By Ross Gillett The unusual post-war career of the first Australian destroyer The first HMAS Parramatta, a River class torpedo boat destroyer (TBD), was commissioned into the Australian Fleet in ...
HMAS Parramatta I
Occasional Paper 159: River Class Torpedo Boat Destroyers
This article was originally published in LE GROGNARD!, the newsletter of the ACT Branch of the Military Historical Society of Australia, January 2023 edition – Issue #2023/1. Tim Lyon is ...
Book Review: The Scrap Iron Flotilla
The Scrap Iron Flotilla by Mike Carlton. William Heinemann Australia. Paperback of 448 pages. rrp $34.99 On Sunday September 3rd 1939, history was tumbling over itself. In the mess decks ...
The River Clyde: The cradle of British shipbuilding and the birthplace of the Royal Australian Navy
By CMDR Tony Vine RAN Rtd The River Clyde in Scotland has long been described as the cradle of the British shipbuilding industry and in 1909 it became the foundation ...
The HMAS Parramatta Memorials
In this our 50th year it is well to reflect on some of the more important projects undertaken by the Society and none is perhaps more worthy than conceiving a ...
Occasional Paper 56: Recollections of founding the Naval Historical Society
June 2019 In 1970 Lew Lind, Rod Atwill, Alan Payne and myself found ourselves with the responsibility of putting together an association which we were to call the Naval Historical ...
HMAS Encounter (1905 – 1932)
HMS Encounter served on the Australia Station and was later commissioned into the RAN. She played a vital role in defence of the eastern coast of Australia, and the anti raider patrols in the South West Pacific. She was regarded as “more beloved than any other unit of our fleet”. ...
Was Parramatta a Defender and Yarra a Druid, and would Warrego have been at home in Rio?
By Driftwood The massive shipbuilding programs leading up to WWI were dominated by the construction of capital ships. These unsustainable programs involved increases in the national debt of Britain and ...
90 Years on: Rabaul and Sydney/Emden 1914
This article was originally published in ‘Semaphore’, the newsletter of the Sea Power Centre – Australia. It is republished with the kind agreement of the Sea Power Centre. This year ...
The Relocation of HMAS Parramatta Memorial
HMAS Parramatta, a torpedo boat destroyer of the River Class, launched in 1910, was the first ship of the Royal Australian Navy. It was decommissioned in 1928 and, with HMAS ...
Captain Harry L. Howden OBE, CBE, RAN
The RAN’s Destroyers
Recollections of founding the Naval Historical Society
HMAS Parramatta Silver Jubilee
Royal Australian Naval Operations 1914
I FEEL THAT THE 75TH ANNIVERSARY of the Royal Australian Navy should not be allowed to slip away without brief mention of the operations carried out by the Navy in ...
When it all Began – the Arrival of the First Royal Australian Naval Fleet
Williamstown Naval Dockyard – Part 1
The RAN in the Black Sea
IN 1918 the Allies had cast their lot with the White Russians in the savage civil war which was raging in Russia. They offered to give support to any state ...
HMAS Parramatta Memorial
The memorial to the three ships bearing the proud title of HMAS Parramatta will be unveiled at 11.00 a.m. on Saturday, 13th June, 1981 at Queens Wharf Steps in the City ...
The Submarine AE2 in World War One
Captain A.S. Rosenthal DSO and Bar, OBE, RAN
HMAS Parramatta: First Born of The Commonwealth Navy
Navy’s First Ship to Become City’s Hovermarine Terminal
Parramatta was being stripped before being towed to sea as a gunnery target when the State Government conceived the idea of using her and her sister ship Swan as accommodation ...
Lower Deck Memories – 1908-1911
Mr. Blakeney wrote these memoirs at the age of 83. He served in the Navy for 49 years, commencing as a cadet in 1906 and ending as captain of the ...
Twins Were Pioneers of the RAN
An announcement that two brothers had been appointed to command sister ships in Australia’s Destroyer Squadron has brought to light the careers of twin brothers who were pioneers of the ...