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Pacific War
Letter: The Big Guns of Tarawa
I’m reading the latest NHR after having read the latest CTH and Buzz, and the Occasional Papers/articles, and they’re all excellent – of a high standard and an enjoyable read, ...
The Big Guns of Tarawa
By Walter Burroughs The December 2022 edition of this magazine contained an article A Lonely and Dangerous Vigil regarding New Zealand Coastwatching operations in the Gilbert and Ellice Islands. Comments ...
Occasional Paper 150: Palm Island – World War Connections
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My Father’s Service in the RNZAF during WWII: Airman Pilot Ian Speedy RNZAF
By Max Speedy This article first appeared in the June 2022 edition of the RAN Fleet Air Arm magazine Slipstream Vol 33 No 2 and is reproduced by kind permission ...
Norfolk Island goes to War and New Zealand’s Aircraft Carrier
By Walter Burroughs Since 1788 Norfolk Island has been occupied and governed from the Australian mainland. As the following story unfolds, however, we shall see that for six years during ...
The Arthur Lunan Story: Part II
The late Arthur Lunan maintained a diary of his service in the RAN from 1941 to 1946. His brother in law William Moody digitised this and added some family photographs. ...
Bougainville
This article forms the final part of a trilogy covering the history of the Solomon Islands and Bougainville Island. Part 1 discussing the Solomon Islands from European discovery to the ...
Occasional Paper 119: Darwin, 19 February 1942: a forgotten moment in the history of naval air operations
By Angus Britts The Japanese air attacks against Port Darwin in the forenoon of 19 February 1942 were a salient moment in Australia’s modern history. For the first time the ...
Mrs Ruby Boye (Jones), Australia’s only female Coastwatcher during World War Two talks about her duties and life in the Solomon Islands.
Ruby Boye (Jones) was living on the island of Vanikoro in the Santa Cruz group of the then British Solomon Islands Protectorate when World War Two broke out. Changing circumstances ...
The Navy’s Secret War in the Pacific
This article was the first to appear in the very first issue of the Australian Naval Historical Review in 1971. It retains its historical interest, and is very much in ...
The Solomon Islands Part 2: from WWII to Present
This article forms part of a trilogy covering the history of the Solomon Islands and Bougainville Island. Part 1, discussing the Solomon Islands from European discovery to the Second World War, ...
RFA Bishopdale
By Greg Swinden RFA Bishopdale was a Royal Fleet Auxiliary Dale class freighting tanker that saw service during the period 1939-1959. As a freighting tanker her main role was to ...
Occasional Paper 86: Royal Australian Navy in the Pacific War
By Richard H Pelvin and Jozef H Straczek This paper was provided courtesy of the Sea Power Centre – Australia. It was first published in 2003 and is available on ...
The Hospital Ships Buenos Aires Maruand Wah Sui
Was the sinking of hospital ships isolated incidents which could be put down to mistaken identity or were they deliberate acts of destruction by those who had thrown away the ...
An American at War in the Pacific Memoirs of Chief Radioman John Ottomar Adams, USNR
A long standing member of our Society, David Mattiske, was a friend of John Adams who died early in 2017. David presented us with a self-published memoir of John Adams ...
Lieutenant (SP) H.L. Billman, DSC, RANVR
By Hector Donohue Harold Leon (Bill) Billman had a relatively short war in the RAN of just three years, but as a bomb and mine disposal officer he was regularly ...
Tales of the South Pacific, Broadway and a South Pacific World War II Museum
The South Pacific has a wondrous reputation as the home of tales from the sea, producing great characters such as Robinson Crusoe and Bligh of the Bounty. In later times ...
Occasional Paper 1: Battle of Australia Day Commemoration
By Commander Rebecca Jeffcoat, RAN Sydney 07 Sep 16 Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen, First I would like to acknowledge the Gadigal people, the Traditional Custodians of this Land on ...
United States Naval Base Ulithi
By Noel Burgess We might be forgiven for not knowing much about the United States Naval Base at Ulithi, as for a long time its existence was kept secret, but ...
Book review: The Pacific Fleet – The Royal Navy’s Most Powerful Strike Force
The Royal Australian Navy at War South-West Pacific Area
British Pacific Fleet 1944-46
Offensive Minelaying – Pacific 1944 (Part 1)
Book Review: Blue Watch, All the Blue Watch
“Blue Watch, All the Blue Watch” By John Allerton I have not read the “1st Impression” of John Allerton’s book but this “2nd Impression” of this record of his service ...