On This Day
1976-1999 > Post Vietnam
On This Day - 1976-1999
- March 17, 1980
- The patrol boat HMAS FREMANTLE, (LEUT R. Thomas, RAN), the lead ship of the Fremantle class patrol boats was commissioned at Lowestoft, England.
- A publicity hoax claiming the discovery of a missing Japanese midget submarine in Port Jackson brought complaints from Australian and Japanese authorities.
- March 13, 1980
AB J. Stewart was lost overboard from HMAS BRISBANE, (guided missile destroyer), 120 miles north-west of Honolulu before midnight on 12/3/1980, and was picked up 12 hours later by USS JOSEPH STRAUSS. AB Stewart stayed afloat by inflating a discarded plastic garbage bag. A large shark swam around him for the last two hours of his ordeal.
- March 1, 1980
HMAS TOBRUK, (amphibious heavy lift ship), was launched at Newcastle, NSW.
- February 29, 1980
HMAS DIAMANTINA, (oceanographic research ship), and the last World War II ship in commission in the RAN, was paid off for disposal at Garden Island, Sydney. She had steamed 615,755 miles since first commissioning. She left Garden Island on 1 October 1980aftewr being donated to the Queensland Maritime Museum Association. Diamantina is now on permanent display in Brisbane and restored to her World War II outfit of weapons.
- February 19, 1980
The Australian Prime Minister, Mr. M. Fraser, announced plans for increasing the size of the RAN.
- January 16, 1980
The keel for HMAS SYDNEY, the third guided missile frigate ordered from the USA, was laid at Seattle, USA.
- January 8, 1980
A contingent of nine RAN officers sailed in the Antarctic relief ship NANOK S for a 40-day deployment in Australia’s Antarctic bases of Casey and Mawson.
- December 18, 1979
Iroquois helicopters from No. 723 Squadron, and 150 personnel from RAN ships and establishments fought disastrous bushfires in the Sydney metropolitan area.
- November 1, 1979
The Australian 200 nautical mile fishing zone was proclaimed, greatly increasing the surveillance role of the RAN.
- October 9, 1979
HMAS Vendetta was decommissioned. In her 21 year career, she had steamed 670952 nautical miles. She subsequently served as a source of spare parts for Vampire (II), the last Australian Daring Class Destroyer. Following her decommissioning, Vendetta languished in the ‘mothball’ fleet at Sydney until 1986, when she was sold to Ming Hsieh Steel Mill on behalf of Hodland Enterprises of Taiwan. The ship departed under tow in late 1986, bound for the breaker’s yard in Taiwan