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| HMAS VOYAGER - IN HER HEYDAY |
Other than my elder Brother's desire to join the Navy during the War( which as I have already recorded he was not allowed to do) the family had no record of Naval Service. But I had a fascination with the Navy and Naval History from a very early age. I can recall reading in 6th Class (Age 11 yrs) at Marist Brothers Lidcombe a book from the School Library called
So, I enlisted in the R.A.N.R. which involved spending 2 weeks each year on a training cruise as well as attending weekly training parades at H.M.A.S. RUSHCUTTER ,a shore establishment on Rushcutter's Bay on Sydney's Southern Harbour shore in the Eastern Suburbs.
Given my employment in Banking, the Navy in its wisdom, elected to place me in the Supply Division with the rating of Writer - something less than swashbuckling stuff! Rather than Bellbottom Trousers and a navy cap, we wore a Navy Suit and peaked Cap of the sort worn by Petty Officers and Officers, though with a suitably humble red embroidered Fouled Anchor rather than Silver or Gold.
The Officer in Charge of the Supply Division was Lieutenant Commander Bert Gamble R.A.N.R. He was a bespectacled gentleman and apparently a businessman from the North Shore area.The routine for the Training Nights consisted in a Parade which involved forming up in Ranks and Files, some marching to and fro on the Parade Ground which was not huge.On occasions, some formal prayers were said and prior to this the Order would be given "Fall Out the Roman Catholics!". Neat! So two of the Officers and about 20 other ranks including yours truly would duly fall out and make ourselves inconspicuous until recalled - the time involved was so brief that no acceptable Catholic Prayer Session was arranged.
After the Parade was dismissed the various Divisions broke out into separate training sessions at various parts of the Base. Fairly early in the piece I was given the opportunity to join the Officer Training Squad along with 7 or so others. This went on for several years and a few were granted Commissions as Sub-Lieutenant ( U.S.N. equivalent : Ensign) and some were dropped. I was still waiting when my time with the R.A.N.R. came to an end at my request.
We were required to study the Admiralty Manual of Seamanship which is a treasure trove of useful and interesting information and the occasional bit of nonsense. An example of the latter is the prescription for bringing a Ship's whaler in to shore through the surf. As I remember it, it required the whaler to be turned about as it approached the surf, and the crew to row as if heading back out to sea whilst the surf carried them in! ( Lifesavers seem to have succeeded admirably without resort to this nonsense.)
Each member of the Officer Training Squad was required to give a Lecture of about 30 Minutes to the assembled Officers on a given Training Night, on a subject worked out in conjunction with the the Officer in Charge of Officer Trainig, Lieutenant Commander Peder Pedersen. I chose the Battle for Leyte Gulf. This was the largest Naval Battle in the history of the World and I knew a good deal about it already, and had good access to Samuel Eliot Morrison's 35 (?)Volume History of Naval Warfare in World War II. The battle is not as well known as it deserves to be, and that was true even in the R.A.N. at that time . I think the reason was that there was no British involvement in it, so that it was almost as if it diddn't happen. The Lecture went quite well, but it was the first time I had done anything of the kind. As a result, I had prepared a detailed text which I intended to read from. Of course two or three minutes proved that it did not work. Fortunately, I knew the subject inside out and had a very good recollection of the text I had prepared and was able to sail on without it! The Battle is a marvellous fund of dramatic stories and with my enthusiasm for the subject it was not hard to keep it interesting. ( I must do a post on it one day.)
One of the other members of the squad more advanced than I, was one of the most admirable fellows I had ever known. His name was Max Breckenridge - not a common name - but by no means the only way he stood out in the group. He was intelligent, gentlemanly, modest in manner, handsome and athletic and could assume and project, the essential power of command with an ease and natural grace that identifies a born leader.
Our annual two weeks Training Cruise provided a richly varied experience on successive years my training cruises were aboard :
SDB 1321 or Seaward Defence Motor Launch - a large 80 feet long diesel motor Launch which had done heroic service in WWII on special ops off New Guinea.
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| H.M.A.S. VOYAGER at speed. |
H.M.A.S. VOYAGER (II) the Daring Class Destroyer which was to be later sunk by H.M.A.S. Melbourne the Aircraft Carrier
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H.M.A.S. WAGGA the "Bathurst"Class WWII Minesweeper.
And H.M.A.S. Sydney (III) the Aicraft Carrier turned TroopTransport.
H.M.A.S. WAGGA was designated for service as the R.A.N.R. Training Ship. However she was rather "tired"when we inherited her and require many weekends of voluntary work to get her ready for sea. This involved much chipping and painting, but also cleaning the tubes of her boiler of the accumulated soot which surrounded them. This was vile work in the highly constrained innards of the boiler and those of us ignorant enough to have volunteered, spent the following week at the tiresome task of cleaning our sinuses of the fine black particles. A memorable experience!
SDB 1321
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| SDB 1321 |
On the cruise we had a very mixed crew including an English Lieutenant who was a constant source of (unintended) amusement to the crew in view of his ignorance about things Australian. Nowhere was this more in evidence than in pronunciation of place names. Our destination was Brisbane. We made our way up the New South Wales coast without significant problems. Though in the early afternoon we were witness to, and victim of , a magnificent sight. Coming over the Southern horizon was a ship, and not just any ship. It was one of the Australian Destroyers of the day I think, either ARUNTA OR WARRAMUNGA , and at speed. As she broke the horizon, her Signal Lamp flashed out "What Ship?"
There was a minute or so of sheer bedlam aboard as the Officer of the Watch called for our lone Signal Rating and we got back our identifying response. What a sight she made, with "a bone in her teeth"the bow wave forced up by her speed, and she rushed by off to the North East, leaving us to wallow along at a quarter of her speed. I am sure the Officers in the Destroyer had a good laugh knowing the panic they had caused us Reservists! Later that evening I had a spell at the helm . To my regret, I found that our trusty vessel's diesel exhausts to Port and Starboard were located just above the water line on either side of the wheelhouse.Any breeze on either beam, brought the sickly dense diesel exhaust straight through wheelhouse and immediately into the nostrils of the helmsman.I lasted about half an hour before succumbing to sea sickness and the need to be relieved at the wheel.
We reached Brisbane on a Saturday afternoon and cruised sedately up the Brisbane River as far as Saint Lucia, before coming about and returning to our berth at New Farm. I was favourably impressed by the city on this lovely August afternoon. But came the night and I was surprised at how cold it became. Sunday morning came and I headed off to Mass at St. Stephen's Cathedral, little guessing what a significant role it was to play in my later life.After Mass I bought a Newspaper from a young bloke selling papers outside the Cathedral and there, on that hallowed spot I heard the first words said to me by a Queenslander : "When are you leaving?". Some might have regarded this as less than encouraging! With another crew member, I walked up onto Spring Hill and back down to the City.
The following day we left for Sydney, heading out through the seemingly interminable Moreton Bay. When the time came to turn South around the headland to run down the Coast, our trusty British Officer ordered everyone else off the foc'sle and secured all the mooring cables to his own satisfaction, getting thoroughly drenched for his trouble as the vessel headed into the swell coming up from the South.
As we headed down the New South Wales Coast that evening our British Lieutenant was examining the chart as we continually checked our progress. Some of the names caused him a little trouble, but one stumped him : "BULAH DELAH"( pronounced "BULLA DEELA") - when he called it "" BOO -LAR - DEE- LAR" in his fruity tones,those of us on Watch nearly choked trying not to laugh.
The remainder of the Cruise was uneventful ,as was our return to Rushcutter's Bay and H.M.A.S.Rushcutter.
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