July 2019 Early Career Francis James Ranken was born in 1864 at ‘Saltram’, Eglinton, near Bathurst. He was the eldest son of James Australian Ranken and was educated at All ...
Naval technology
An Essay on Autonomous Ships
By Lieutenant M. De Angelis, RFD, RANR Mario De Angelis enlisted in the Royal Australian Naval Reserve, Melbourne Port Division on 22 January 1974. Initially joining as a Cook, he ...
The Batti-Wallahs’ Society
By John McGrath The President of the Batti-Wallahs’ Society has kindly given us permission to use the following information, with some minor additions, on the history of this unusual maritime ...
Austal Shipbuilders
Austal is an Australian shipbuilder involved in the design, construction and support of commercial and defence vessels. From corporate headquarters at Henderson in Western Australia it manages an impressive worldwide ...
Occasional Paper 32: HMAS Voyager (I) or What’s in a Coat of Paint?
August 2018 During WWII ships of the RAN were painted in a number of different colour schemes as these photos of Voyager illustrate and information on both peacetime and wartime ...
Occasional Paper 38: RAN Returns to the Unit System of Machinery Layout
After World War 2 the Daring Class destroyer was designed taking into account the lessons learnt for the ships damaged during the war. Many destroyers had been rendered unpowered because ...
Garden Island Rangefinding
Before the days of radar an array of optical rangefinders was an important feature of nearly all warships. In Royal Naval vessels, including those of the Dominions, these were mostly ...
Royal Navy Colours of World War Two – The Patterns 507, G10 and G45
Collaborative works by: Michael Brown, Sean Carroll, James Duff, Lindsay Johnson Introduction In the final months of and in the years after World War Two, many resources, ...
Telegraphist William Wolseley Falconer RAN
By Richard Arundel* Telegraphist W.W. Falconer, who was the radio operator in AE2 when she penetrated the Dardanelles Straits in 1915, was born in Richmond, Victoria, on 14 October 1892 ...
Naval Fuel Oil
By Peter Colthorpe With recent announcements that the redundant naval oil fuel installation beneath the Sydney Domain is to be used in an extension to the Art Gallery of NSW, ...