RAN Clearance Divers operating from HMAS KIMBLA, and the diving tender WALRUS, salvaged vital parts of a Viscount civil airliner, which had crashed with the loss of 15 lives into ...
Australian Units
Australian Naval History on 27 July 1961
The River class destroyer escort, (ex-type 12 frigate), HMAS YARRA, (CMDR J. L. W. Merson, RAN), was commissioned. YARRA was laid down in Williamstown Dockyard, VIC on 9 April 1957, ...
Australian Naval History on 4 July 1961
The River class destroyer escort HMAS PARRAMATTA, (CMDR G. R. Griffiths, DSC, RAN), was commissioned. PARRAMATTA was laid down in Cockatoo Island Dockyard, Sydney, 3 January 1957, and launched on ...
Australian Naval History on 16 June 1961
HMAS MELBOURNE used the RAN-devised Bailey Bridge loading ramp for aircraft carriers at Garden Island, Sydney. The ramp greatly reduced the time required for loading. ...
Australian Naval History on 31 May 1961
725 Squadron decommissioned and its aircraft were transferred to 724 Squadron. ...
Australian Naval History on 17 April 1961
HMAS DERWENT, (destroyer escort), was launched at Williamstown, VIC. ...
Australian Naval History on 8 April 1961
HMAS STUART, (destroyer escort), was launched at Cockatoo Island, Sydney. ...
Australian Naval History on 13 March 1961
HMA Ships BUNDABERG and BUNBURY, (minesweepers), were sold out of service for breaking up in Japan. ...
Australian Naval History on 4 March 1961
The Navy Memorial Chapel at HMAS WATSON, (shore base, Sydney), was dedicated. Sycamore XD654 ditched alongside HMS Hermes while operating from HMAS Sydney near the Cocos Islands and written off. ...
Australian Naval History on 1 March 1961
HMAS Anzac (II) became the Fleet Training Ship (seaman training only), with an extra deckhouse aft and the director removed ...
Australian Naval History on 19 February 1961
HMAS VENDETTA, (destroyer), took off 12 passengers from the Shaw Savill freighter RUNIC, aground on Middleton Reef, QLD. ...
Australian Naval History on 6 january 1961
HMA Ships, ARARAT, COWRA, FREMANTLE, GYMPIE, ROCKHAMPTON, and STRAHAN, (minesweepers), were sold out of service for breaking up. GYMPIE was broken up at Sydney and the other ships in Japan. ...
Australian Naval History on 13 December 1960
The hulk of HMAS PENGUIN, (composite screw corvette), was burnt at Kerosene Bay, Sydney. ...
Australian Naval History on 15 November 1960
The Explorer class general purpose vessel HMAS BASS, (LEUT G. Kennedy, RAN), was commissioned. BASS was laid down in Walker’s Yard, Maryborough, QLD, in 1959, and launched on 28 March ...
Australian Naval History on 10 November 1960
HMAS QUICKMATCH, (frigate), rescued 43 Indonesian seamen from a sinking vessel 45 miles east of Singapore. ...
Australian Naval History on 9 November 1960
HMAS DIAMANTINA, (oceanographic survey ship), was present at the unveiling of a memorial to the HMAS SYDNEY- German raider EMDEN action at Cocos Island. ...
Australian Naval History on 29 October 1960
HMAS TOBRUK was paid off for disposal in Sydney. Tobruk was sold for scrap on 15 February 1972 to the Fujita Salvage Company Limited of Osaka, Japan. On 10 April ...
Australian Naval History on 28 October 1960
HMAS Wagga paid off. She was the last of the Bathurst Class in seagoing commission in the Royal Australian Navy. Wagga was declared for disposal on 31 May 1961 and ...
Australian Naval History on 11 October 1960
HMAS WOOMERA, (ammunition ship), was lost when dumping obsolete ammunition at sea, off Sydney Heads. A violent explosion, followed by a fierce fire, caused WOOMERA to sink in a few ...
Australian Naval History on 14 September 1960
A shell fired by HMAS ANZAC in gunnery exercises off Jervis Bay hit the hull of HMAS TOBRUK. ...
Australian Naval History on 9 September 1960
HMA Ships QUIBERON and VAMPIRE represented Australia at the celebrations for the fiftieth anniversary of the liberation of North Borneo ...
Australian Naval History on 18 July 1960
The first Junior Recruits, (boys aged between 15 and 17), commenced training at HMAS LEEUWIN, at Fremantle WA. The scheme was designed to provide boys with a year of academic ...
Australian Naval History on 18 June 1960
HMA Ships WARREGO, (sloop), and KIMBLA, (trials vessel), with Clearance Diving Teams, recovered bodies and wreckage from a Fokker Friendship airliner which crashed with the loss of 29 lives in ...
Australian Naval History on 25 May 1960
HMAS BASS, (general purpose vessel), was commissioned. ...
Australian Naval History on 9 May 1960
Whilst in the China Sea HMAS MELBOURNE lost an XA359 Gannet aircraft. The aircraft lost on engine whilst being catapulted and ditched ahead of the ship. LCDR Rowland was the ...