HMAS Gascoyne Cadet Twinning with TS Gascoyne
3 April 2007
The purpose of 'twinning' Ships with Cadet Units is to create a relationship and line of communication to enable greater involvement by cadets in Navy activities and to provide awareness on RAN career opportunities.
Although HMAS Gascoyne and TS Gascoyne are close in name, they reside on different sides of the country, with HMAS Gascoyne based in Sydney and TS Gascoyne residing in Carnarvon in Western Australia.
TS Gascoyne was formed 31 years ago in 1976 and is situated on the GASCOYNE River, which is in reality a dry river bed full of sand that only runs after cyclonic rainfall in the catchment around 600kms inland.
The unit is a small one with 20 cadets, only 3 of those being female. Since inception some 500 persons have been cadets here and about 10% went on to join the RAN. The unit has 3 corsair yachts and 2 aluminium powerboats which allow the cadets to participate in water activities. The location of the unit is ideal to accommodate such activities as they have a dedicated boat ramp running off the premises.
The unit also holds rifles, snare and bass drums, marine icom hand held radios and about 100km of cordage which allows the cadets to practice in a wide range of naval activities including rifle drill, correct radio voice procedures and knot tying.
The cadet unit is headed by LEUT Bruce Tisdell who has a background in the army, spending the last 10 years with the Pilbara Regiment where he was a tracking and small craft and water operations instructor. Bruce's Executive Officer (2nd in command) is a registered nurse who spent 3 years in the RAN in the early 1970's. The unit has a PO instructor who has been a fishing boat skipper for many years and offers the cadets training in a wide range of mariner skills including practical seamanship and navigation.
