By LCDR Desmond Woods The HMAS Sydney (II) Memorial at Geraldton in WA has become a place of pilgrimage for 65,000 visitors each year. Some 20,000 arrive by sea on ...
Australian Units
Australian Naval History on 12 August 2020
Retrospective VC awarded to Seaman Teddy Sheean for his actions during the loss of HMAS Armidale on 1 December 1942. It is the first VC for the RAN. ...
Letter from Frederick Merrill RAN on the sinking of the S.M.S. Königsberg
Butcher, 2nd Class Frederick Priest Merrill, R.A.N., H.M.A.S. Pioneer, wrote to his parents in Sheffield with his account of the sinking of the S.M.S. Königsberg in the Rufiji delta, German ...
Occasional Paper 82: The Kerr ‘Sydney-Emden’ Medal
This paper, was first published by the Naval Historical Society of Australia in the March 2013 edition of the Naval Historical Review. On 9 November 1914 the RAN cruiser HMAS ...
Occasional Paper 81: Recognition for Scrap Iron Flotilla
The Society was recently gifted a package of assorted papers and photographs collected by the late Petty officer Arthur James Collins. Collins was called up in January 1938 and served ...
Occasional Paper 80: The Early Years (1970-1971) of HMAS Brisbane (DDG-41)
The following paper was delivered by Captain Ralph T Derbidge MBE RAN (Retired) at a reunion (mostly of commissioning crew members and those who deployed to the Vietnam War in ...
Australian Naval History on 26 May 2020
The Almirante Lattore FFG14 (ex HMAS Melbourne) and the Capitan Prat FFG11 (ex HMAS Newcastle) depart from Sydney for Chile escorted out of the heads by HMAS Sydney ...
Occasional Paper 78: Two Proud Ships: HMAS Brisbane (I) and HMAS Brisbane (II)
The following is an address given by Captain Ralph T. Derbidge MBE RAN (Retired) on Monday 19 October 2015 at the Australian War Memorial. The occasion was the dedication of ...
Australian Naval History on 19 May 2020
HMAS Sydney V was commissioned off the coast of NSW, in the first commissioning of an Australian warship at sea since the Second World War. ...
Australian Naval History on 15 April 2020
Australia officially transferred ex HMA ships Melbourne and Newcastle to the Chilean Navy during a commissioning ceremony at HMAS Watson Naval Base in Sydney. The two frigates were retired from service ...
Occasional Paper 77: HMAS Assault. WWII Combined Operations Directorate Establishment – Port Stephens NSW
By Dennis J Weatherall JP TM AFAITT(L) LSM – Volunteer Researcher HMAS Assault, also known as the Amphibious Training Centre to American personnel, was a combined operations establishment for training ...
Occasional Paper 75: The Vietnam War and the Royal Australian Navy
The following address was delivered by Captain Ralph T. Derbidge MBE RAN (Retired) at the Melbourne Shrine of Remembrance to mark Vietnam Veterans Day on 18 August 2010. It describes ...
Australian Naval History on 30 March 2020
WO Agnes ‘Lennie’ Maiden, the first woman to be promoted to the highest rank as a senior sailor passed away aged 82. WO Maiden served in the Women’s Royal Australian ...
Occasional Paper 73: Ballarat or Ballaarat? Badges and Flags: Divisive or Not?
March 2020 This paper is based on a 2017 Royal Australian Navy FaceBook post and correspondence with the well known Vexillographer and Society member, John Christian Vaughan. John has provided ...
Book review: Out of Sight, Out of Mind: The Royal Australian Navy in Vietnam 1965-72
Out of Sight, Out of Mind: The Royal Australian Navy in Vietnam 1965-1972. Second Edition. By John R. Carroll. First published in 2013, this second edition has been revised with ...
The Solomon Islands and Bougainville Island
By Walter Burroughs Political upheaval After thirty five years of a political alignment between the Solomon Islands and the Republic of China (Taiwan), on 22 September 2019 it was announced ...
Luzon: A 75th Anniversary Australian Battlefield Tour of the Philippines – Part 2
By Paul Baker On the morning of 15 December 2019, a small ceremony was held at the Australian War Memorial in the forecourt of the Maritime Academy of Asia and ...
Last Voyage of the Ayesha
By A. C. B. Mercer Stranded on Direction Island, in the Cocos Keeling Group, 50 German sailors and their commander from the cruiser Emden, which had been engaged by HMAS ...
Occasional Paper 72: Spitfires in the RAN
The Supermarine Spitfire was the most well-known of the World War II era fighter aircraft but by the late 1940’s was quickly becoming obsolete. In October 1948, 15 ex-RAAF Spitfires ...
Australian Naval History on 4 January 2020
Amphibious ship HMAS Choules arrived in Western Port, Victoria having evacuated 1117 residents and holidaymakers from Mallacoota, after the devastating New Year’s Eve bushfires ...
Australians in the Decisive Thrust KING II – The Leyte Landings
By Paul Baker Seventy-five years ago, on 18 October 1944, beaten only by the fast minesweepers and the attack forces securing the mouth of the Gulf, the crew of HMAS ...
The White Ensign Club at Nowra
By Fred Dawson, with acknowledgement to Foster Emery (dec.), Albert Morrison (dec.), Len Seyffer, Robyn Florance, OAM, Alan Clark, AM and Dr John Haken. Following the commissioning in August 1949 ...
Timor Submarine Rescue Operations
One of the most significant rescue operations of Australian military forces occurred after the Japanese had overrun Dutch colonial western Timor in 1942. At this time Timor, seen as a ...
HMAS Sydney (III) and her Propellers
We recently became aware of two propellers from HMAS Sydney (III) not far away from one another in the Shoalhaven. One was at the recently named Jervis Bay Maritime Museum ...
Occasional Paper 68: Bristol Sycamore HR50/51
This paper, first published by the Sea Power Centre – Australia provides an overview of the service history of the Bristol Sycamore rescue and training helicopter operated by the RAN ...