The 15th of February marks the anniversary of when General Arthur Percival, the commander of all Allied forces in Singapore, formally surrendered to the Imperial Japanese Army, under the command ...
HMAS Armidale
Craig Monahan, Australian film maker This podcast on the wartime sinking of HMAS Armidale and the subsequent search for survivors is an epic of leadership and resourcefulness that was little ...
Napoleon, the Royal Navy and Me
Napoleon Bonaparte is mostly known for his military activities. However, in the latter part of his life, the Royal Navy featured strongly. And indeed, some of the procedures adopted by ...
The Case of the Unknown Sailor
ABC Podcast The sailor was a crewman on HMAS Sydney, which fought a fierce battle with a German warship off the coast of WA in 1941. Both ships sank and every ...
Night of the midget subs — Sydney under attack
ABC Podcast In May 1942 the Imperial Japanese Navy sent three midget submarines armed with torpedoes into Sydney Harbour. The plan was to launch an attack on Australian and ...
D-Day commando on Sword Beach by Commander Jim Speed DSC, RAN – Part 1
Commander Jim Speed was a Commando on Sword Beach on D-Day 1944. In these podcasts Commander Speed describes his experiences on D-Day. The recordings were made on 25 August 2014 ...
D-Day commando on Sword Beach by Commander Jim Speed DSC, RAN – Part 2
Commander Jim Speed was a Commando on Sword Beach on D-Day 1944. In these podcasts Commander Speed describes his experiences on D-Day. The recordings were made on 25 August 2014 ...
D-Day commando on Sword Beach by Commander Jim Speed DSC, RAN – Part 3
Commander Jim Speed was a Commando on Sword Beach on D-Day 1944. In these podcasts Commander Speed describes his experiences on D-Day. The recordings were made on 25 August 2014 ...
HMAS Diamantina
Lieutenant Commander Maurice G. Rose was the first captain of HMAS Diamantina. The ship was named after the Diamantina River in Queensland, and was a River-class frigate that served the Royal Australian Navy. Diamantina was laid down on 12 ...
Gallipoli and Seapower
The British War Council and many of its advisors were willing to believe that sea power could open the way to Constantinople. It led to the grave underestimation by all ...
A Midshipman’s Journal
Lieutenant Commander WOC Roberts describing some of his early days as seen from a midshipman’s journal. He was called upon at short notice to give an address to the NHSA ...
HMAS Wagga, not Wagga Wagga
Lieutenant Commander WOC Roberts was commanding officer of HMAS Wagga from September 1953 to December 1954, He describes incidents in Wagga’s later career in peace time. HMAS Wagga was one of sixty ...
HMAS Quiberon: a partial history
Lieutenant Commander WOC Roberts talks about his time in HMAS Quiberon. HMAS Quiberon was one of eight Q Class destroyers built for the Royal Navy, and commissioned in to the Royal Australian ...
“As Significant as Trafalgar”: The Battle of the Tsushima Straits. Part 2
Part 2 of Michael Melliar Phelps account of the Battle of Tshushima, and tells the story of the epic voyage of Imperial Russia’s 2nd Pacific Fleet, as it travelled 18,000 ...
“As Significant as Trafalgar”: The Battle of the Tsushima Straits. Part 1
Part 1 of Michael Melliar Phelps account of the 1905 Battle of Tshushima, and the events that led up to the battle. The Battle of Tsushima was a major naval battle fought between Russia ...
The RAAF and the UFO’s: some of the story
Wing Commander Paget discussed the RAAF’s investigation of Unidentified Flying Objects – UFO’s. UFO sightings became common during the Cold War (1945–90) against a background of political and military tensions ...
From Ship-builders to Ship-breakers: the HMAS Albatross story
Mr. Bill O’Sullivan describes the RAN seaplane carrier HMAS Albatross, from her construction, to her demise at the ship-breakers. Albatross was built by Cockatoo Island Dockyard during the mid-1920s and entered service at ...
The Imperial Russian fleet in the Black Sea had a unique character
Commander George Nekrasov talks about the Imperial Russian Fleet in the Black Sea. The Allies in World War I – the Entente Powers – were a coalition of countries led by France, Britain, Imperial ...
Captain Moyes was with Mawson in the Antarctic in 1913; a vivid first-hand account
Captain Morton Henry Moyes’ talk is called ‘With Mawson to the Antarctic’. It is a first-hand account by one of the surviving members of the expedition of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition, ...
Old Sydney Town was a theme park that tried to be a little bit like yesterday
Mr. Robert (Bob) Irvine talks about the proposed Old Sydney Town project, at this stage still an enthusiasts’ dream. It was to be an authentic experience with living reenactors recreating ...
Capt. L.M Hinchliffe DSC, RAN, talking about his experiences in the pre-war Navy.
Captain Max Hinchcliffe subtitled this talk as ‘bits and pieces, odds and ends’. It is an entertainingly personal account of his early years in the RAN, beginning as a young ...
Early Colonial Craft — the first surprising 25 years
Mr Vaughn Evans presents an in-depth study of the vessels built in the colony between 1788 and 1811, and he has unearthed some unusual facts. During the late-18th century and ...
Airships and Zeppelins: their design construction, usage and fate
Mr Ron Cooper, a member of the Aviation Historical Society, gives a wide-ranging overview of airships, Zeppelins, blimps, their design and construction, and the confusions surrounding these iconic aircraft. An airship is ...
The Saga of the Amethyst and the Yangtse Incident
Lieutenant Commander Laurence R. Consadine served in the destroyer HMS Consort in 1949, at the time of the ‘ Yangstse Incident’. This involved the Royal Navy ships HMS Amethyst, HMS Consort, HMS London, and HMS Black Swan on the Yangtze River for three ...
The four funnel cruisers of the Royal Australian Navy
Mr John Bastok traces the career of the 4 four funnel cruisers of the RAN. In 1913 the battle cruiser HMAS Australia was escorted into Sydney Harbour by two of these light ...