- Author
- A.N. Other and NHSA Webmaster
- Subjects
- RAN operations
- Tags
- RAN Ships
- None noted.
- Publication
- December 1980 edition of the Naval Historical Review (all rights reserved)
In December 1941 CPO Don Walker was instructed to take a group of seamen, train them as a crew for a 3.7 inch howitzer and, when they were considered to be efficient, to take them and the howitzer out to the Boot Hill Cemetery at Flinders Naval Depot. The howitzer was then to be dug in and used as a coast defence gun. The gun had been in store at FND for some time and was one of three such guns purchased by the RAN in the mid- 1920s. In 1941 there were two of these weapons at FND but one was incomplete, having no shield.
This event received no mention in the official history of the RAN in WW2, but CPO Walker took a roll of film during the two months that the gun was emplaced as an operational weapon. The film shows the sequence of events, getting the howitzer into position. In February 1942 the gun was returned to FND and turned over to the army. These were kindly supplied by Mr. Don Walker, a member of the Naval Historical Society, and as far as is known, are the only photographs ever taken of this event.