On this day:
1946-1959 > Post WW2
There are 229 entries in this era
- 02 May 1957
HMA Ships GLENELG, KATOOMBA, and PARKES, (minesweepers), were sold out of service for breaking up at Hong Kong.
- 09 May 1957
HMAS MARYBOROUGH, (minesweeper), was sold. She was purchased by a private shipping company and renamed ISOBEL QUEEN.
- 28 Oct 1957
HMAS MELBOURNE, (aircraft carrier), collided with the merchant ship SS STRAAT BANKA, (Royal Interocean Line) in Port Adelaide. Damage was minor. HMAS MELBOURNE proceeded to Melbourne on that day, arriving on 1st November.
- 05 Dec 1957
The Official RAN Badge was amended by changing the Tudor Crown in the design to a St Edwards Crown, (Queen’s Crown).
- 18 Dec 1957
The Q class frigate HMAS QUIBERON, was re-commissioned.
- 25 Dec 1957
Officers cook A. C. Cooper, of HMAS ANZAC, (destroyer), drowned in Singapore. Cooper was only one of two RAN casualties during the Malayan Emergency, (1948-1960). He is buried at Kranji War Cemetery, Singapore.
- 20 Jan 1958
The Royal Australian Naval College, returned to Jervis Bay and was commissioned as HMAS CRESWELL. The college had originally been located at Jervis Bay from 1915 until 1930, however economic restrictions during the depression forced it’s transfer to HMAS CERBERUS in 1931
- 20 Feb 1958
The RAN’s veteran depot ship, HMAS PLATYPUS, departed Sydney bound for Japan to be broken up. She had commenced service with the RAN in 1919, and had been present at the first bombing of Darwin in 1942.
- 24 Feb 1958
HMAS QUIBERON, (destroyer), conveyed Her Majesty the Queen Mother from Circular Quay to Manly.
- 01 Apr 1958
HMS NORMAN, (destroyer), formerly HMAS NORMAN, was paid off for disposal.
- 10 Apr 1958
HMA Ships QUALITY and QUIBERON, (destroyers), were decommissioned at Sydney and sold to Mitsubishi in Japan, for breaking up. RADM O. H. Becher, DSO, DSC, RAN, who was the Fleet Commander at the time, and a former Commanding Officer of HMAS QUIBERON, signaled to the ship:- “I am sorry the last of my favourite ships is being paid off”.
- 28 Apr 1958
The Indonesian Navy ship HANG TUAH, (ex HMNS MOROTAI, ex HMAS IPSWICH), was sunk in a bombing attack off North Borneo. The WWII Mitchell bomber was piloted by an American mercenary pilot who received $US5000 for the operation.
- 06 May 1958
HMA Ships SWAN, COOTAMUNDRA, FREMANTLE, and WARREGO, commenced a detailed survey of the Timor Sea.
- 13 May 1958
CAPT C. M. Hudson, RAN, commanding HMAS QUEENBOROUGH, (frigate), suffered a stroke while the ship was at sea off Point Gellibrand. The Executive Officer, LCDR V. A. Parker, RAN, was required to assume command.
- 04 Jul 1958
HMAS WARRAMUNGA, (destroyer), represented Australia at the 12th anniversary of the Philippines’ Republic.
- 18 Jul 1958
The first issue of the RAN’s newspaper, Navy News, was published.
HMAS VENDETTA, (Daring class destroyer), accidentally rammed the caisson of the Albert Dock, at Williamstown Dockyard, VIC, where she was being built. The damage incurred put back her completion date by at least three months. The ship was commissioned on 26 November 1958.
- 08 Aug 1958
HMAS HORSHAM, (minesweeper), was sold for breaking up.
- 26 Nov 1958
The Daring class destroyer HMAS VENDETTA, (CAPT R. J. Robertson, DSC, RAN), was commissioned.
VENDETTA was laid down in Williamstown Dockyard, VIC, on 4 July 1949, and launched on 3 May 1954. Mrs Nancy Waller, (Wife of CAPT H. M. L. Waller, DSO, RAN), performed the launching ceremony.
- 31 Jan 1959
HMAS PARRAMATTA, (destroyer escort), was commissioned at Sydney. PARRAMATTA was the second ship of her class built in Australia.
- 24 Feb 1959
VADM Sir Henry Burrell, CB, OBE, was appointed as Chief of Naval Staff.
- 23 Mar 1959
VADM Roy Dowling, DSO, RAN, is appointed Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee, (the forerunner of the Chief of the Defence Force).
- 18 Apr 1959
The Minister for the Navy, Mr. J. Gorton, announced the frigates BARCOO, DIAMANTINA, and GASCOYNE, were to be re-commissioned.
- 24 Apr 1959
HMA Ships SWAN and WARREGO commenced a three-month survey of the Outer Whitsunday Passage, QLD.
- 23 Jun 1959
The Daring class destroyer HMAS VAMPIRE, (CAPT E. J. Peel, DSC, RAN), was commissioned at Sydney. VAMPIRE was laid down in Cockatoo Island Dockyard Sydney, on 1 July 1952, and launched on 27 October 1956. Lady Slim, (Wife of the Governor-General Sir William Slim), performed the launching ceremony. VAMPIRE was decommissioned on 13 August 1986, and transferred to the Australian National Maritime Museum in 1991, as a permanent exhibit.
- 24 Jul 1959
HMAS TELEMACHUS, (submarine), returned to Sydney after an exercise in which whales were tagged from the submarine. Professor Dawbin, of Sydney University, fired the tags into the whales, using a specially designed gun.
- 26 Sep 1959
HMAS QUIBERON, (frigate), escorted the Bass Strait ferry PRINCESS OF TASMANIA on her maiden voyage from Melbourne to Devonport.
- 11 Nov 1959
HMAS WARRAMUNGA, (Tribal class destroyer), was paid off for disposal at Sydney.
- 13 Nov 1959
HMAS DIAMANTINA, (oceanographic survey ship), obtained samples from the sea floor at a depth of 5,706 m off Bali.
- 25 Nov 1959
The Defence Forces Retirement Benefits Bill was passed by the Australian Parliament. This was the first comprehensive retirement scheme for all ranks of the RAN.