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You are here: Home / Archives for Australian Navy / HMAS Sydney III

HMAS Sydney III

Obituary: Admiral Sir Anthony Synnot KBE AO (1922-2001)

December 9, 2001

Born at Corowa, NSW and educated at Geelong Grammar School. Anthony Synnot joined the RAN as a cadet midshipman in 1939 as a Special Entry and trained in Britain with Prince Philip of Greece (now HRH Duke of Edinburgh). His first ship was HMAS Canberra and later. During WW II he served in HMAS Stuart in the battle of Matapan in the Mediterranean, and later during the evacuation of Greece and Crete. Subsequent ships included war service in HM Ships Barham (battleship), and Punjabi (destroyer). In the latter ship he was sunk in an accidental collision* with the battleship HMS King George V off Iceland. His next ship was HMAS Quiberon (destroyer) engaged on North Sea convoy duties and later during the North Africa landings, where he eventually became the executive officer. Later his ship proceeded to the Indian Ocean for operations against the Japanese.

In 1945 he qualified as a gunnery specialist at HMS Excellent, Whale Island, Portsmouth UK. He was subsequently promoted and served in command of HMA Ships Warramunga 1956-57 and, as a captain, Vampire 1960-61. Subsequently he was appointed (1962-65) to Navy Headquarters, Kuala Lumpur, in command of the Royal Malayan Navy, which became the Royal Malaysian Navy. Soon after his return to Australia he commanded HMAS Sydney, taking troops and supplies to Vietnam, and then the flagship HMAS Melbourne.

He attended the Imperial Defence College in London in 1968 and was then appointed Director General Fighting Equipment on return to Australia. Promoted Rear Admiral in 1970, he served as Chief of Naval Personnel in Canberra and then Deputy Chief of Naval Staff. He flew his flag afloat as Fleet Commander in 1973, then came ashore as Director Joint Staff in the Department of Defence in 1974. Here he was able to provide organisational support for ongoing relief effort after the Cyclone Tracy disaster at Darwin.

In 1976 he was promoted Vice Admiral as Chief of Naval Staff, and then promoted again to full Admiral as Chief of the Defence Force Staff in 1979. Admiral Synnot served with great distinction in both posts, seeking to improve defence capabilities with a new carrier and the latest technology. He was awarded AO in 1976 and knighted in 1979, retiring in 1982 after 43 years of active service.

Admiral Synnot spent his retirement on his properties outside the Canberra region where he bred cattle and horses and indulged in competitive carriage-driving. He was accorded a Naval Funeral in Canberra at the ANZAC Memorial Chapel at RMC Duntroon, where the RAN paid him their last respects in a magnificent traditional parade, drawing his coffin on a ceremonial naval 12 pounder gun carriage. He would certainly have approved of the Navy’s immaculate display on that wintry day.

Battleship HMS King George V showing damage incurred after collision with HMS Punjabi
Battleship HMS King George V showing damage incurred after collision with HMS Punjabi

*(HMS King George V was covering a distant Russian-bound convoy, escorted by destroyers. In company with some American ships, including the battleship USS Washington, KGV was leading in single line ahead with her destroyers in close screen formation and zigzagging in poor visibility. Late in the afternoon watch the Fleet was ordered to alter course by W/T. Onboard the battleship she was felt to heave suddenly out of the water, followed shortly after by loud explosions down the ship’s side. It was immediately thought that the ship had been mined but it was realised that KGV had sliced HMS Punjabi in half. The destroyer had primed depth charges on her quarterdeck which rolled overboard after the collision and exploded – not much comfort to half her crew in the stern section. Survivors were picked up by other destroyers, while KGV returned to shelter in Iceland, embarking the survivors there, to be landed later in Scapa Flow. KGV herself was detached to Liverpool for repairs.)

 

Carrier Flying – the Greatest Sport

June 8, 2001

Carrier landing
Carrier landing

Some time ago, whilst having a drink in the bar of the local yacht club, I met a man whom I had never met before. In general conversation on learning that I had been a Fleet Air Arm pilot he said “… but that was a license to kill yourself, wasn’t it?” It was a ridiculous remark, however, I pondered later whether this may have been a general perception by people who should have known better.

By the time a pilot carries out his first deck landing he has undergone at least two years of fairly intensive academic and flying training and, in the process, seen about fifty percent of his contemporaries fall by the wayside for various reasons. Before arriving at the aircraft carrier the final intensive flying training schedule is devoted to ADDLs, or Airfield Dummy Deck Landings. This is the practice of being directed in the landing approach by a batsman. In my particular training I recorded 212 ADDLS in Fairey Firefly aircraft at an airfield in Northern Ireland before my first deck landings on that great old aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious. By no stretch of the imagination could one suggest that we were undertrained, nor that we were practising to “kill ourselves”.

Flying from straight deck carriers such as HMS Illustrious or HMAS Sydney and being “batted on” did have an element of risk and there were not really much margin for error. However, if you missed picking up one of the nine arrester wires there was always the barrier to bring you to a stop. It was often said that there were two types of naval aviators – those that had been into the barrier and those that were going to!

Strangely enough, one of the more difficult procedures I found operating from HMAS Sydney was taxying the aircraft out of the deck park in order to get to the catapult. With the wings folded the aircraft always felt top heavy and inevitably the ship would be rolling whilst turning into wind, so at one moment one would be taxying uphill and the next moment going downhill with some hapless aircraft handler frantically directing you to slow down before colliding with the island.

Take off on the catapult was quite straight forward. Once the cockpit checks were done and the engine run up to take  off power, the Flight Deck Officer’s green flag went down and you were going off the sharp end of the ship, coming ready or not. The old hydraulic catapult gave quite an energetic kick initially and then slowed down. In fact on most occasions one could have the old Firefly airborne before reaching the end of the catapult.

Landing on was a different kettle of fish; you had to do it all by yourself with the aid of the batsman. The important thing was to set up the aircraft on the approach in the right attitude with wheels, hook and flaps down at the correct airspeed (92 knots for the Firefly) and follow signals from the batsman. The hardest part of this procedure was to ignore the movement of the flight deck if the ship was pitching to any extent. Once over the round-down (the after end of the flight deck), and providing you had the “Roger” signal from the batsman, followed by the “cut” signal, all one had to do was carry out a nice, gentle, flared landing in amongst the arrester wires and there you were – shaking, but safe at home! I always knew I was roughly in the right position for the “cut” if the batsman’s left arm disappeared between the fifth and sixth exhaust stubs on the port side.

By the late 1950s everything changed. With the acquisition of HMAS Melbourne we had an aircraft carrier with an angled flight deck, a mirror landing system, a steam catapult and new aircraft. One thing that did not change was the sporting element associated with the whole operation since now we had the opportunity to demonstrate how clever we were by flying throughout the night as well as by day. Whoever said “the more light, less fright” was absolutely spot on.

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Obituary: Harry Train 1918-1999

December 23, 1999

Born: Millthorpe, October 26, 1918 Died: Balmain, May 23, 1999

Harry Train gave 30 years of his life to serving his country with the RAN.

After enlisting in 1936 as a stoker he sailed the oceans of the world and fought in two wars.

Ships in which he served included two from the famous scrap-iron flotilla, the Stuart and Voyager, Australia’s seaplane carrier Albatross, the Australia during the early part of World War II and the cruiser Canberra, which was sunk in 1942.

He was a member of the commissioning crew of the Australia-built Tribal class destroyer Warramunga, which took part in the World War II Philippines campaign. He was also on board the Arunta when it was attacked by a Japanese suicide bomber, resulting in the loss of two of his shipboard mates. In the same ship he took part in the Surigao Straits battle.

In the Korean War he served in Australia’s first aircraft carrier, Sydney. Later he was a member of the crews of two other carriers, Vengeance and Melbourne.

In the early 1960s, by now an engineering officer, he spent a year on board the Gascoyne. He was an engineering instructor at the apprentice: school, HMAS Nirimba.

Within six years of enlisting Mr Train became a petty officer. He studied and passed the artificers’ course and was commissioned as an engineer sub-lieutenant. He left the service with the rank of lieutenant.

Mr Train was educated at Millthorpe and Orange. Before enlisting he had worked for a photographer in Sydney, which led to a life-long interest in the subject.

Mr Train, who did not marry, is survived by his brothers, a sister and a niece.

Daily Telegraph, 28.6.99

Letters: The Vung Tau Ferry

June 1, 1999

In your Book Review (Naval Historical Review, December 1998) of ‘The Vung Tau Ferry – HMAS Sydney and Escort Ships, Vietnam 1965-72’, your reviewer mentions a story he heard about sailors in HMAS Sydney attempting to persuade Australian troops ashore to fire on Sydney in order to strengthen claims that the ship was serving in a war zone. Understandably, the reviewer is rather reluctant to present this story as being authentic.

I had previously heard this same story in another context, and on that occasion too the source was reluctant to vouch for the accuracy of his story.

While I have no direct evidence as to the truth of that story, my own personal experience leads me to believe that it is most likely to be quite correct.

I travelled twice between Sydney and Vung Tau in Sydney. My first trip was from 17 January to 3 February 1968, and my second was from 15 to 28 February 1969. This gained me some notoriety in Army circles because I volunteered for the second trip (normal means of travel was by Qantas) despite having already experienced one voyage in the former HMS Terrible!

The intensity of the Vietnam War greatly increased with the advent of Tet, the lunar new year, at the beginning of February 1968. The following year saw Australia’s heaviest fighting of the war, including the battles at Fire Support Bases Coral and Balmoral in May. By the end of the year much had been learnt, and it was well known that Long Son Island, in clear sight of Sydney’s usual anchorage off Vung Tau, harboured Viet Cong.

I boarded Sydney at Vung Tau during the morning of 15 February 1969, quickly settled in, and then relaxed on the flight deck as the ship prepared to sail in the afternoon. Near me were a few ratings, gazing wistfully at Long Son Island, and expressing the strong hope that the Viet Cong would loose off a few rocket propelled grenades at Sydney. Having reasonable knowledge of the destructive power of the RPG7, I joined the conversation. Initially I thought they must be kidding, but I soon became amazed at the obvious sincerity of this suicidal wish instigated by their fervent hope for hostile enemy action to force the issue of recognition of war service. I thought their thinking was sadly astray in seriously wanting to see an RPG7 come aboard, but, with recognised war service myself, I felt hardly in a position to criticise their point of view, so I let the matter rest. I have never forgotten that conversation of thirty years ago.

With that experience in mind, I have no doubt that those ratings, or shipmates with a similar attitude, might well have sought assistance, perhaps in jest, or perhaps only partly in jest, from soldiers going ashore earlier that day. Their attitude was so earnest that I would expect that it might not be too difficult today to find former ratings from Sydney who would remember trying to will some sort of enemy attack against their ship. Perhaps officers who served aboard Sydney at that time may have comments to offer?
John Bullen, Lieutenant Colonel (Retd)

Book Review: The Vung Tau Ferry

December 18, 1998

THE VUNG TAU FERRY – HMAS SYDNEY and Escort Ships (Vietnam 1965-72)
By Rodney Nott and Noel Payne


1998 has certainly been a bumper year for Australian Naval histories concerning the Vietnam War. Firstly we had `In the Oceans Dark Embrace’ by Lex McAulay which described the role of Clearance Diving Team 3. Then came `Up Top’ by Jeffrey Grey (the RAN’s history as part of the Official History of Australia in South East Asian Conflicts series) and last but by no means least `The Vung Tau Ferry’. Effectively the number of books written about the RAN in the Vietnam War has doubled in the space of one year.

The Vung Tau Ferry details the involvement of the Fast Troop Transport HMAS Sydney in her 25 voyages to South Vietnam between May 1965 and November 1972. The book also includes details of her escort ships (Frigates or Destroyers) and the voyages made by the MV (later HMAS) Boonaroo and the MV (later HMAS) Jeparit.

This history describes the events which lead up to Sydney being used as a Fast Troop Transport, her time in South Vietnamese waters and there are a number of interesting stories from several of her crew and soldiers who were transported to and from Vietnam. The book also goes into depth concerning the lengthy fight, by the Vietnam Logistic Support Group, to gain official recognition for the role played by Sydney, and her escorts, which culminated in the issue of the Vietnam Logistic and Support Medal in 1992.

This later fight for official recognition makes interesting reading and reminds me of a story told to me by one of my high school teachers who had served in Sydney as a Naval Reservist. He claims that several Sydney sailors attempted to have Australian troops ashore fire on the vessel, in order to strengthen future claims that the ship had served in a `War Zone’. Who knows, but why in this case let the truth spoil a good story.

This hardcover book is well illustrated with several interesting and very clear photographs and also includes a comprehensive list of all personnel who served in the RAN during Logistic Support Operations during the period 1965-72.

This book is an excellent addition to the Navy’s history of the Vietnam War and one which all keen Naval historians, and those interested in Australia’s role in the Vietnam War, should have on their bookshelves.

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