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 Swan 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 ...
The Attack on Darwin – A Pictorial Record
Obituary: Rear-Admiral H.A.S SHOWERS, CBE
The RAN’s Destroyers
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: First Born of The Commonwealth Navy
Australian Naval Aviation – Part 1
THE HISTORY OF WORLD naval aviation began, tentatively, in the lighter-than-air era. As far back as November 1861, during the American Civil War, the Union Army – employing maritime techniques – released the Washington balloon from a remodelled coal barge, the G.W. Parke Curtis, to observe the enemy at Budd’s Ferry. ...
Emden-Sydney Relics at Penguin
Relics of SMS Emden bask in the sunshine on the lawn of HMAS Penguin at Balmoral, Sydney. The principal relic is one of the German cruiser’s ten 4 1 inch ...
Australian Naval History on 4 December 1939
The 20th Minesweeping Flotilla, HMA Ships SWAN, YARRA, ORARA, and DOOMBA, commenced operations on the east coast of Australia. ...
Australian Naval History on 2 February 1934
The hulk of HMAS SWAN, (former torpedo boat destroyer), sank during a gale on the Hawkesbury River, NSW. Her sister ship PARRAMATTA was blown ashore onto a mud flat where ...
Australian Naval History on 15 June 1933
The hulls of HMA Ships PARRAMATTA and SWAN, (torpedo boat destroyers), were sold by public auction for £12 each. ...
Australian Naval History on 11 January 1930
The Australian Government agreed to the transfer of HMA Ships PARRAMATTA and SWAN, (torpedo boat destroyers), to the NSW Government for use as accommodation ships for civil prisoners. The vessels ...
Australian Naval History on 15 May 1928
HMAS Swan paid off for disposal at Sydney and was stripped of useful fittings and equipment, in 1930, at Cockatoo Dockyard and her hulk towed to the Hawkesbury River. Swan ...
Australian Naval History on 4 January 1921
The following ships were laid up in reserve in Sydney: HMA Ships ENCOUNTER, (cruiser), PARRAMATTA, YARRA, WARREGO, HUON, SWAN, and TORRENS, (destroyers), and MALLOW, (sloop). ...
Australian Naval History on 17 March 1919
After their service with the RN is finished HMA Ships HMAS Melbourne , Torrens, Huon, Warrego, Swan, Yarra and Parramatta sailed from Malta for Australia ...
Australian Naval History on 26 December 1918
HMA Ships PARRAMATTA, SWAN, YARRA, and HUON, (torpedo boat destroyers), sailed from Ismid, in the Sea of Marmara, for Malta, where they were joined by sister ships TORRENS and WARREGO, ...
Australian Naval History on 8 December 1918
CMDR J. Bond, RAN, of HMAS SWAN, (destroyer), led a party of Australian and French officers to Novocherkassk to meet General Krasnoff, Commander of White Russian troops in South Russia. ...
Australian Naval History on 3 December 1918
HMAS SWAN, and the French Ship BISSON, (destroyers), entered the Sea of Azov to observe the state of White Russians in the area. ...
Australian Naval History on 25 October 1918
HMAS SWAN, (torpedo boat destroyer), rescued the crew of an aircraft which had force-landed in the Mediterranean. The aircraft had been operating with a Japanese destroyer flotilla escorting a convoy ...
Australian Naval History on 2 October 1918
HMA Ships SWAN and WARREGO, (torpedo boat destroyers), provided escorts for British light cruisers, and participated in the bombardment of the Austrian naval base at Durazzo, Albania. ...
Australian Naval History on 14 October 1917
The Australian destroyer flotilla, HMA Ships WAREGO, PARRAMATTA, YARRA, SWAN, TORRENS, and HUON, began patrol operations in the Mediterranean, at the mouth of the Adriatic Sea, from a base at ...
Australian Naval History on 5 October 1917
HMAS SWAN, (torpedo boat destroyer), attacked a submarine disguised as a fishing schooner off Corfu. SWAN dropped depth charges, but the submarine dived and escaped, leaving her mast and sails ...
Australian Naval History on 9 May 1917
The Australian Government agreed to send HMA Ships WARREGO, PARRAMATTA, YARRA, SWAN, TORRENS, and HUON, to European waters, following and urgent request from Britain. This request clearly indicated Australia did ...
Australian Naval History on 16 August 1916
The River class torpedo boat destroyer HMAS SWAN, (LEUT E. M. Mortimer, RN), was commissioned. SWAN was laid down in Cockatoo Island Dockyard, Sydney, on 22 January 1915, and launched ...