- Author
- McConnochie, Ian, Lt Cdr, RAN
- Subjects
- RAN operations, Post WWII
- Tags
-
- RAN Ships
- None noted.
- Publication
- March 1995 edition of the Naval Historical Review (all rights reserved)
By New Year 1971 it was apparent that the RAN Team would be out of a job in the near future. However, during the final months much time was devoted to salvaging ammunition from stranded ships and salvaging the ships themselves. Enemy mining in the Cua Viet River accounted for that river’s closure on several occasions and a busy period of mine sweeping by the USN assisted by CDT3. Pressure mines of crude but effective design were recovered at this time.
In April 1971 it was all over. CDT3 were relieved of their responsibilities and departed Da Nang for Saigon and after a period of farewells departed for Australia on 5 May, 1971.
In the preceding four years, RAN CD’s had built a formidable reputation for professionalism, resourcefulness, courage, and a range of diving skills not possessed by their Free World contemporaries.
Figures are often misleading but the results tabulated below speak for themselves.
February 1967 – May 1971
| Ships Searched (‘Stable Door’) | 7573 |
| Major Diving Tasks | 153 |
| Explosive devices removed from ships | 78 |
| Heavy ordnance destroyed | 352 tons |
| Unsafe ammunition destroyed …. | 42,000 items |
| Special operations (ambushes, bunkers, etc.) | 68 |
| Action casualties | 1 wounded |
Main image: Captured photograph of a VC sapper assembling a water mine
November 1968 (RAN)
(RAN)
(RAN)