- Author
- Letter Writer
- Subjects
- RAN operations, Ship histories and stories, Letter to the Editor
- Tags
- RAN Ships
- HMAS Cerberus (Shore Establishment)
- Publication
- December 2012 edition of the Naval Historical Review (all rights reserved)
Dear Sir,
Well done for the September issue of the Naval Historical Review. Another good read. May I say that as far as my service with the Royal Australian Navy in the mid fifties and early sixties was concerned I find that without hesitation I can support the remarks made by Bob Trotter in his letter to the editor. As a general entry recruit to HMAS Cerberus (known as Flinders Naval Depot in my day) I never witnessed nor heard of any incidents of systematic abuse either in recruit school or in all my years of service at sea or ashore. Indeed when I get together now with old shipmates the memories of our service is always very positive (although I must admit some of the stories are getting better with age!)
On the subject of memories the article on SS Runic brought back many for me. I was a signalman in HMAS Vendetta and was the communication rating in the ship’s cutter sent over to Runic to rescue the Master’s and Engineer’s wives. Vendetta was doing work up exercises in Jervis Bay prior to a nine month tour in the Far East Strategic Reserve when the call was received to proceed at speed to Middleton Reef to assist Runic. We refuelled and embarked a salvage expert and a TV crew in Sydney before proceeding to the Runic at 30 knots. On the way out to the reef we passed a tug which had sailed earlier. The TV crew asked if we could pass as closely as possible to enable some good vision to be recorded. I was on the bridge as duty signalman and kept the tug in my vision through binoculars. I can still recall clearly the people on board the tug reacting with some concern when they realised the bow wave Vendetta was making was heading their way like a miniature tsunami. A lot of movement but fortunately no apparent damage to vessel or passengers. Vendetta sent ship’s divers to inspect Runic’s hull – a risky undertaking because of the number of reef sharks in the area. Vendetta used its ASDIC to help navigate around the reef. At the time the salvage people were very confident on refloating the ship but as your article reveals that was never done and ship ended up a complete wreck.
Yours sincerely,
Gavin Ryan
Past Vice President
WA Section
Naval Association of Australia