On This Day
1946-1959 > Post WW2
On This Day - 1946-1959
- June 28, 1950
The Australian Naval Board signalled VADM Turner Joy, USN Commander in the Far East; ‘Her Majesty’s Australian ships in Japan are placed unreservedly at your disposal as you may wish’. British and New Zealand ships in the Far East were also made available to the US Commander for operations in Korea.
- June 23, 1950
RAN Trainee Pilot Garth Eldering was on an ocean navigation exercise off the coast of Scotland when his Seafire aircraft is believed to have crashed into the sea. RAN Trainee Pilots, after graduating from the RAAF’s No 1 Flying Training School at Point Cook, were sent to the UK for further instruction in the more powerful aircraft at one of the Royal Naval Air Stations.
- June 19, 1950
The Chinese merchant vessel SANTOS, ex-HMAS ORARA, (minesweeper), struck a mine and sank with a heavy loss of life in the mouth of the Yang Tse River, China. ORARA was a popular coastal steamer on the Australian seaboard, before being requisitioned by the RAN. Her wartime motto was ‘As they sow, so shall we sweep’.
- June 18, 1950
The decision was announced to reestablish the WRANS due to pressure on naval manpower from Cold War commitments. Initial categories were Telegraphist, Writer, Sick Berth Attendant, Stores Assistant, Cook, Steward and Regulating.
- June 4, 1950
HMA LST 3008 was sold for scrap and was scrapped in Sydney in the 1950s. She had been in reserve since 1948.
HMA LST 3022 was sold to R.R. Coote for disposal. She had been in reserve since the end of 1946. The vessel was purchased by the Queensland Cement and Lime Company. in September 1954, was converted into a dredge, and renamed Coral. In this role she was operated alongside the former Australian Army vessel Crusader, which had also been purchased by the Queensland Cement and Lime Company, converted to a coral barge and renamed Cementco
HMA LST 3014 was sold for scrap after having been in reserve since 1948.
- May 8, 1950
The Battle class destroyer HMAS TOBRUK, (CMDR T. K. Morrison, RAN), was commissioned. TOBRUK was laid down at Cockatoo Island Dockyard, Sydney, on 5 August 1946, and launched on 20 December 1947. Mrs W. Riordan, (Wife of the Minister for the Navy), performed the launching ceremony.
- April 25, 1950
808 Squadron commissioned as a RAN squadron at St Merryn in Cornwall, England, flying Hawker Sea Fury FB IIs and 817 squadron was commissioned at RNAS St Merryn, UK, as a RAN squadron equipped with Fairey Firefly Mk 5 aircraft.Both squadrons formed part of the 21st Carrier Air Group (CAG). This air group had been intended for the second carrier, to be named HMAS Melbourne, but she had been delayed and was not expected to be ready until 1951-52. HMAS Sydney returned to England to embark the 21st Carrier Air Group and arrived back in Australia in November 1950
- April 6, 1950
HMNS AMBON, (minesweeper), formerly HMAS CAIRNS, was transferred to the Indonesian Navy and renamed BANTENG.
- March 9, 1950
T. J. Hawkin is appointed as the Secretary of the Department of the Navy.
- February 2, 1950
A Naval Board of Inquiry reported that the fire in HMAS TARAKAN, which resulted in the loss of eight lives, was caused by a spark from a ventilating fan igniting petrol vapour in a 9090-litre tank in the ship.