On This Day

On This Day - 22 March

1919

CDRE John Saumarez Dumaresq, CB, CVO, MVO, RN, was appointed Commodore Commanding Australian Naval Squadron, and hoisted his flag in the cruiser HMAS MELBOURNE. Although a RN officer he had been born in Sydney in 1873, and later joined the Royal Navy as a cadet midshipman.

1943

The Bathurst class minesweeper (corvette), HMAS GLADSTONE, (LEUT J. W. Penny RANR(S)), was commissioned. GLADSTONE, was laid down in Walker's Yard, Maryborough, QLD, on 4 August 1942, and launched on 26 November 1942.

1944

HMA Ships AUSTRALIA, (cruiser), and ARUNTA, (destroyer), with the USS MULLANY, (destroyer), carried out a sweep of the New Guinea coast east of Tanahmerah Bay and destroyed a number of Japanese barges.

1968

HMAS HOBART, (guided missile destroyer), sailed from Sydney on her second tour of duty with the US 7th Fleet off Vietnam.

1984

HMAS IPSWICH, (patrol boat), apprehended an Indonesian fishing vessel poaching in the Australian Fishing Zone, after a game of hide and seek in mangrove swamps. The vessel was escorted to Koolan Island and charged.

1992

Patrol boats participating in Exercise Kangaroo 92 arrested three Indonesian trawlers in the Australian Fishing Zone.