The auxiliary oiler replenishment ship HMAS SUCCESS, (CAPT J. G. Longden, RAN), was commissioned. SUCCESS was laid down at Cockatoo Island Dockyard, Sydney, and launched on 3 March 1984. Lady ...
Australian Units
The Day the Emden Came A-Calling
(Reprinted by permission of Penang New Sunday Times, October 28, 1984) On October 28, 1914 – exactly 70 years ago today – most of the people of Penang were still ...
The Acceptance of the Second HMAS Voyager into Her Majesty’s Service
Australian Naval History on 7 March 1986
Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II presented new Royal Colours to the RAN at a ceremony held at HMAS CRESWELL. ...
Australian Naval History on 4 February 1986
HMA Ships IPSWICH, DUBBO, CAIRNS, and BENDIGO, (patrol boats), assessed the damage and rendered assistance to civil authorities in Northern Australia in the wake of Cyclone Winifred. ...
Australian Naval History on 28 January 1986
HMA Ships HOBART, SYDNEY, PARRAMATTA, DERWENT, and VAMPIRE, and aircraft of No.817 Squadron were dispatched to search for an F111 bomber which crashed into the sea off Bateman’s Bay, NSW. ...
Australian Naval History on 16 December 1985
HMAS SUPPLY was paid off into reserve at Sydney. She had steamed 667,421 miles at an average speed of 12.84 knots and completed 3401 underway replenishments at sea. ...
HMAS Melbourne – As it Was, a Bird’s Eye View
BOARDING THE CARRIER MELBOURNE for the first time it was all so baffling. The ship is so huge and her geography so complex I was continually lost as I wandered ...
Australian Naval History on 6 December 1985
HMAS STALWART, (maintenance ship), made an emergency voyage to Macquarie Island for ANARE to land Christmas stores for the staff, when the Antarctic supply ship NELLA DAN developed defects. ...
Australian Naval History on 29 November 1985
HMAS YARRA, (destroyer escort), was paid off into reserve at Sydney. ...
Australian Naval History on 28 November1985
HMAS OVENS, (Oberon class submarine), made the first of the RAN’s sub-surface firings of the UGM48 Harpoon anti-ship missile. This was also the first Harpoon firing from a conventional submarine. ...
Australian Naval History on 22 November 1985
HMAS YARRA, (destroyer escort), was decommissioned into reserve. YARRA was sold 1991, and broken up in 1992. ...
Australian Naval History on 2 November 1985
HMAS CANBERRA signalled the Russian ship FRUNZE which she had shadowed for three days in the South China Sea; ‘Happy 68th Birthday, (of the Russian Revolution). We leave you in ...
Australian Naval History on 1 November 1985
HMAS Canberra intercepted and shadowed the large Soviet cruiser Frunze and her escorts. The Soviet Surface Action Group (SAG) comprised the Kirov Class cruiser Frunze, the Sovremenny Class guided missile ...
Australian Naval History on 23 October 1985
A gas leak from a sullage tank in HMAS STALWART, (escort maintenance ship), caused the death of three sailors. Another fifty of the ship’s crew were affected by the gas, ...
Australian Naval History on 18 October 1985
HMAS ASSAIL, the last of the RAN’s Attack class patrol boats still in commission, was transferred to the Indonesian Navy as a gift. ...
Australian Naval History on 13 October 1985
The guided missile destroyer HMAS PERTH, (CAPT G. Sloper, RAN), rescued the crew of the Singaporean ship HOE LIEN, in mountainous seas off Newcastle, NSW. PERTH took the ship in ...
Australian Naval History on 11 October 1985
HMAS CURLEW, (mine hunter), and RAN Clearance Divers recovered the bodies from the Pel-Air freighter aircraft which had crashed into Botany Bay, Sydney. ...
Australian Naval History on 9 October 1985
Service in HMA Ships SYDNEY, JEPARIT, and BOONAROO, (troop supply ships), was accepted as ‘war service’ in the Vietnam War, under the terms of the Repatriation Act. ...
Oilers in the Royal Australian Navy
IN THE BEGINNING there was COAL!! Lots of it. Dirty, dusty, nostril filling and seemingly unlimited in supply. Coaling Ship was an evolution in which everybody was engaged in the ...
ML 817’s New Guinea Operations
New Meaning put into the word Camouflage WARSHIP CAMOUFLAGE came in some weird and wonderful forms during WW II. But for one of the smaller ships of the RAN it ...
Australian Naval History on 23 September 1985
HMAS Balikpapan was temporarily decommissioned and placed in a state of reserve at Cairns. She remained in reserve until mid-1989, when it was decided that she would be reactivated as ...
Australian Naval History on 19 September 1985
The strength of the RAN’s heavy landing ship squadron was cut by half when HMA Ships TARAKAN, WEWAK, and BALIKPAPAN, were decommissioned ...
Australian Naval History on 18 September 1985
A naval court martial convened at HMAS PENGUIN, Sydney, found the Commanding Officer of HMAS WOLLONGONG, (patrol boat), guilty of negligence in grounding his ship off Gabo Island on 31 ...
Australian Naval History on 6 September 1985
The first official rum issue made in a ship of the RAN in 30 years, was made to the crew of HMAS HOBART, (guided missile destroyer), at Victoria, British Columbia. ...