The Queensland Fraser Coast and Royal Australian Navy Historical Ties The Queensland Fraser Coast has a rich maritime history and a long and entwined history, first with the Queensland Maritime ...
Australian Units
Australian Naval History on 13 October 2023
The Evolved Cape class patrol boat ADV Cape Pillar was officially accepted by the RAN ...
Australian Naval History on 28 September 2023
HMAS Maryborough (II) and HMAS Larraika (II) decommissioned at HMAS Coonawarra. ...
Book Review: “Safe to Dive – Submarine Support in Sydney 1914 to 1999”
“Safe to Dive – Submarine Support in Sydney 1914 to 1999” by John Jeremy was published by The Naval Historical Society of Australia in 2023, under licence agreement with the ...
Auster shootdown over Sydney in 1955
FOR more than three hours on a fine, calm August morning in 1955, the eyes of Sydney’s suburbia were fixed skyward, anxiously watching the flight of a pilotless Auster aeroplane ...
Exploring the Charms of the Historic Seaport of Williamstown, Victoria
Glenn Jones, the Executive Officer of the Seaworks Maritime Precinct, has kindly put together this invitation to our members who may care to visit or revisit Williamstown with its many ...
Getting in and out of the Naval College
The June 2023 edition of this magazine contained an article Tristan da Cunha and a Tribute to John Smith, providing a shortened version of the remarkable life story of Commander ...
A War Artist’s Nude Painting
By Beryllouise Mitchell In 1999, after the 30 August ballot in East Timor (later Timor-Leste) that was to determine the territory’s future went drastically wrong, the United Nations sanctioned an ...
USS Canberra commissions in Sydney
An historically significant ceremony occurred at Sydney’s Fleet Base East on Saturday 22 July 2023 when the Freedom-class Littoral Combat Ship USS Canberra commissioned into the United States Navy. This ...
Occasional Paper 169: HMAS Vendetta and Commander Eric Eugene Johnston RAN; Vietnam Deployment 1969 – 1970
By Bjarne (Barney) Kristensen The 18 August 2023 marked fifty years since the cessation of hostilities in Vietnam (The Vietnam War) with commemorations conducted throughout Australia. In this paper I ...
Occasional Paper 168: The Royal Australian Navy in the Pacific War: 1943
Eighty years ago, in 1943 the tide of the war in the Pacific was at last turning for the better. After four long years of war and significant RAN ship ...
Occasional Paper 166: A history of HMAS Waterhen
by CMDR Rick Westoby, OAM, RAN Past History of the Site The site of HMAS Waterhen, on the shoreline of Balls Head Bay, sits within the traditional land of ...
New Entry Officers’ Course Essays
In 1985 the Naval Historical Society (NHS) first donated an essay prize to the college. The prize consisted of a one-year subscription to the Society and a six-volume bound collection ...
Australian Naval History on 22 June 2023
The Evolved Cape class patrol boat ADV Cape Woolamai was officially accepted ...
Australian Naval History on 16 June 2023
HMA Ships Benalla II and Shepparton II decommissioned at Cairns ...
Occasional Paper 164: Saving the old Parramatta
By Ross Gillett The unusual post-war career of the first Australian destroyer The first HMAS Parramatta, a River class torpedo boat destroyer (TBD), was commissioned into the Australian Fleet in ...
Occasional Paper 163: Able Seaman Frank McGovern OAM 1919 – 2023
By Commander Steve Youll OAM RAN (Retd) Frank McGovern, at 19 years of age joined the Royal Australian Navy on the 30 August 1939. After initial training he was posted ...
Australian Naval History on 1 June 2023
HMAS Launceston II was decommissioned at Darwin ...
Occasional Paper 161: HMAS Tobruk (II) Recognized for Operation SOLACE Service
Thirty years after the event, HMAS Tobruk and the crew members of her 1992-93 Operation SOLACE deployment to Somalia received approval from the Minister for Defence Personnel, Matt Keogh for ...
Occasional Paper 162: Port Phillip’s Fleet Review 1920
By Ross Gillett “In the perfect beauty of the crisp autumn afternoon, the Prince of Wales made his triumphant entry to the homeland of the Anzacs in the Australian destroyer ...
Occasional Paper 159: River Class Torpedo Boat Destroyers
This article was originally published in LE GROGNARD!, the newsletter of the ACT Branch of the Military Historical Society of Australia, January 2023 edition – Issue #2023/1. Tim Lyon is ...
Occasional Paper 160: Shipwright First Class Patrick Daniel Murphy BEM
The following biography is based on that prepared by the Museum of Perth for the Soldiers of Barrack Street exhibition. Included in the second part of this paper is a ...
Australian Naval History on 30 March 2023
HMAS Armidale II decommissioned in Darwin ...
Book Review: The Scrap Iron Flotilla
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 ...
An Australian minesweeper goes to Cyprus
The following arises from the article A Magnificent Greek Warship published in the December 2022 edition of the Naval Historical Review which explored the history of the Greek museum ship ...