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Before the outbreak of war in 1939, Australia had based its security on the ‘Main Fleet Strategy’. It was the idea that, in the event of war with Japan, the British would send a fleet to Singapore. This would provide Australia with the defence it…
https://www.navy.gov.au/about-navy/history/history-milestones/anti-submarine-warfare-mine-warfare-coastal-trade
In 1933, the British Admiralty transferred five destroyers to the Royal Australian Navy (RAN):
the destroyer flotilla leader HMS Stuart
HMS Vampire
HMS Vendetta
HMS Voyager
HMS Waterhen.
They were to replace the RAN’s obsolete S-class destroyer…
https://www.navy.gov.au/about-navy/history/history-milestones/scrap-iron-flotilla
Fires were burning across every state and territory. The catastrophic 2019–2020 bushfires were truly a national emergency. The scale and speed of the New South Wales, Australian Capital Territory and Victorian fires were particularly severe.…
https://www.navy.gov.au/about-navy/history/history-milestones/operation-bushfire-assist
On 18 March 2003, the Australian Government announced that it was committing Navy, Army and Air Force combat elements to the US-led war for Iraq. Since 1991, the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) and other elements of the Australian Defence Force had been…
https://www.navy.gov.au/about-navy/history/history-milestones/iraq-war
The Royal Australian Navy has played a pivotal role in supporting Australian Government responses to natural disasters in the Indo-Pacific. The RAN’s ability to transport large amounts of stores and people across long distances makes it a valuable…
https://www.navy.gov.au/about-navy/history/history-milestones/sumatra-assist-ramsi-tonga-assist-fiji-assist
International Force East Timor (INTERFET) was an Australian-led humanitarian and peacemaking deployment taskforce. It ran from September 1999 to February 2000. INTERFET was to restore a peaceful and secure environment. This was after pro-Indonesia…
https://www.navy.gov.au/about-navy/history/history-milestones/east-timor-operation-stabilise
On the morning of 29 December 1994, HMAS Darwin was ordered to sail in search of solo sailor Isabelle Autissier. She was a competitor in the BOC Challenge – an around-the-world solo yacht race. Autissier’s yacht, Ecureuil Poitou Charentes 2, had…
https://www.navy.gov.au/about-navy/history/history-milestones/rescues-southern-ocean
In 1992, Somalia was gripped by famine and drought. President Siad Barre had been overthrown in 1991. This caused tribal warfare that weak government security forces could not subdue. As a result, the country fell into a state of lawlessness.
The…
https://www.navy.gov.au/about-navy/history/history-milestones/hmas-tobruk-somalia-operation-solace
The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) started the Anzac-class frigate program in the mid-1980s. The program intended to replace the aging River-class frigates. In all, 10 ships were built for the RAN and 2 for the Royal New Zealand Navy.
At the time, the…
https://www.navy.gov.au/about-navy/history/history-milestones/anzac-class-frigate-acquisition
The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) had a significant presence in the Middle East Area of Operations (MEAO) between 1990 and 2021. There had been 68 individual ship deployments across 6 separate Australian operations. This near continuous presence meant…
https://www.navy.gov.au/about-navy/history/history-milestones/royal-australian-navy-middle-east
In January 1982, the New Submarine Project Office was set up. Submarine builders and designers around the world were invited to register their interest. They were invited to offer a replacement for the Oberon-class submarines.
Australia wanted 6…
https://www.navy.gov.au/about-navy/history/history-milestones/collins-class-submarine-acquisition
On 2 August 1990, Iraq annexed neighbouring Kuwait. In response, the United Nations Security Council placed an embargo on Iraq. They banned all trade with Iraq and occupied Kuwait in an attempt to force Iraq’s withdrawal.
Australian Prime Minister…
https://www.navy.gov.au/about-navy/history/history-milestones/operation-damask-gulf-war
In March 1987, Defence Minister Kim Beazley announced that the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) would become a two-ocean navy. It involved basing half of its fleet at HMAS Stirling in Western Australia, with the other half remaining in its bases on the…
https://www.navy.gov.au/about-navy/history/history-milestones/two-ocean-basing
The Royal Australian Navy’s largest single commitment to Vietnam was a destroyer to serve with the United States Navy’s 7th Fleet. Four RAN ships fulfilled this commitment on what became known as the ‘gunline’. They provided naval gunfire support…
https://www.navy.gov.au/about-navy/history/history-milestones/gun-line-vietnam
On 28 October 1940, Italy invaded hitherto neutral Greece via Albania. Greek forces were able to hold the Italians on the Albanian front. However, they feared that they would not be able to defend effectively if Germany joined the Italian invasion.…
https://www.navy.gov.au/about-navy/history/history-milestones/evacuating-greece-crete
Australian Clearance Diving Team 3 (CDT3) made an important and highly distinctive contribution in Vietnam. It was an elite group of 49 officers and sailors.
Divers were trained in the dangerous business of explosive ordnance disposal, both on the…
https://www.navy.gov.au/about-navy/history/history-milestones/vietnam-war-clearance-divers
The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) Helicopter Flight Vietnam (RANHFV) was a unique unit that combined US Army airborne soldiers and RAN helicopter pilots and ground crew. RANHFV formed in July 1967, during the Vietnam War. Its formation was in response…
https://www.navy.gov.au/about-navy/history/history-milestones/service-royal-australian-navy-helicopter-flight-vietnam
The Australian Government committed an infantry battalion to the Vietnam War in April 1965. It necessitated heavy sealift and fast troop transport. The best solution was the former aircraft carrier HMAS Sydney (III).
Sydney saw service with the…
https://www.navy.gov.au/about-navy/history/history-milestones/vung-tau-ferry-hmas-sydneys-service-vietnam-war
On the night of 10 February 1964, 20 nautical miles south-east of Jervis Bay, the Royal Australian Navy’s aircraft carrier HMAS Melbourne collided with the destroyer HMAS Voyager. The smaller ship was cut in two with the forward section sinking in…
https://www.navy.gov.au/about-navy/history/history-milestones/hmas-voyager-hmas-melbourne-collision
In 1961, the Australian Government announced its decision to acquire two US-built Charles F Adams-class destroyers:
HMA Ships Perth and Hobart were commissioned in 1965.
HMAS Brisbane was commissioned in 1967.
The ships came to be known in the…
https://www.navy.gov.au/about-navy/history/history-milestones/charles-f-adams-perth-class-destroyers-ikara-missile-system
The British 4th Submarine Squadron was based at HMAS Penguin in Sydney from 1949. They intended to provide anti-submarine warfare training for the Australian Fleet.
In 1963, with the prospect of a British withdrawal, the Naval Board recommended that…
https://www.navy.gov.au/about-navy/history/history-milestones/oberon-class-submarines
On the 25 June 1950, North Korean forces crossed the 38th Parallel, invading South Korea and capturing the capital, Seoul, within the week. The UN Security Council requested assistance from its members to defend the south’s sovereignty.
The UN’s…
https://www.navy.gov.au/about-navy/history/history-milestones/korean-war
Less than three years after the Second World War ended, Communist terrorists began a bold policy of hit-and-run violence in Malaya. They were officially known among the Allies as 'CT's'. Britain declared an emergency in Malaya in June 1948 that…
https://www.navy.gov.au/about-navy/history/history-milestones/cold-war-regional-alliances-conflicts
The Fleet Air Arm (FAA) is the Royal Australian Navy’s (RAN) aviation force. It includes flying crewed and remotely piloted aircraft. The RAN first tried to establish a Fleet Air Arm in the 1920s. However, fiscal constraints and inter-service…
https://www.navy.gov.au/about-navy/history/history-milestones/establishment-fleet-air-arm
Allied forces pushed north towards the Japanese home islands in 1945. Australian attention turned towards the liberation of lands closer to home, the Netherlands East Indies (Indonesia) in particular.
Initially planned as a series of 6 operations,…
https://www.navy.gov.au/about-navy/history/history-milestones/operation-oboe
As 1943 and 1944 progressed, Australian ships were involved in several campaigns. They aimed to reverse what previously seemed an inexorable Japanese advance through the south Pacific. The following armed merchant cruisers were converted to Landing…
https://www.navy.gov.au/about-navy/history/history-milestones/pushing-north-philippines
In early 1942, advancing Japanese forces began examining the possibility of capturing:
Port Moresby
Tulagi
New Caledonia
Fiji
Samoa.
The occupation of Port Moresby would cut off the eastern sea approaches to Darwin. It would also provide the…
https://www.navy.gov.au/about-navy/history/history-milestones/battle-coral-sea
A Fleet Review, in the British tradition, is a formal inspection of the fleet of a navy by the monarch. Today, the purpose of reviews is celebratory, and intended to commemorate milestones. The reviews conducted in 1986, 1988 and 2013 were some of…
https://www.navy.gov.au/about-navy/history/history-milestones/fleet-reviews-over-years
In August 1942, the RAN heavy cruiser HMAS Canberra operated with the US Navy in support of the American landings on the strategically vital islands of Guadalcanal and Tulagi. These operations ended with the loss of Canberra in the Battle of Savo…
https://www.navy.gov.au/about-navy/history/history-milestones/battle-savo-island
In late 1942, the war in the Pacific had not yet decisively turned in the Allies’ favour. Japanese air power – from bases in Truk (Chuuk), occupied Timor, Rabaul and elsewhere in the region – proved to be a deadly force. Allied air cover was limited…
https://www.navy.gov.au/about-navy/history/history-milestones/hmas-armidale-i-support-australian-army