By Walter Burroughs The name Scapa Flow was synonymous with naval operations in both world wars as a safe anchorage for vast fleets seeking to control access to the seaborne ...
Australian Units
Book Review: THE LAST CRUISE OF A GERMAN RAIDER – THE DESTRUCTION OF SMS EMDEN
THE LAST CRUISE OF A GERMAN RAIDER – THE DESTRUCTION OF SMS EMDEN by Wes Olson. Seaforth Publishing, Pen and Sword Books, Barnsley, United Kingdom, 2018. Hard Cover, 274 Pages, ...
HMAS Canberra (1) and her White Ensign
Some months ago the Naval Historical Society (NHS) was approached by Mrs Kylie Lee from Toowoomba, who from her mother’s estate came into possession of a white ensign from HMAS ...
The Emden Guns
By Wes Olson When the small German cruiser SMS Emden was destroyed by HMAS Sydney at the Cocos-Keeling Islands on 9 November 1914 the British Admiralty was presented with a unique opportunity ...
HMAS Sydney sailor Crosses the Bar – John Ravenscroft (1921 – 2018)
By Greg Swinden On 19 July 1940 one of the RAN’s more famous actions was fought in the Mediterranean. HMAS Sydney’s destruction of the Italian light cruiser Bartolomeo Colleoni, and putting ...
A Hundred-Year-Old Mystery Solved: What Really Happened to AE1
This important commentary by Rear Admiral Peter Briggs AO CSC RAN (Rtd) provides a summary of research that led to the successful discovery of the remains of AE1by MV Fugro ...
Australian Naval History on 23 November 2018
The future HMAS Supply II, was launched by Spanish shipbuilder Navantia at its Ferrol shipyard. ...
Occasional Paper 39: The Story Of Commander Paul Hugill Hirst RAN 1899-1963
November 2018 Compelled to Resign: The Story Of Commander Paul Hugill Hirst RAN 1899-1963 by Lieutenant Commander Terry Feltham RAN Ret’d “Just because something ends doesn’t mean it never should’ve ...
Australian Naval History on 31 October 2018
HMA Ships Hawkesbury and Norman were decommissioned . They had been in Extended Readiness Availability since 2009. ...
Occasional Paper 35: Loss of HMAS Parramatta (II): First Hand Accounts
September 2018 Recently the Naval Historical Society of Australia was favoured with two handwritten letters from survivors of the sinking of HMAS Parramatta (II) off Tobruk overnight 27 November 1941. ...
Occasional Paper 33: HMAS Cerberus – Early History and Observations
August 2018 This paper was developed after locating a 1970 HMAS Cerberus Wardroom mess dinner menu. The menu included observations by prominent citizens about HMAS Cerberus and its location at ...
Occasional Paper 32: HMAS Voyager (I) or What’s in a Coat of Paint?
August 2018 During WWII ships of the RAN were painted in a number of different colour schemes as these photos of Voyager illustrate and information on both peacetime and wartime ...
Occasional Paper 30: HMAS Hobart
Several events concerning the three HMA Ships Hobart come together with a memorial and commemoration service at the Garden Island Chapel on Sunday 22nd July starting at 10.00am. HMAS Hobart ...
Occasional Paper 23: HMAS Darwin Decommissioning
On 8 December 2017 the guided missile frigate HMAS Darwin was decommissioned in a ceremony at Fleet Base East, Garden Island in the presence of former crew and hundreds of ...
Occasional Paper 22: HMAS Advance faces 50
An Article from ‘All Hands’ December 2017 edition The Australian National Maritime Museum Volunteers’ Quarterly Newsletter By Wal Robson The museum’s popular patrol boat has a significant birthday coming up ...
Australian Naval History on 27 October 2018
HMAS Brisbane III commissioned at Garden Island ...
Occasional Paper 36: HMAS Sydney (III) Delivery to Australia 1949
Our thanks go to Debbie Irwin for the letter by her uncle, Stoker Mechanician James (Jim) Ashwood of HMAS Sydney (3) to his sister Nancy dated 8 May 1949 about ...
The RAAF at Sea before World War II
The following article first appeared in the Air Power Development Centre Bulletin Pathfinder, Issue 175 dated April 2012 and is reproduced with their kind permission. The perspective of our sister ...
HDML 1321 and what she represents
Java is heaven, Burma is hell but you never come back alive from New Guinea – Japanese wartime saying An eagle-eyed member of our Society drew attention to this short ...
Australian Naval History on 28 June 2018
HMAS Tobruk II was sunk in the Great Sandy Marine Park, between Bundaberg and Hervey Bay, Queensland. ...
Rear Admiral Claude Lionel Cumberiege and his influence on the RAN
The Naval Historical Society was recently favoured with copies of two volumes of an unpublished five volume set comprising the autobiography of Rear Admiral Cumberiege. The volumes came from his ...
Women’s Emergency Signalling Corps: Forerunner of the Women’s Royal Australian Naval Service
By Dr J. K. Haken The Women’s Emergency Signalling Corps (WESC) was formed by Mrs. Florence Violet McKenzie in March 1939 at 9 Clarence Street, Sydney, months before WWII was ...
Telegraphist William Wolseley Falconer RAN
By Richard Arundel* Telegraphist W.W. Falconer, who was the radio operator in AE2 when she penetrated the Dardanelles Straits in 1915, was born in Richmond, Victoria, on 14 October 1892 ...
Naval Health Services Memorial
Over recent timeswhat was the Naval Health Services has undergone a significant transformation, becoming part of a unified Defence Health Services organisation. To many past members of the wider naval ...
Letter: HMAS Patricia Cam families visit
The following email was recently received addressed to the President of the Naval Historical Society and your Editor from Michael Owen a Darwin based historian who operates Top End Heritage ...