On This Day

On This Day - 8 July

1940

HMAS SYDNEY, (cruiser), came under air attack whilst preparing for the Battle of Calibria.

1941

HMAS STUART damaged her starboard propeller when she ran struck a shoal while approaching Tobruk

1945

CDRE H. B. Farncomb, complained of the few targets available for his flagship, HMAS SHROPSHIRE, (cruiser). 'The few targets allocated to HMAS SHROPSHIRE, the long delays and poor co-ordination experienced, indicated that the officers concerned in the Division were not fully indoctrinated in the effective use of heavy Naval gunfire.' The Commodore was referring to the Australian 7th Division at Balikpapan.

1980

The Minister for Defence, Mr. D. J. Killen, announced that the Government had approved a feasibility study of the building of submarines at Vickers Cockatoo Island Dockyard, Sydney.

1984

The personnel strength of the RAN was 16,696 officers and ratings.

1991

HMAS PERTH, (guided missile destroyer), rescued the pilot of a Singapore Air Force F-16 aircraft, which crashed into the sea after a mid-air collision.

2002

HMA Ships ARUNTA, and DARWIN, (frigates), undertake a concurrent replenishment with the Spanish warship SPS MARQES DE LA ENSENADA, in the Gulf of Oman. ARUNTA was about to commence duties in the Persian Gulf, and DARWIN was on her way home to Australia.

2006

HMAS Geelong II and HMAS Gawler II decommissioned