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 ...
HMAS Vendetta I
The Tobruk Run – The Loss of HMS Auckland
By Andreas Biermann A 1200-ton general purpose sloop about to enter the building program was assigned the name HMS Heron, but was renamed and commissioned as HMS Auckland on 16 ...
Occasional Paper 81: Recognition for Scrap Iron Flotilla
The Society was recently gifted a package of assorted papers and photographs collected by the late Petty officer Arthur James Collins. Collins was called up in January 1938 and served ...
Occasional Paper 63: Malta Revisited: Wartime Memories of HMAS Vendetta’s Malta Sojourn in World War II
September 2019 We are indebted to ex Supply Assistant Gordon Hill for this wonderfully illuminating description of his wartime service in the destroyer HMAS Vendetta when based at Malta. His ...
Malta Revisited: Wartime Memories of HMAS Vendetta’s Malta Sojourn in World War II
We are indebted to ex Supply Assistant Gordon Hill for this wonderfully illuminating description of his wartime service in the destroyer HMAS Vendetta when based at Malta. The George Cross Island ...
Malta Revisited
HMAS Vendetta WW2
This is part 3 of an hitherto unpublished personal account was given to the Editor shortly before the death of the author, together with several other brief accounts of his ...
HMAS Perth Part2 – Outbreak of war
This is part 2 of an hitherto unpublished personal account was given to the Editor shortly before the death of the author, together with several other brief accounts of his ...
Ping Wo’s Golden Secret
HMAS Ping Wo was not the most glamorous ship ever requisitioned by the Royal Australian Navy. Described by at least one of her crew as a ‘rust bucket’, the 3105grt ...
The Role of the RAN in the Liberation of the Philippines
Obituary: Rear Admiral Bryn Mussared (1917-1995)
Rear Admiral Bryn Mussared was born in 1917 in Semaphore SA, and entered the Navy in 1932. On passing out from the Naval College, he was awarded ‘maximum time’ and the ...
Obituary: Commodore Rodney Rhoades – The man who fed Tobruk
Commodore Rodney Rhoades RAN, who commanded HMAS Vendetta of the celebrated “Scrap Iron Flotilla” which supplied Tobruk during the World War II siege, has died in Sydney. He was 83. ...
The RAN’s Destroyers
The Acceptance of the Second HMAS Voyager into Her Majesty’s Service
HMAS Barcoo
HMAS BARCOO was one of the eight Australian built River Class anti-submarine frigates laid down during the Second World War. All except Barwon and Macquarie saw active service in the ...
HMAS Canberra’s 1935 cruise
Showing the Flag Around Australia By Civilian Observer This account of HMAS Canberra’s 1935 cruise was printed in the Sun & Guardian dated 8 December, 1935. The cruise was made ...
The Tobruk Run
WHILE I WAS IN COMMAND of HMAS Vendetta in 1940-41, she ran a record number of trips to Tobruk. If my memory serves me right we went into that port ...
Captain A.S. Rosenthal DSO and Bar, OBE, RAN
HMAS Bendigo 1941 – 42
Australian Naval History on 2 July 1948
The hull of the former HMAS VENDETTA was scuttled off Sydney Heads. Last three WRANS, Betty Eastick, Shirley Bell and Margaret Bell, leave the service. The Last RANNS members leave. ...
Australian Naval History on 27 November 1945
HMAS Vendetta paid off for disposal. On 20 March 1946 she was sold to Penguin Pty Ltd, Sydney. Her hull was scuttled off Sydney Heads on 2 July 1948. Sub ...
Australian Naval History on 8 September 1945
HMAS VENDETTA transported 28 released European POW’s from Rabaul to Madang, for repatriation to Australia. The surrender of Dutch Borneo by the Japanese was accepted on board HMAS Burdekin by ...
Australian Naval History on 2 September 1945
The formal surrender of Japan was signed on the USS MISSOURI, (battleship), in Tokyo Bay. The RAN was represented by CDRE J. A. Collins, CB, and HMA Ships SHROPSHIRE, HOBART, ...
Australian Naval History on 7 November 1944
HMA Ships VENDETTA, (destroyer), SWAN, (sloop), and BARCOO, (frigate), completed their bombardment of Wide Bay, New Britain. The guns were directed by Australian Coastwatchers. ...
Australian Naval History on 6 November 1944
HMAS GASCOYNE, (frigate), shot down a Japanese kamikaze aircraft aimed at HMAS SHROPSHIRE, (cruiser), in Lingayen Gulf. HMA Ships VENDETTA, BARCOO, and SWAN, bombarded Japanese positions at Wide Bay, New ...