by Dr Tom Lewis The wreck of the Ataluma is a sight unknown to the many visitors to Darwin’s popular East Point. This is not surprising, for the wreck of ...
Fairmile
Occasional Paper 152: HMAS Rushcutter
On 1 August 1940, the Naval Depot (sited in Rushcutters Bay Park, Sydney) was commissioned as HMAS Rushcutter. This former Royal Australian Navy (RAN) base has an illustrious past. It ...
Roylen Cruises and their fleet of Fairmiles
By Walter Burroughs A visit to an Opportunity Shop browsing through other people’s junk is often time wasting. And so it was while wasting time that an unwanted, ubiquitous, one-dollar ...
A Christmas Story
The naval service of Temporary Lieutenant Ernest Joseph Huson Christmas RANVR was for a relatively short time and this was mostly overseas. His story is historically interesting but misfortune follows ...
An Essay on the Royal Australian Navy’s Involvement in Support of the Compromised SRD Operations in Timor 1943-1945
By Sub Lieutenant Nicholas Seton RAN …I feel so sad. What a waste – what a stuff up. It makes one feel a little bitter about the poor intelligence andcommunications ...
Torres Strait – Small-ship Refuelling Stopovers
Thursday Island and nearby Horn Island in the Torres Strait were always welcome stopovers for fuel or water for so many WWII Fairmile patrol vessels as they ‘went north’ to ...
Book Review: Fairmile ships of the Royal Australian Navy
Fairmile ships of the Royal Australian Navy by Peter Evans, AM Australian Military History Publications, 13 Veronica Place, Loftus. 2232. $40.00 Reviewed by Max Thomson Of all the ‘wet’ ships ...
St Nazaire – The Greatest Commando Raid of WWII
FAIRMILES – Overview Of Vessels
The “B” Type Fairmile was a wooden hulled motor launch of approximately 90 tons displacement. It had a length of 112′, a beam of 17’10” and a draught of 3’8″ forward ...
Sparrow Force – Timor 1942-1943 – Under false colours?
In February 1942 when the Japanese army invaded Timor a small band of Australians – the `Sparrow Force’ – took to the mountains and began a guerilla war against the ...
Royal New Zealand Navy’s Fairmile Patrol Craft (Part 2)
Conditions on this leg were easier but there was still a long swell to contend with. At Noumea we were officially handed over to the Commander South West Pacific for ...
Royal New Zealand Navy’s Fairmile Patrol Craft (Part 1)
Unique Shield for Hobart Museum
Navy history keeps bobbing up in the most unexpected places. Browsing through an antique shop ‘up north’ a Navy enthusiast spotted the wartime shield of the RAN 817 Squadron Fleet ...