On This Day - 19 February
- 1893
- HMQS PALUMA, (gunboat), floated free from Brisbane Botanical Gardens after being stranded by record floods in the Brisbane River.
- 1920
- HMAS SLEUTH, (patrol vessel), was sold out of service and renamed AURORA.
- 1929
- LEUT Norman H. Shaw became the youngest officer to command a RAN submarine. Shaw was 28 Years and 228 days old when he took command of HMAS Otway
- 1942
- Japanese bombers attacked Darwin. HMA Ships MAVIE and KELAT, USS PEARY, and merchant ships BRITISH MOTORIST, NEPTUNA, ZEALANDIA, MAUNA LOA, and MEIGS, were sunk. HMA Ships PLATYPUS, SWAN, GUNBAR, WARREGO, KARA KARA, KOOKABURRA, KANGAROO, BAROSSA, and COONGOOLA, the hospital ship MANUNDA, USS WILLIAM B PRESTON, and five merchant ships were damaged. One hundred and seventy of the 250 dead in the attack were ships' complement. The Walrus from HMAS Australia crashed on landing. "Shortly before noon, and after circling the Walrus came down to land on an oilslick. Owing to some as yet unknown cause, he came in too close to the ship, and crashed head-on into the ship’s port quarter just above the water line, breaking up and bursting into flames immediately. The second whaler as crash boat was immediately lowered, and the first whaler was also sent away as a lifeboat. A motor surf-boat from USS Chicago reached the spot where the aircraft had sunk first, and succeeded in saving the Observer, Sub-Lieutenant Jackson, and the Air Gunner. The pilot, Flying officer E. J. Rowan RAAF, was not seen.
- 1945
- The services reconnaissance department (SRD) craft HMAS RIVER SNAKE, (LEUT J. P. Gowling, RAN), was commissioned at Fremantle. HMAS WARREGO, (sloop), completed a survey of Lingayen Gulf in preparation for the landing.
- 1961
- HMAS VENDETTA, (destroyer), took off 12 passengers from the Shaw Savill freighter RUNIC, aground on Middleton Reef, QLD.
- 1967
- RAN Clearance Diving Teams commenced operations in Vietnam.
- 1968
- HMAS PERTH, (guided missile destroyer), attacked and damaged three large enemy barges drawn up on the beach near Dong Hoi, Vietnam.
- 1980
- The Australian Prime Minister, Mr. M. Fraser, announced plans for increasing the size of the RAN.
- 1988
- The office of Hydrographer in the RAN was upgraded from Captain to Commodore.
- 2002
- HMAS CANBERRA, (frigate), escorts the two illegal fishing vessels MV LENA and MV VOLGA into Gage Roads in Western Australia to be handed over to civilian authorities. The two vessels had been apprehended near Heard Island in early February and escorted back to mainland Australia with RAN steaming parties onboard each vessel.
'On This Day' is based on the book "Navy Day by Day: Historic Naval Events in Australia and Abroad" written by the late Lew Lind. More information.
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Credit:
'On This Day' is based on the book "Navy Day by Day: Historic Naval Events in Australia and Abroad" written by the late Lew Lind. More information.
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