On This Day - 24 August
- 1940
- HMAS WATERHEN, (destroyer), and HM Ships DIAMOND, ILEX, and JUNO, of the 10th Destroyer Flotilla, bombarded the Italian seaplane base at Bomba, Libya.
- 1942
- Australian Coastwatchers at Porlock, reported the 5th Sasebo Special Landing Force was moving along the coast in barges from Buna to Milne Bay.
- 1944
- LEUT L. E. Yock, RANVR, led a section of motor torpedo boats in an attack on two German torpedo boats, and two coasters, at Cape d'Antifer, France. Yock's boats came under heavy shore fire but pressed the attack, leaving one enemy torpedo boat on fire and the other silenced.
- 1945
- HM Submarine OTWAY, (formerly HMAS OTWAY), was sold out of service for breaking up.
- 1946
- HMS Broome (formerly HMAS Broome) was handed over to the Turkish Navy at Istanbul and renamed Alanya. In mid-April 1946 Broome had been paid off and recommissioned into the Royal Navy. On 8 May 1946 the ship sailed from Fremantle for Colombo en route to Istanbul where she arrived on 22 August 1946.
- 1950
- The frigate HMAS SHOALHAVEN, (CMDR I. H. McDonald), joined the Commonwealth Fleet blockading the coast of Korea.
- 1969
- HMAS BRISBANE, (guided missile destroyer), served on the screen of USS ORISKANY, (aircraft carrier), in Vietnamese waters.
- 1972
- HMAS Parramatta gained the distinction of being the 1000th vessel to enter the Captain Cook graving dock in Sydney since it commissioned in 1945.
- 1992
- RADM R. A. K. Walls, A.O, Maritime Commander of the RAN, commanded RFU Forces in RIMPAC 92. United States, Canadian, Korean and Australian ships participated in the exercises. The Australian Squadron was HMA Ships HOBART, (guided missile destroyer), ADELAIDE, and CANBERRA, (guided missile frigates), OTWAY, (Oberon class submarine), and SUCCESS, (auxiliary oiler replenishment ship). A combined RAN Clearance Diving Team supported the Squadron.
- 2001
- HMAS CANBERRA and HMAS WARRAMUNGA, (guided missile frigates), with HMAS MANOORA (landing platform amphibious), arrived in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam for a good will visit. A team of RAN and RAAF personnel were deployed to Christmas Island, to conduct a search of the Old European Cemetery, to find the remains of a sailor buried there in February 1942. The remains floated ashore in a Carley float in early February 1942, and are believed to have come from HMAS SYDNEY, (cruiser), which was sunk in November 1941. Despite an extensive search of a portion of the cemetery, no remains were found, and the search party departed on 7 September. A dilapidated 20 metre wooden fishing boat named the PALAPA, with 433 mainly Afghan refugees on board, and 27 Indonesian crew members, was located in a position some 75 nautical miles to the north of Christmas Island. The vessel was attempting to reach Christmas Island where the refugees would claim political asylum. The Norwegian cargo ship MV TAMPA, then en-route to Singapore, was directed to rescue the passengers and crew. This was the opening phase in an action that became known as the TAMPA Affair and had wide ranging implication for the RAN and Australian Government.
'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.