. Shands, RAN), silenced three North Vietnamese automatic weapon sites near Da Nang.

May 20, 1968

The ashes of CMDR E. A. Feldt, OBE, RAN, Commander of Australian Coastwatchers in WWII, were scattered in New Guinea waters by HMAS SAMARAI, (patrol boat).

May 17, 1968

The survey ship HMAS MORESBY, (CMDR H. C. Dillon, RAN), completed surveys of the south east coast of Papau and New Guinea. The previous survey of the area had been made in 1894 by HM Ships BASILISK and DART.

May 15, 1968

The Attack class fast patrol boat HMAS ARCHER, (LEUT A. V. R. Horne, RAN), was commissioned. ARCHER was laid down at Walker’s Yard, Maryborough, QLD, in July 1967, and launched on 2 December 1967. Mrs V. A. T. Smith, (Wife of RADM Smith), performed the launching ceremony. ARCHER was transferred to the Indonesian Navy in 1974, and renamed KRI SILIMAN.

April 26, 1968

The Attack class fast patrol boat HMAS ACUTE was commissioned. ACUTE was laid down at Evans Deakin Yard, Brisbane, in April 1967, and launched on 26 August 1967.

CAPT I. R. Jones, RAN, and CMDR R. G. Harries, RAN, were awarded the MID, for their services in HMAS HOBART, (guided missile destroyer), in operations off Vietnam in 1967.

April 23, 1968

The Oberon class submarine HMAS OTWAY, (LCDR G. R. Dalrymple, RAN), was commissioned. OTWAY was laid down at Scott’s Yard, Greenock, Scotland, on 29 June 1965, and launched on 29 November 1966. Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent, performed the launching ceremony.

April 22, 1968

The Oberon class submarine, HMAS OTWAY, was commissioned. OTWAY was laid in Scott’s Yard, Greenock, Scotland, on 29 June 1965, and launched on 29 November 1966.

April 13, 1968

CMDR Eric Feldt, OBE, RAN, died at Brisbane, QLD. During World War II he had commanded the Australian Coastwatchers organisation in New Guinea, New Britain, and the Solomon Islands. This highly successful organisation of men, (and one woman), operated behind the Japanese lines and provided vital intelligence to the Allies on Japanese ship and aircraft movements.

April 9, 1968

HMAS SYDNEY, (fast troop transport), landed the 1st Battalion, RAR, at Vung Tau, Vietnam.

April 4, 1968

VADM V. A. T. Smith, CB, DSC, was appointed Chief of Naval Staff.

April 3, 1968

HMAS LAE, (Attack class patrol boat), was commissioned. She was gifted to the PNGDF in November 1974.

March 26, 1968

HMAS HOBART, (guided missile destroyer), acted as bait to draw the fire of North Vietnamese batteries near Cap Lay, Vietnam. The ruse was not successful.

March 23, 1968

The guided missile destroyer HMAS HOBART, (CAPT K. W. Shands, RAN), was in company with the US Ships COLLETT and ST PAUL when she came under enemy fire from shore batteries off Mui Ron, Vietnam.

March 22, 1968

HMAS HOBART, (guided missile destroyer), sailed from Sydney on her second tour of duty with the US 7th Fleet off Vietnam.

March 15, 1968

RADM G. J. B. Crabb, DSC, was appointed Flag Officer Commanding Her Majesty’s Australian Fleet.

PO W. H. Ellery, (Clearance Diving Team 3), accompanied a US Navy reconnaissance of Long Son Island, an area notorious for Viet Cong booby traps. Ellery rendered safe a number of explosive devices while under enemy fire. One enemy soldier was killed in the operation.

March 1, 1968

LEUT W. D. H. Lees, RAN, and two divers of Clearance Diving Team 3, embarked in USCGC POINT GRACE to intercept an enemy trawler attempting to land ammunition at the mouth of the Song Bo De in Vietnam. The trawler was sighted in the early hours of 1 March and immediately opened fire with machine guns while running for the shore. A direct hit from a 4.5 inch shell fired by USCGC WINONA caused the trawler to blow up and sink.

The Attack class patrol boat HMAS SAMARAI, was commissioned. SAMARAI was laid down in Evans Deakin Yard, Brisbane, in December 1966, and launched on 14 July 1967. Mrs L. B. Evans, (Wife of the Deputy Chairman of the Defence Business Board), performed the launching ceremony. She was gifted to the PNGDF in November 1974.

February 25, 1968

The report of the second Royal Commission into the HMAS MELBOURNE-HMAS VOYAGER collision was released. The report concerned the fitness of CAPT D. H. Stevens, RAN, to command HMAS VOYAGER

February 22, 1968

LCDR P. J. Vickers, (RAN Helicopter Flight), was fatally wounded in helicopter operations near Xuan Loc, Vietnam.

February 21, 1968

During Operation Clayton, helicopter gun-ships of the RAN Helicopter Flight supported the 1st Australian Task Force in a search-and-screen operation at the village of Long Dien, Vietnam. More than 5337 people were screened in a search for Viet Cong sympathisers. This was one of the first Australian Army-RAN combined operations in the war.