1st of the New Ships

A new era begins!

RAN Centenary Coin ( Perth Mint)

RAN Centenart Coin Set Mint

 

 

 

 

 

Perth Mint now has Coin set for $115.00 Reg Mail $7.50

A Very Happy New Year

May the New Year bring Good Health , Wealth & HappinesstoYou and Yours

Seasons Greetings

fireplace02 To all who pass this portal may the Xmas hearth keep you and your family safe and warm and may the Festive Season be bountiful in health and prosperity to you and yours A Very Merry Xmas and A Happy New Year

German tribute to Kormoran, Sydney sailors

THE German navy will today unveil memorials commemorating the crews of the HMAS Sydney and the Kormoran that sank it in World War II.

Plaques remembering the 645 Australians and 78 Germans who died will be unveiled at the German Naval Memorial in Laboe, in the state of Schleswig.The push for the memorials came jointly from the German Naval Association and the Finding Sydney Foundation, which located the wrecks in 2008. At the time, Australian officials dropped wreaths as a mark of respect to the lost Australian and German sailors. Despite the discovery of the ships and a comprehensive official inquiry, the HMAS Sydney’s sinking remains controversial with some relatives of its crew members.

Members of the German Naval Association have told Australian officials that relatives complained to them the plaques should not be laid because the cruiser’s sinking was a war crime and last year’s official inquiry was a cover-up.The inquiry, headed by former judge Terence Cole, rejected claims that the Germans tricked the Sydney’s captain into moving in too close and that the Germans murdered Australian survivors.The German Naval Memorial in Laboe has international significance and is one of the few German military memorials not destroyed by the Allies at the end of World War II. Others were seen to “glorify war and the spirit of aggression”.

The Finding Sydney Foundation said the memorial’s intent was to record Germany’s personal tribute to all of the men who died in the battle and had no element of glorifying either combatant or nation.A Royal Australian Navy spokesman said last night the loss of HMAS Sydney was as tragic and significant now as it was in November 1941.”It remains the RAN’s largest ever loss of life during a single action. This plaque commemorates heartbreak and honours sacrifice made by both sides in war,” the spokesman said.

© The Australian

Why is this day special to Australians?

!cid_Always & Forever1

At 11 am on 11 November 1918 the guns of the Western Front fell silent after more than four years continuous warfare. The allied armies had driven the German invaders back, having inflicted heavy defeats upon them over the preceding four months. In November the Germans called for an armistice (suspension of fighting) in order to secure a peace settlement. They accepted the allied terms of unconditional surrender.

The 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month attained a special significance in the post-war years. The moment when hostilities ceased on the Western Front became universally associated with the remembrance of those who had died in the war. This first modern world conflict had brought about the mobilisation of over 70 million people and left between 9 and 13 million dead, perhaps as many as one-third of them with no known grave. The allied nations chose this day and time for the commemoration of their war dead.

“Cruiser” the life & loss of HMAS Perth

cruiser final aw.indd I have just finished reading Mike Carlton’s book “Cruiser” The Life & Loss of  HMAS Perth I would recommend it’s      reading to anyone who had an interest in WWII events in particular the Royal Australian Navy.

Review of War Caused Disabilities and Pharmaceutical Costs.

 Sat May 08, 2010 8:33 am On 7 May 2010, Alan Griffin, the Minister for Veterans’ Affairs and Minister for Defence Personnel, released the Consultation Paper for the Review of War Caused Disabilities and Pharmaceutical Costs. The Paper is the next stage of the review process undertaken by the Department of Veterans’ Affairs, following the Government announcing funding for the review in the 2009-10 Budget.

View the paper http://www.dva.gov.au/benefitsAndServices/pharmreview/Documents/paper.pdf

Submissions are welcome from interested individuals and organisations. The consultation process will be open from 7 May 2010 to close of business 18 June 2010. Following the close of the consultation period, the Department will analyse submissions and prepare a report to the Minister.

Contact Email pharmacycopayreview@dva.gov.au

Mail: Pharmaceutical Costs Review Department of Veterans’ Affairs GPO Box 9998 Canberra, ACT 2601

 Now is the time to voice your opinion

The deadline for submissions is 18 June 2010

Resurrection of the “HANDLERS

Curtescy of FAA Magazine Slipstream

The text below is the Chief of Navy signal explaining the requirement to establish the new Aviation Support Category for LHD operations.

FM CN AUSTRALIA

TO ATG 3600

ATG 3602

RAN ALL SHORE 1/3

RAN ALL SHORE 2/3

RAN ALL SHORE 3/3

BT

UNCLAS

SIC WAA

ORIGNO: 2636/DFMS

015 ALL SHIP 0,15 ALL SHORE 013 ALL OVERSEAS

SUBJ: ESTABLISHMENT OF AN AVIATION SUPPORT CATEGORYTHE RAN IS SCHEDULED TO INTRODUCE THE TWO CANBERRA CLASS

 

1. AMPHTBIOUS ASSAULT SHIPS (LHD) DURING THE PERIOD 2014-2016.THE ARRIVAL OF THESE SHIPS WILL REQUIRE NEW COMPETENCIES AND SKILL SETS TO BE MASTERED IN ORDER TO ENSURE THE POTENTIAL AMPHIBIOUS CAPABILITY PROVIDED BY THESE PLATFORMS IS FULLY REALISED ONE SUCH AREA OF EXPERTISE IS THE CONDUCT OF MULTI-SPOT AVIATION OPERATIONS FROM A LARGE FLIGHT DECK, THE SCALE OF WHICH THE RAN HAS NOT CONDUCTED SINCE THE DE-COMMISSIONING OF THE CVS HMAS MELBOURNE. 

2, THE COMPLEX NATURE OF LHD AVIATION OPERATIONS WARRANTS PERSONNEL WITH SPECIALIST TRAINING AND EXPERIENCE TO MASTER THE COMPETENCIES REQUIRED TO ENSURE SAFE AND EFFICIENT MULTI-SPOT FLIGHT DECK AND HANGAR OPERATIONS, ACCORDINGLY I HAVE AGREED TO THE ESTABLISHMENT OF AN AVIATION SUPPORT (AVN) CATEGORY TO UNDERTAKE THESE DUTIES ON THE LHD 

3 TO ESTABLISH THE CATEGORY IN SUFFICIENT TIME TO MEET THE LHD TNTRODUCTION INTO SERVICE PLAN, COMMANDER FLEET AIR ARM (COMFAA), lN  CONJUNCTION WITH THE DIRECTORATE 0F NAVY CATEGORY MANAGEMENT (DNCM), TS To ESTABLISH A CATEGORY IMPLEMENTATION MANGEMENT TEAM (CIMT). THE CIMT IS TO DEVELOP AND COORDINATE THE EXECUTION OF AN AVN CATEGORY ESTABLISHMENT PLAN, ENSURING GROWTH OF THE CATEGORY MATCHES LHD REQUIREMENTS 4. FURTHER DETAILS ABOUT THE AVN CATEGORY WILL BE MADE AVAILABLE WHEN THE CATEGORY DEVELOPMENT PLAN IS FINALISED

 With the resurrection of the Premier Bramch of the Fleet Air Arm what will be the next re-incarnation?? Safety Equipment and Armourers.

photo_melbourne1

An ANZAC Story Lest We Forget

Billy SingBilly Sing, nicknamed ‘The Murderer’ was a World War 1 hero, once known around the world.  But by the time he died in 1943, alone and almost penniless he had all but been forgotten. Billy was born in 1886 in Clermont, QLD to a Chinese father from Shanghai and an Englishwoman. This son of a Chinaman rose above the racist attitudes and laws of the time and was a likeable young  bloke admired for his sporting prowess, particularly with the rifle. While still a boy, the story went, he could shoot the tail off a piglet at 25 paces with a .22 rifle.

From the age of 15, Billy worked as a station hand, ringer and horse drover further cultivating his childhood bush skills, including hunting. He honed his shooting skills at the Clermont Rifle Club, and later at the rifle club in Proserpine. A regular winner of shooting prizes, he was also a good cricketer.

Sing was in his prime when he journeyed to Brisbane to join the 5th Light Horse (LH) Regiment in 1914. The 5th LH was in Egypt when the ANZACs landed at Gallipoli. Leaving their horses behind, Billy’s regiment deployed in May 1915 as Infantry to Turkey’s Gallipoli Peninsula. Trooper 355, Billy Sing became ‘probably the most dangerous sniper in any army throughout the war’, wrote Ion Idriess. Idriess sailed to war on the same boat at Billy and became a popular author after the war. He was also an experienced bushman and at times was Billy’s spotter.

‘Abdul the Terrible’, as the Allies called him, was the decorated Turkish sniper bought to Gallipoli to stop Sing! He methodically studied the Australian’s  handiwork – up to nine kills per day. Having finally located Sing’s specially constructed ‘possie’, Abdul  prepared to take down his prey – only to be shot between the eyes by Sing.

Abdul was one of Sing’s 201 confirmed Gallipoli kills, though he probably took the lives of many more  Turks – there was not always a spotter to verify kills, and it was sometimes difficult to determine if targets that had been hit and fallen into trenches had actually been killed. Though bringing grief to Turkey,

Sing’s exploit saved Allied lives and was perfect propaganda – he was mentioned in despatches, warded the Distinguished Conduct Medal and lauded in newspapers from Sydney to San Francisco.

But it didn’t go all Sing’s way. He was wounded in August 1915, when a Turkish sniper hit the telescope  of his spotter, who was badly wounded before the bullet finally came to rest in Billy’s shoulder.  As the weather deteriorated, Billy succumbed to the cold, wet weather and the appalling conditions in the trenches and was evacuated to Malta just weeks before the Allies withdrew from the Gallipoli peninsula. Bouts of illness kept Billy in England for some time before he was deployed to the Western Front in January 1917 with the 31st Australian Infantry Battalion,  where soon after he was wounded and sent back to England to recuperate. He wrote home, ‘We had an awful time in France this winter; it was the coldest they’ve had for years……It would break your heart to see the dead bodies lying around unburied.’

Following his discharge from hospital he was given leave. Sing headed to Edinburgh,  where he had a whirlwind romance with a waitress Elizabeth Stewart. On 29 June they were married. A month later Billy was back in the trenches!  Private Sing was awarded the Belgian Croix de Guerre in early 1918,  for his role in leading a patrol, killing several German snipers at Polygon Wood in September 1917. Over his period of service he contracted influenza, rheumatism, mumps, had been gassed, shot on two occasions, sustained shrapnel wounds to both legs and his back,  spending quite some time in and out of hospitals, eventually causing his medical discharge.

The mustard gas caused lifelong lung disease for Billy and it signalled the end of his military career  when in July 1918 he was shipped home. Despite having been wounded, gassed and ill several times he was declared fit and able to work when discharged in Brisbane. For a time Billy was buoyed by an enthusiastic welcome in both Proserpine and later Clermont  but that soon faded. He set out to be a sheep farmer like so many other soldiers on blocks  donated to returned servicemen by the Federal Government, but his land was poor like many  of the blocks in this flawed scheme. Almost a third of the soldiers turned farmers walked  off the land – including Billy Sing.

There’s no indication that Billy’s wife was ever part of his new life. There is correspondence showing  that he applied for Elizabeth to have free passage from Britain, it doesn’t seem to have eventuated.  Though hampered by illness and his wounds, the failed sheep farmer still had to make a living. He turned to gold prospecting and did well enough to go on weekend sprees with his mining mates. He also got a reputation for heavy drinking and a bad attitude. When the gold ran out, Billy turned  to labouring in Brisbane where he continued to work hard although complaining of pains in his heart, chest and back.On May 19, 1943, Billy was found dead in his boarding house bedroom. Five shillings were also found but no sign of his war medals. As his humble grave marker in the Lutwyche War Cemetery weathered away, Billy Sing was all but forgotten. 50 years after his death a newspaper article revived interest in ‘this ace Australian sniper’. A plaque was erected on the site where he died and in 1995, a statue of Sing was unveiled with full military honours in his  hometown of Clermont. In 2004 Australian Army snipers named their Baghdad post the  ‘Billy Sing Bar & Grill’. Last year, on the 66th anniversary of his death, wreaths were laid  at Sing’s grave during a ceremony attended by various dignitaries, including the Chinese Consul-General.