On This Day

On This Day - 31 October

1916

HMAS BRISBANE, the first cruiser to be built in Australia, was commissioned at Sydney.

1935

HMAS SYDNEY, (cruiser), was ordered to join the 2nd Cruiser Squadron in the Mediterranean. The Mediterranean Fleet was strengthened as a result of the Abyssinian Crisis.

1944

HMAS MURCHISON was launched at Evans Deakin, QLD.  

1947

LST 3501, (renamed HMAS LABUAN on 16 December, 1948), LCDR G. M. Dixon, RANVR, in command, sailed from Sydney on the first of seven voyages to Antarctica.

1952

First Sycamore helicopter delivered to the RAN FAA.

1967

HMAS Melbourne departed from San Diego for the return journey to Australia after a journey to collect new FAA aircraft. She visited Pearl Harbor and Suva en route, and arrived in Jervis Bay, where the Skyhawks were landed, on 21 November. She arrived in Sydney the following day where the Trackers were landed.

1984

The Australian Government announced that HMA Ships ATTACK, BARBETTE, and BUCCANEER, (patrol boats), would be transferred as a gift to the Indonesian Navy.

1992

At 11:41am in position 11 36.29’S, 135 38.33’E off Arnhem Land, HMAS Moresby II became the first RAN vessel to steam one million nautical miles. The ship was appropriately running a survey line at the time. She anchored in Refuge Bay at Elcho Island that evening to celebrate the event.

2018

HMA Ships Hawkesbury and Norman were decommissioned . They had been in Extended Readiness Availability since 2009.