By Conrad Waters The following feature was first published in the Ships Monthly magazine and subsequently by the Heritage Machines website on 19th October 2022. The Royal Navy’s series of ...
Royal Navy
Occasional Paper 133: Operation C – The Indian Ocean showdown between British and Japanese naval might, 4 – 9 April 1942.
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HMS Victorious had a proud record of service in World War 2. John Williams served aboard her and this presentation gives his personal recollections of this carrier in action
HMS Victorious was the third Illustrious-class aircraft carrier after Illustrious and Formidable. Her commissioning was delayed until 1941 due to the greater need for escort vessels for service in the Battle of the Atlantic but she soon saw plenty ...
Pearls of Controversy: Broome’s British White Divers 1912-1913
By Kate Reid-Smith In February 1912, a group of ex-Royal Navy (RN) men arrived in the northern West Australian town of Broome. They had left Britain on 23 December 1911 ...
Occasional Paper 105: Naval History – Does it Matter?
What is the point of naval history? Is it to provide a rich framework through which contemporary Naval debates can be viewed or is there something more there? Must it always say something about the World we live in today while also addressing the one we hope to inhabit in the future? ...
Heart of Oak and Jolly Tars: a short reflection
By John McGrath The refrain of Heart of Oak (yes, it is Heart not Hearts) are our ships, begins: ‘Heart of oak are our ships, jolly tars are our men’. ...
The Dominion Yachtsmen Scheme: Australian Volunteers in the Royal Navy 1940-45 – Part 1
By Janet Roberts Billett Following the outbreak of war with Germany on 9 September 1939, the losses for the Royal Navy in ships and men through repeated U-boat and air ...
The Special Service Squadron – An episode in the peacetime history of theRoyal Navy 1923-1924
Rohan Goyne The ‘World Cruise’ of a special service squadron of the Royal Navy was an inter-war episode of flag waving across the world’s oceans from arguably a declining world ...
The ‘Battle’ of May Island
By Laurie Watson In the many memorial services to commemorate the centenary of World War I events, that commemorating the Battle of May Island is very likely to pass under ...
Fifty Years under the Australian White Ensign
With the Australian White Ensign approaching its fiftieth anniversary on 1 March 2017 it is appropriate to reflect on the history of the revered ensign in its various forms with ...