On This Day
1960-1975 > Vietnam era
On This Day - 1960-1975
- February 21, 1964
HMAS Barcoo was decommissioned for the final time. The frigate had travelled 342,579 nautical miles during her career.
- February 13, 1964
The Australian Prime Minister, Mr. R. G. Menzies, announced the setting up of a Royal Commission to inquire into the loss of HMAS VOYAGER. The decision was a precedent, the normal procedure was to convene a naval court martial.
- February 10, 1964
HMAS MELBOURNE, (aircraft carrier), and HMAS VOYAGER, (destroyer), collided in a night exercise off Jervis Bay. VOYAGER sank with a loss of 82 lives. The GC was awarded posthumously to CPO Jonathon Rogers, DSM, for conspicuous bravery in rescue following the collision. The subsequent inquiries and two Royal Commissions into the cause of the collision shook the RAN to its foundations.
- January 10, 1964
Seacat missile systems were fitted in HMA Ships PARRAMATTA, YARRA, STUART, and DERWENT, (destroyer escorts).
- January 6, 1964
RADM O. H. Becher, CBE, DSO, DSC and Bar, was appointed Flag Officer Commanding Her Majesty’s Australian Fleet. RADM Becher was one of the most highly decorated permanent officers of the RAN.
- January 3, 1964
HMAS ANZAC, (destroyer), landed parties to fight bushfires on Tasman Island.
- November 4, 1963
S. Landau was appointed as Secretary of the Department of the Navy. He held this position until 1973, when the Department of the Navy was subsumed into the Department of Defence.
- October 17, 1963
A sub lieutenant and four midshipmen were drowned when a whaler from HMAS SYDNEY, (aircraft carrier), was swamped off Hayman Island, in the Great Barrier Reef.
- October 4, 1963
The Australian Government placed orders for two Oberon class submarines with Scott’s Shipbuilding, Scotland.
- September 20, 1963
The 16th MCM Squadron with 6 Bird class minesweepers deploy as part of Operation GARDENING, a minesweeping task to clear a channel into Tonolei Harbour in Bougainville, where US aircraft had dropped a large number of magnetic mines in 1943. This was the RAN’s biggest minesweeping operation for 16 years.