On This Day - 3 April
- 1939
- HMAS VENDETTA, (destroyer), transported the body of the Australian Prime Minister, Joseph Lyons, to Devonport, TAS, for burial.
- 1941
- HMAS PARRAMATTA, (sloop), passed a flotilla of Italian destroyers at night while escorting a convoy off Port Sudan. No sighting report was made by either side.
- 1942
- A lifeboat, commanded by PO J. Tyrrell, containing 23 survivors from HMAS PERTH surrendered to the Japanese at Semangka Bay, Sumatra. The party set out to sail to Australia after their ship sank, but 37 days of adverse winds and constant searching for food and water weakened them. On 1 April the boat was shelled by a Japanese destroyer, but they escaped under cover of dark. After their capture they were taken to a prison camp at Palembang, where they remained until the end of the war. LCDR V.A. Smith, DSC, RAN, participated in operations from the escort carrier, HMS TRACKER, which resulted in the destruction of six German long range aircraft and the sinking of the submarines U288 and U366, in the period 1 to 3 April. TRACKER, equipped with Avenger fighter bombers and Wildcat fighters, was escorting an Arctic convoy to Murmansk. HMAS Vendetta while towing the disabled merchantman SS Islander radioed for assistance south of Kangaroo Island when the towline parted in a gale. HMAS Moresby and tug Woonda were despatched from Adelaide and the tug managed to get a line on the vessel and commenced towing. The vessels arrived safely in Adelaide 4 days later.
- 1943
- HMAS STAWELL, (minesweeper), was launched at Williamstown Dockyard, VIC.
- 1947
- HMAS STUART was sold out of service for breaking up. The keel of the ship is now buried in Kissing Point Bay, Sydney. A plaque put in place by Ryde Council marks the place.
- 1968
- HMAS LAE, (Attack class patrol boat), was commissioned. She was gifted to the PNGDF in November 1974.
- 2002
- HMAS Kanimbla II returned to Sydney after service in the Middle East as part of the maritime force assigned to Operation SLIPPER.
- 2006
- HMAS BRUNEI, (LCDR Charles Bourne, RAN), visited Lord Howe Island, as part of the 75th anniversary of the 1931 landing, by floatplane, on Lord Howe by Sir Francis Chichester, who became the first person to fly solo from Australia to New Zealand. Officers and crew members of BRUNEI were joined by Chichester's son, and other distinguished guests.
'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.