After lying dormant for many years a 73 year old letter written by a survivor from HMAS Yarra II has recently surfaced.The original recipient of the letter, George Vooles died in ...
HMAS Yarra II
HMAS Yarra (II) Unit Citation for Gallantry
By LCDR Desmond Woods, RAN On 4 March this year the Governor General Her Excellency the Honourable Quentin Bryce, AC, CVO awarded a retrospective Unit Citation for Gallantry to HMAS ...
HMAS Maryborough – Indian Ocean May 1942
Loss of HMAS Yarra – 4 March, 1942
HMAS Yarra, under the command of Lieutenant Commander Robert ‘Oscar’ Rankin, was sunk while defending a convoy against a vastly superior Imperial Japanese Navy squadron commanded by Vice Admiral Nobutake ...
Last Link With HMAS YARRA Gone
On 23 July 2005, Mrs Molly McLean (the widow of LCDR R W Rankin, RAN) passed away in Charters Towers, QLD. She was 92 years old. Molly was born Mary ...
Captain Harry L. Howden OBE, CBE, RAN
Letters – Unacknowledged heroes
I have read with interest the comments in the Naval Historical Review on HMAS YARRA and Leading Seaman Taylor’s heroic action. I also believe this last action of YARRA’S has ...
Mystery of paper trail for HMAS Yarra gallantry claims
Leading Seaman Ronald ‘Buck’ Taylor (1918-1942)
Ronald ‘Buck’ Taylor was born in Carlton, Victoria on 29 April 1918, one of ten children born to Elsie and George Taylor, and grew up in the Port Melbourne area. ...
Spectrum of Command -RANVR, RANR(S) and RAN
*The first became Australia’s Minister for Defence. * The second piloted 8463 ships of the world through our major ports to set a record that probably never will be eclipsed. ...
Heroes Too Long Forgotten
Biography of Lieutenant Commander R.W. Rankin RAN, and the loss of HMAS Yarra
RAN Minesweepers and Minehunters
Lieutenant-Commander R.W. Rankin of HMAS Yarra
On 14th August, 1992, shortly after HMAS CRESWELL’S annual Passing Out Parade, Miss Trish Rankin presented her father’s medals to Captain C.S.H. Harrington, RAN, Commanding Officer of HMAS CRESWELL. Fifty ...
Flinders Naval Depot
Flinders Naval Depot – The Cradle of the RAN ONE RESULT OF THE FAMOUS HENDERSON REPORT of 1910 was the establishment of a naval depot at Crib Point, Victoria. Originally ...
HMAS Bendigo 1941 – 42
This Man Howden – Captain Harry L. Howden, CBE, RAN
Australian Naval History on 9 March 1942
Thirteen survivors from HMAS YARRA, (sloop), were picked up by the Dutch submarine K11 in the Indian Ocean. Coastwatcher P. Good was executed by the Japanese at Kessa on Buka ...
Australian Naval History on 4 March 1942
HMA Ships, MARYBOROUGH, (CMDR G.L. Cant, RAN, Commander of the Australian corvettes), BURNIE, GOULBURN, BALLARAT, TOOWOOMBA, WOLLONGONG, and BENDIGO, (corvettes), were headed for Australia, from Tjilatjap. The sloop HMAS YARRA, ...
Australian Naval History on 3 March 1942
The Commonwealth Government appointed Mr Justice Lowe as Royal Commissioner to inquire into the circumstances of the Japanese air raid on Darwin on 19 February 1942. The Australian transport KOOLAMA ...
Australian Naval History on 24 February 1942
HMAS YARRA, (sloop), passed her last mail to HMAS VENDETTA, (destroyer), 200 miles south of Christmas Island. VENDETTA was being towed south from Singapore to Australia for repair. YARRA returned ...
Australian Naval History on 23 February 1942
HMAS WARRNAMBOOL rescued 40 survivors from the bombed merchant vessel FLORENCE D and the crew of a downed Catalina flying boat from Bathurst Island. The veteran cruiser HMAS ADELAIDE, rendezvoused ...
Australian Naval History on 16 February 1942
The naval tug HMAS FORCEFUL was commissioned. FORCEFUL was laid down in Alex Stephen & Sons, Govan, Scotland, and launched on 20 November 1925, for MacDonald Hamilton & Co. She ...
Australian Naval History on 5 February 1942
HMAS YARRA, (sloop), took off 1304 troops from the burning troop transport EMPRESS OF ASIA near Sultan Reef, Singapore. The rescue was effected under heavy air attack. LCDR W H ...
Australian Naval History on 4 February 1942
While escorting the troopship AQUITANIA to Batavia, Netherlands East Indies, HMAS CANBERRA, (cruiser), sighted a Japanese submarine directly ahead of the troopship. The submarine dived and escaped before CANBERRA could ...