The premier naval training establishment celebrated its 60th anniversary since commissioning at Sydney’s prominent South Head. The ship’s company of HMAS Watson (Captain Ian Middleton, RAN) marched through Double Bay, ...
Australian Units
RAN Minelaying Effort during WW2
This extract is taken from NHSA Monograph No. 179 ‘HMAS Bungaree – Australia’s only Minelayer’ – which was published in 2003, but has not been widely circulated. The Admiralty suggested ...
Anti-Submarine Defences of Sydney Harbour 1942
The British Officer-in-Charge of Australia’s anti-submarine training establishment warned Navy chiefs, four months before Japanese midget submarines attacked Sydney Harbour in May 1942, that the defences against such a raid ...
HMAS Castlemaine a ship re-born
Sixty years on, there it was. The unmistakable motion of the moving deck of an Australian Navy corvette under my feet. I always knew they could roll on wet grass. ...
Australian Naval History on 29 March 2005
An earthquake hit the west coast of Sumatra, (which had been recently devastated by a Tsunami in December 2004). Operation Sumatra Assist II was launched, and HMAS KANIMBLA, (CMDR G. ...
Australian Naval History on 12 March 2005
The frigate HMAS ANZAC, (CAPT Richard Menhenick, CSC, RAN), departed Australia on a six month world cruise, (Operation Northern Trident). During the cruise the ship was destined to take part ...
Able Seaman Harry Mason
Those of us who were fortunate in knowing him will be saddened to learn of Harry’s death earlier this year, aged 93. Harry was an Englishman, obviously from a good ...
Australian Naval History on 27 February 2005
ADML M.W. Hudson, AC, RAN(Rtd), died in Sydney. He was born in 1933 and entered the RAN College in 1947. During his 44 year career he was commanding officer of ...
Australian Naval History on 24 February 2005
HMAS ARUNTA, (CMDR W. Bairstow, CSC, RAN), provided assistance to the Panama registered container ship MV MSC DENISSE that was drifting southeast of Christmas Island with a flooded engine room. ...
Australian Naval History on 22 January 2005
The Anzac class frigate, HMAS BALLARAT, (CMDR S. Hunter, CSC, RAN), ran aground at Flying Fish Cove, Christmas Island, while conducting Operation Reflex border protection patrols. BALLARAT was able to ...
Australian Naval History on 13 January 2005
HMAS KANIMBLA, (CMDR Steve Woodall, RAN), arrived at Banda Aceh, (Northern Sumatra), to provide support as part of Operation Sumatra Assist, following the devastation wreaked on the area by a ...
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 ...
HMAS Success 2004 – A year in perspective
A summary of the deployments and achievements of HMAS Success in 2004 With 2004 rapidly coming to a close, the keener eyed observer may have noticed a regular absentee from ...
Australian Naval History on 31 December 2004
HMAS Kanimbla II sailed from Sydney for Indonesia via Darwin for Operation SUMATRA ASSIST in the wake of the Boxing Day Tsunami. ...
Australian Naval History on 1 December 2004
CAPT P. G. Lockwood, DSC, CSC, RAN, was awarded the United States Bronze Star, in recognition of his meritorious service as the Commanding Officer of HMAS ANZAC, (guided missile frigate), ...
Australian Naval History on 19 November 2004
A Seahawk helicopter from 816 Squadron, en-route from Perth, WA, to Nowra, NSW, on completion of an exercise in Western Australian waters, was diverted to take personnel from the Royal ...
Australian Naval History on 15 October 2004
The ANZAC class guided missile frigate HMAS ARUNTA, (CMDR W. J. Bairstow, CSC, RAN), visited the Russian port of Vladivostok. ARUNTA became only the second RAN warship to visit this ...
Australian Naval History on 7 October 2004
The guided missile frigate HMAS MELBOURNE, (CMDR. R. V. S. Dutschke, RAN), responded to a distress call from the iron ore carrier LOWLANDS GRACE, which was anchored off Port Hedland ...
HMAS Australia – Kamikaze Attack 1944
This year (2004) marks the 60th anniversary of the first kamikaze attack on HMAS Australia. As Roger de Lisle reports, Japanese suicide pilots hurled their aircraft onto Allied ships with ...
The Gift Minesweepers
The first dedicated minesweeping vessels in the RAN made their appearance in Australian waters at the end of WW1 to sweep minefields sown by a German raider during the war, ...
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 ...
Commander J.M. Alliston DSO, DSC*, US Legion of Honour, Royal Navy
Commander John Alliston, who has died aged 94, was one of the Second World War’s most highly decorated destroyer captains, who afterwards brought up his family on a remote island ...
Australian Naval History on 23 September 2004
The mine-hunter HMAS DIAMANTINA, (LCDR Peter Bartlett, RAN), returned to Sydney after six weeks service in the Solomon Islands, as part of Operation Anode. During her deployment her ships company ...
Book Review: Minesweeper HMAS Hawk, Indonesia 1965-66
Hands To Boarding Stations: The Story Of Minesweeper HMAS Hawk, Confrontation With Indonesia 1965-66 By John Foster Published by Australian Military History Publications 13 Veronica Place Loftus NSW 2232 Available ...
Australian Naval History on 13 September 2004
Exercise Bersama Lima 2004 commenced in Singaporean and Malaysian waters. This majorFive-Power Defence Arrangement (FPDA) Exercise involved over 30 ships, 80 aircraft, and some 3,000 personnel. The RAN was represented ...