The frigate HMAS NEWCASTLE, (CAPT T. N. Jones, CSC, RAN), was en-route to Hawaii for Exercise Rimpac 04, when she was diverted to rescue three Danish sailors from the yacht ...
Australian Units
Australian Naval History on 16 June 2004
The tanker MT DELOS, was purchased by the RAN as a replacement for HMAS WESTRALIA. MT DELOS is a 37,000 double-hulled tanker built in South Korea. The tanker was to ...
Visit To HMAS Sheean – Garden Island 2003
The Editor managed to score an unexpected conducted tour of one of the RAN’s latest Collins Class submarines, HMAS Sheean, alongside the dedicated submarine berth in Fleet Base East. ON ...
By Dawn’s Early Light
HMAS Hawkesbury and Singapore POWs return
With the unveiling by CDF General Cosgrove at Ballarat on 6 February 2004 of the memorial dedicated to 35,000 Australians who became prisoners-of-war in all conflicts, journalist and Navy veteran ...
Australian Naval History on 3 June 2004
The Minister of Defence, Mr Robert Hill, announced the purchase of a new tanker to replace the aging HMAS WESTRALIA. The tanker DELOS, which had been built in South Korea ...
Australian Naval History on 2 June 2004
During a two week ‘blitz’ on illegal fishing vessels in Northern Australian waters, more then 15 Indonesian fishing vessels were detained. HMA Ships BUNBURY, WARRNAMBOOL, and WHYALLA, (patrol boats), assisted ...
Australian Naval History on 1 June 2004
The damaged yacht ELIZABETH II was towed into Darwin, after being rescued by the patrol boat HMAS GAWLER, (LCDR R. Donnelly, RAN), near Bathurst Island. ...
Australian Naval History on 20 May 2004
The ADF ceased to formally provide security forces in Timor Leste, (formerly East Timor), when security for the nation was handed over to the country’s own Defence Force and Police. ...
Australian Naval History on 25 April 2004
Prime Minister, John Howard, accompanied by the CDF, (General Peter Cosgrove), make a surprise ANZAC Day visit to Australian personnel serving in Baghdad. A planned visit to HMAS STUART, then ...
Australian Naval History on 24 April 2004
The ANZAC class frigate HMAS STUART, (CMDR Phillip Spedding, RAN), took part in the rescue of US personnel following a suicide attack by three boats on oil terminals at Basra ...
Chief of Naval Staff Visits HMAS Benalla
DURING WW2 we had commissioned the corvette HMAS Benalla as a survey ship and she was lying alongside Station Pier West, Port Melbourne, about to start acceptance and work-up. A ...
The Commissioning of HMAS Perth, 1939
This is part 1 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 ...
Cerberus in Wartime
The transit from peacetime tempo to the demands of wartime training left strong impressions on the many trainees during their introduction to the Navy in WW2. We were all Acting ...
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 ...
Book Review: Roughers: Photographs of warships fighting the elements
Roughers: Photographs of warships fighting the elements Compiled by Mike Critchley and Steve Bush Published by Maritime Books Lodge Hill, Liskheard PL 14 4EL, Cornwall, England. E-mail: orders.marbooks@virgin.net. ; Website: www.navybooks.com; Price: ...
Book Review: The Kellys
The Kellys – British J, K & N Class Destroyers of World War II By Christopher Langtree Published by Chatham Publishing, Kent, England Distributed in Australia by Peribo 58 Beaumont Street, ...
Australian Naval History on 16 March 2004
While on a goodwill visit to Wellington, New Zealand, the HMAS SUCCESS, (tanker), had graffiti spray painted on her hull. The slogan “J. Howard US bootlicker” was spray painted in ...
Australian Naval History on 10 March 2004
The frigate HMAS STUART, (CMDR. P. Spedding, OAM, RAN), departed Sydney for service in the Persian Gulf as part of Operation Catalyst. In keeping with tradition the ship, nicknamed the ...
Australian Naval History on 9 March 2004
The frigate HMAS WARRAMUNGA, (CMDR J Vandyke, RAN), assists in transferring a critically ill passenger from the P&O cruise liner ADONIA, to the hospital at Christmas Island. WARRAMUNGA was conducting ...
Australian Naval History on 24 February 2004
VADM Chris Ritchie, AO, RAN, (Chief of Naval Staff), released a signal to the RAN concerning the safety of Anthrax injections issued to RAN personnel who were involved in the ...
Australian Naval History on 6 February 2004
The Australian Ex-Prisoners of War Memorial was dedicated at the Ballarat Botanical Gardens by the Chief of the Defence Force (General Peter Cosgrove, AO, MC). Among the 35,000 names on ...
Australian Naval History on 23 January 2004
HMAS WARRAMUNGA, (frigate), intercepts the illegal fishing vessel MAYA V near Heard Island. Due to bad weather and heavy seas a Navy boarding party was fast roped, from a Seahawk ...
Australian Naval History on 21 January 2004
The patrol boat, HMAS GLADSTONE, (LCDR M. Moore, RAN), apprehended the illegal fishing vessel SUMUT SAKHON in the Gulf of Carpentaria. GLADSTONE was forced to fire rifle shots across the ...
Australian Naval History on 19 January 2004
The submarine HMAS DECHAINEAUX becomes the first RAN vessel to use the new Naval Ammunition Wharf at Twofold Bay, NSW. The facility was built to replace the previous ammunition storage ...