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Latest News for our Navy Network Download the May edition of our newsletter BROADSIDE |
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07 June I
spy with my little eye: BAE presentation reveals
interesting next-gen Destroyer conceptAustralia isn’t alone in facing questions about the amount of firepower available to our surface fleet and recognising this, it appears that BAE Systems has been quietly working away on a next-generation destroyer concept building on the Type 26 base, with some impressive results. As an island nation, Australia’s sovereignty, security, and prosperity is intrinsically linked to our maritime surrounds and the uncontested and unmolested access to the global maritime commons. More..... |
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07 June Memorial
service marks Sydney sub attackOn the evening of May 31, 1942, a distant war was delivered to Sydney’s doorstep. Three Imperial Japanese Navy midget submarines entered Sydney Harbour to target allied warships. One torpedo aimed at the American heavy cruiser USS Chicago missed its intended target and sank the converted Sydney ferry HMAS Kuttabul. The attack resulted in the deaths of 19 Royal Australian Navy sailors and two Royal Navy sailors who were asleep on board Kuttabul. More..... |
07 June Launny's
crew bids emotional farewellShip’s company, VIPs and onlookers said farewell to 15-year-old HMAS Launceston, as the vessel was decommissioned at HMAS Coonwarra in Darwin on June 1. Launceston is the latest Armidale-class patrol boat to be decommissioned, and has conducted a wide variety of operations alongside Australian Border Force, Australian Fisheries and the Australian Federal Police. Commanding Officer Launceston Lieutenant Commander Adrian Hicks said he felt privileged to be ship's final commanding officer. More..... |
07 June The
power of knowing your peopleIn 1995, a young able seaman writer from Ballarat joined HMAS Perth, and was put to work maintaining technical publications. Like many of the 18-year-old sailors living on board in those days, Able Seaman Dennis Bentley found himself frequenting pubs and clubs with his messmates and spending a significant portion of his salary out on the town. As a country boy, living in a big city like Sydney with all of the entertainment and attractions, it was a hard temptation to resist, albeit a fascinating and amazing experience for a young sailor. More..... |
06 June Sailor
brings vital skills ashoreA career at sea has proved to be a perfect training ground for Petty Officer Rachel Lauchlan, as she now supports other ADF members ahead of their overseas deployments. Petty Officer Lauchlan had done numerous sea postings in her 15-year career with Navy, before recently moving to a joint role as a training coordinator with 39th Operational Support Battalion (39OSB). She said the move from a sea to land posting has given her a new perspective on her career. More..... |
06 June Britain,
Germany give update on future Indo-Pacific naval deploymentsThe defense ministers of Germany and the United Kingdom have pledged to keep up their respective military presence in the Indo-Pacific region, while also outlining their plans for military deployments, at a regional security summit in Singapore. Britain’s Ben Wallace and Germany’s Oscar Pistorius were speaking at their respective plenaries during the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, an event organized by the International Institute of Strategic Studies that ran June 2-4. More..... |
06 June US
Navy says Iran boats ‘harassed’ ship in Strait of HormuzThe U.S. Navy said Monday its sailors and the United Kingdom Royal Navy came to the aid of a ship in the crucial Strait of Hormuz after Iran’s Revolutionary Guard “harassed” it. Three fast-attack Guard vessels with armed troops aboard approached the merchant ship at a close distance Sunday afternoon, the U.S. Navy said in a statement. It offered black-and-white images it said came from a U.S. Navy Boeing P-8 Poseidon overhead, which showed three small ships close to the commercial ship. More..... |
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06 June Australian Navy Cadets join HMAS Adelaide for a sea ride Sixty Australian Navy Cadets (ANC) supported by ANC staff and Royal Australian Navy (RAN) staff joined HMAS Adelaide for a sea ride between Sydney and Melbourne to experience what life is like at sea. The cadets split into groups and worked their way around the various departments with a focus on Maritime Operations, Maritime Support and Maritime Engineering. |
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06 June AUKUS:
three partners, two pillars, one problemMuch of the AUKUS discussion to date has focused on Pillar 1, the trilateral effort to support Australia acquiring conventionally armed, nuclear-powered submarines. Yet achieving Pillar 2, the technology programs, is arguably both of greater long-term value and more strategically challenging. Pillar 2 aims to enhance the US, UK and Australia’s technological edge—and, implicitly, to counter China’s technological advancements—by pooling resources in advanced military capability areas such as artificial intelligence, quantum computing, cyber technology, undersea capabilities, hypersonics and counter-hypersonics, electronic warfare, and information-sharing. More..... |
05 June Career
on the move after gap yearWith a career where she never stops learning, Leading Seaman Marine Technician Ginger Pigot gets to visit foreign cities as a senior propulsion maintainer on board HMAS Anzac. Specialising in electricity within the marine engineering department, Leading Seaman Pigot and her shipmates look after everything that makes the ship move. This includes many of the things required to live comfortably at sea including bathrooms and showers, refrigerators, laundry and the galley. “We always take a lot of care of all of our equipment to try and prevent defects. We don’t like defects,” she said. More..... |
05 June Trilateral
response to Top End "disaster"Australian forces joined partner forces from the United States and Indonesia for a major international humanitarian aid and disaster relief exercise. Exercise Crocodile Response, designed to enhance interoperability, was conducted in Indonesia and Australia, concluding in the Northern Territory. Commander Headquarters Northern Command, Royal Australian Navy Captain Mitchell Livingstone, said military representatives and government agencies shared and refined their combined disaster relief skills during complex scenarios. More..... |
05 June Navy
divers assist with massive cocaine bustNavy clearance divers have assisted Australian Border Force, Australian Federal Police and Western Australian Police Force in a joint operation resulting in the seizure of about 800kg of cocaine with an estimated street value of $AUD320 million. The Western Australian-based Australian Clearance Diving Team Four responded to a request from Australian Border Force to search a flooded ballast tank in the 32,000-tonne Marshall Islands-flagged bulk carrier MV St Pinot, detained while berthed at the bulk terminal at Kwinana, WA. More..... |
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03 June Defence Community Dogs A helping paw goes a long way! We love seeing the smiles and joy that Defence Community Dogs bring out in our people. We hear from Able Seaman Taryn Dickens on how being paired with her dog, Gigi, has helped her serve as part of the Navy, despite having a vision impairment. |
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June OUR JUNE HERO  AB
Francis Joseph McGOVERN OAMFrank McGovern was born on 01 October 1919 in Paddington, Sydney, NSW. He grew up playing cricket and hockey in the back lanes, attending the Christian Brothers’ School in Edgecliff then the Marist Brothers High School at Darlinghurst. He began looking for his first job just after the Great Depression and started at Winns department store in Oxford Street. He then worked for the board of water supply from 1936 until he enlisted just prior to the outbreak of the Second World War. In 1939 when, aged nineteen, he and a group of mates decided to enlist in the Naval Reservists, describing his service experience simply as “quite good prior to the war”. Initially deployed with the HMAS Westralia for eighteen months, Frank later joined his older brother Vincent, who worked in the engine rooms on the HMAS Perth. The ships were regularly tasked with convoy and patrol duties in the Pacific. Sydney Morning Herald - 25 May 2023 World War Two’s great survivor dies at 103 FRANK McGOVERN: October 1, 1919 - May 24, 2023 World War Two veteran Frank McGovern, the last survivor of HMAS Perth, has died in Randwick Rehabilitation Hospital aged 103. He was an Able Seaman sunk in Perth by a Japanese convoy in 1942, then spent two years on Thai/Burma railway as a POW. He was sunk again in the Philippine Sea by a US submarine and bombed while working in Kawasaki as a forced labourer. The true remarkable element of Frank McGovern’s wartime experience lies not only in the extraordinary level of endurance he exhibited in his six and a half years of service, three and a half of which were spent in Japanese POW camps, but the number of times in which he narrowly evaded death. Read this fascinating story in our Hero Section..... |
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02 June Chinese
ship accused of looting iconic WWII shipwrecksAn illegal Chinese salvage operation seized by Malaysian authorities Sunday is suspected to have looted two iconic World War II shipwrecks, USNI first reported. Scrap steel, aluminum, brass fittings and ammunition believed to have belonged to the British ships HMS Prince of Wales and the HMS Repulse — both designated war graves — were discovered by Malaysian authorities aboard the Chinese cargo ship Chuan Hong 68, according to the BBC. The ship was boarded and searched after authorities found the vessel was not authorized to anchor in the waters under Malaysian jurisdiction. More..... |
02 June HMS
Defender destroys drone in exercise which paves the
way for future of air defence at seaA Royal Navy warship destroyed a jet drone during the world’s largest test of naval and missile defences. HMS Defender deployed to Scotland’s Outer Hebrides for Formidable Shield 2023 to test missiles, systems, sensors and software against ballistic, subsonic and supersonic targets, alongside 13 NATO and partner nations. The Type 45 led the Royal Navy’s participation as a dedicated air defence destroyer designed to shield a task group, culminating in a firing of her Sea Viper missile system – the £1bn warship’s primary weapon – during a mission to locate, and destroy a drone designed to be difficult to track and intercept. More..... |
02 June Memorial
honours Indigenous serviceIndigenous soldiers have been honoured for their sacrifice during annual ceremony in Sydney’s Hyde Park. In 1941, a German spy, disguised as an Australian, sent soldiers from the 2nd and 15th Battalion into a German trap. Among them was Private Eddie Albert, a Yidinji Girramay man from North Queensland, who escaped a POW camp and cheated death when his group was recaptured and three executed. More..... |
02 June Chaplain
values a Tongan homecomingIn a reunion that bridged generations, Royal Australia Navy Officer Chaplain Simote Finau recently returned to his childhood school in Tonga to share his story and offer guidance to students. Visiting the Pacific Island nations of Samoa and Tonga in support of Operation Solania, Chaplain Finau embarked on a personal mission to reconnect with his roots. Chaplain Finau shared his unique experiences as an ADF Chaplain with the students at Tonga College, in the village of Ha’ateiho, Tongatapu. More..... |
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BROADSIDE - May 2023 Edition NOTE: To read Broadside in Flipbook form, click on the "Full Screen" 
button. |
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