On This Day

On This Day - 22 October

1860

CDRE Loring, commanding the Australia Station, reported from New Zealand where he was commanding a naval squadron against the Maoris: 'The disturbances in New Zealand are likely to detain HM Ships in these waters for an indefinite time'.

1902

The Australian Star reported that the NSW Government had purchased the mansion 'Tresco' at Elizabeth Bay, as a residence for the Naval Officer-in-Command at Garden Island, Sydney.

1916

The sloop HMAS UNA, (CAPT H. R. Jackson, RN), and the French gunboat KERSAINT, arrived at Malekula to mount a punitive expedition against rebellious natives. During the operations seven police boys were killed, and eight natives. Forty per cent of UNA's crew went down with malaria, including CAPT Jackson. CMDR W. Burrows, RN, was sent from Sydney to bring the vessel back to port. AB Albert Knaggs, of HMAS AE2, (submarine), died of typhus while a POW at the Turkish POW Camp at Belemedik. He was the last of four AE2 men to die while POW's of Turkey.

1939

The Australian merchant ship TREVANION was sunk by the German pocket battleship GRAF SPEE, in the South Atlantic. TREVANION was the first Australian ship sunk in WWII.

1941

CAPT J. Burnett, RAN, informed the crew of HMAS SYDNEY, (cruiser), that a German raider was operating in Australasian waters. The identity of the raider, STIERMARK, (the original name of the KORMORAN), was known to the Australian Naval Board on 17 October 1941. CAPT Burnett concluded his address with an exhortation to his crew that he expected every man to be up to the highest pitch of training.

1942

ining. The surveying vessel HMAS STELLA, (LEUT J. J. Cody, RAN), was commissioned. STELLA, (as WAREEN), was laid down in Williamstown Dockyard, VIC, in 1938. She was requisitioned for the RAN on 1 October 1942.

1943

HMAS KURU, (auxiliary patrol vessel), which played an important role in supplying the Australian Commandos operating in occupied Timor, was paid off. The vessel later sank at her moorings in Darwin Harbour, and was abandoned.

1945

HMAS Nepal decommissioned after steaming over 200,000 miles for the Royal Australian Navy. She was transferred back to the Royal Navy and was broken up in 1956

1968

The guided missile destroyer HMAS BRISBANE, (CAPT A. A. Willis, RAN), arrived in Sydney on her maiden voyage from the USA, where she was built.

1992

The Australian Government agreed to build 22 Pacific patrol boats for presentation to eleven of the emerging nations in the Pacific area. Successful contractor for the $138 million contract was Australian Shipbuilding Industries in Western Australia.

2003

HMAS ARUNTA, (frigate), and HMAS TOBRUK, (landing ship heavy), arrive in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, for a four-day good will visit.