On This Day

1960-1975 > Vietnam era

March 17, 1961

RAN clearance divers cleared underground ducts in tunnels of the Snowy Mountains Authority’s project at Lake Eucumbene, NSW. The team worked in depths of 80 metres in freezing conditions to clear a 23 km tunnel system leading to the Tumut River.

March 13, 1961

HMA Ships BUNDABERG and BUNBURY, (minesweepers), were sold out of service for breaking up in Japan.

March 4, 1961

The Navy Memorial Chapel at HMAS WATSON, (shore base, Sydney), was dedicated.

Sycamore XD654 ditched alongside HMS Hermes while operating from HMAS Sydney near the Cocos Islands and written off.

March 1, 1961

HMAS Anzac (II) became the Fleet Training Ship (seaman training only), with an extra deckhouse aft and the director removed

February 19, 1961

HMAS VENDETTA, (destroyer), took off 12 passengers from the Shaw Savill freighter RUNIC, aground on Middleton Reef, QLD.

January 6, 1961

HMA Ships, ARARAT, COWRA, FREMANTLE, GYMPIE, ROCKHAMPTON, and STRAHAN, (minesweepers), were sold out of service for breaking up. GYMPIE was broken up at Sydney and the other ships in Japan.

December 13, 1960

The hulk of HMAS PENGUIN, (composite screw corvette), was burnt at Kerosene Bay, Sydney.

November 15, 1960

The Explorer class general purpose vessel HMAS BASS, (LEUT G. Kennedy, RAN), was commissioned. BASS was laid down in Walker’s Yard, Maryborough, QLD, in 1959, and launched on 28 March 1960.

November 10, 1960

HMAS QUICKMATCH, (frigate), rescued 43 Indonesian seamen from a sinking vessel 45 miles east of Singapore.

November 9, 1960

HMAS DIAMANTINA, (oceanographic survey ship), was present at the unveiling of a memorial to the HMAS SYDNEY- German raider EMDEN action at Cocos Island.

October 29, 1960

HMAS TOBRUK was paid off for disposal in Sydney. Tobruk was sold for scrap on 15 February 1972 to the Fujita Salvage Company Limited of Osaka, Japan. On 10 April 1972 the Japanese ocean going tug Sumi Maru 38 sailed from Sydney for Moji, Japan, with Tobruk and another former Australian ship, HMAS Quiberon, under tow.

October 28, 1960

HMAS Wagga paid off. She was the last of the Bathurst Class in seagoing commission in the Royal Australian Navy. Wagga was declared for disposal on 31 May 1961 and sold out of service in March 1962, when she was purchased by the South Australian Carrying Co

October 11, 1960

HMAS WOOMERA, (ammunition ship), was lost when dumping obsolete ammunition at sea, off Sydney Heads. A violent explosion, followed by a fierce fire, caused WOOMERA to sink in a few minutes. Two of the crew were killed in the explosion, but the other 25 were picked up by HMAS QUICKMATCH, (frigate). While in the sea the survivors were attacked by albatrosses.

September 14, 1960

A shell fired by HMAS ANZAC in gunnery exercises off Jervis Bay hit the hull of HMAS TOBRUK.

September 9, 1960

HMA Ships QUIBERON and VAMPIRE represented Australia at the celebrations for the fiftieth anniversary of the liberation of North Borneo

July 30, 1960

The state of emergency in Malaya is formally lifted after 12 years in force.

July 18, 1960

The first Junior Recruits, (boys aged between 15 and 17), commenced training at HMAS LEEUWIN, at Fremantle WA. The scheme was designed to provide boys with a year of academic and basic naval training, before they were sent to other bases for specialist training. The scheme continued until 1984, and over 12,000 Junior Recruits graduated from LEEUWIN during that 24-year period. Many went on to lengthy careers in the RAN, with a large number reaching commissioned rank. In many ways the Junior Recruit concept and training was modeled on the boys training ship HMAS TINGIRA, (1912-27), which had trained boys between the ages of 14 and 16 for service in the RAN.

June 18, 1960

HMA Ships WARREGO, (sloop), and KIMBLA, (trials vessel), with Clearance Diving Teams, recovered bodies and wreckage from a Fokker Friendship airliner which crashed with the loss of 29 lives in the sea off Mackay, QLD.

May 25, 1960

HMAS BASS, (general purpose vessel), was commissioned.

May 9, 1960

Whilst in the China Sea HMAS MELBOURNE lost an XA359 Gannet aircraft. The aircraft lost on engine whilst being catapulted and ditched ahead of the ship. LCDR Rowland was the pilot, and LEUT’s Horton and Findlay observers. Rowland was rescued by the SAR Sycamore helicopter, Horton and Findlay by HMS CAVALIER, and later transfered to MELBOURNE.

April 30, 1960

The Foundation-stone of the HMAS WATSON Memorial Chapel, also known as the Chapel of St. George the Martyr, was laid by a young man, a ward of Legacy, who remained anonymous. His father was a Naval rating who lost his life in service at sea in World War II, three months before his son was born. The chapel was completed in 1961.

March 6, 1960

HMAS QUICKMATCH, (frigate), was dispatched from Darwin to search for survivors from the Indonesian lugger SEMANGAT BARU. The wreck of the vessel was found 400 miles south of Bathurst Island, One survivor was picked up.

February 16, 1960

HMAS BANKS, (general purpose vessel), was commissioned. BANKS was laid down at Walker’s Yard, Maryborough, QLD in 1959, and launched on 15 December 1959. She and her sister ship BASS, had a varied career in the RAN alternating from RANR training ships, survey work, and navigation training for Midshipman and Senior Sailors.