Navy News, Month dd, 2000

Welcome aboard Royal Australian Navy News, the official newspaper of your Navy.

Navy News is published fortnightly with its basic charter to inform and entertain our sailors wherever they are serving, in ships or on shore, at home or overseas.

February 04, 2001

		Sad Farewell With shouts of "slip lines one and two" and the RAN band playing I Am Australian, HMA Ships Manoora and Newcastle eased away from Fleet Base East in Sydney late last month bound for The Gulf. One of the largest crowds for years, more than 600 family members, friends and dock workers.

		Tiger and mouse games This was the day the tigers and the mouse played very serious games off the NSW coast ...and the tigers won. Our series of pictures, the best ever taken, show 'Tiger 76', one of the 16 Seahawk helicopters attached to 816 Squadron at HMAS Albatross, launching a Mark 46 ALT...

		Sydney ends 10-year chase An oil smuggler, sought for the last ten years for running the UN sanctions blockade in The Gulf, has been arrested by the Royal Australian Navy frigate HMAS Sydney. The arrest took place last month (January) and followed three days of shadowing by the 4,100-tonne warship...

		Deterrence maintains anti-smuggling tempo People smugglers are "doing it tough" because of the deterrent operations by the RAN and Army in Op Relex, the Maritime Commander, RADM Geoff Smith said last week. "They have a lot of angry people around them," trying to get to Australia.

		Oils ain't just oils for painter Ian Naval Officer LEUT Ian Pfeffer may have started out as an engineer but moved on to a new slant in oils when he explored his artistic dimension by painting one of Australia's best known rock stars, Peter Garrett, lead singer of Midnight Oil. Ian joined the Royal Australian Navy seven years ago...

		Vale announces conscripts' medal National Service personnel who served between 1951 and 1972 can now apply for a medal marking the 50th anniversary of the introduction of universal conscription in Australia, the Minister Assisting the Minister for Defence, Mrs Danna Vale, has announced.

		Yarra's special day The sixth and final 'plastic fantastic' for the RAN, the coastal minehunter Yarra was launched in Newcastle last month. She is expected to be commissioned in September. The 720-tonne fibreglass warship was built at ADI's Carrington shipyard.

		Kursk tragedy has RAN spin-off The sinking of the Russian submarine Kursk with the loss of more than 100 lives, has provided an unexpected tasking spin-off for the RAN's Submarine Escape Training Facility at Fleet Base West. The facility's 14-member staff has begun training US Navy submariners to escape...

		816 named squadron of the year CO 816 Squadron, CMDR Andrew Whittaker attended Helipower 2001 in Hannover, Germany, to be presented the award of 'International Helicopter Squadron of the Year'. The managing director of the Shephard Press, Mr Alexander Shephard, presented the award.

		Campaign to save the Vengeance HMAS Vengeance, the last Australian WWII aircraft carrier, once the pride of the Royal Australian Navy, is about to be scrapped in Brazil unless she can be rescued. Exactly 60 years ago she was launched to lead the fight against the terrors of the Nazis and Japanese evils in the Pacific.

		Doctor detector on line An automatic weather station vital to the safety of the Navy, boat operators, the people of Perth and emergency service workers, in that it will tell them when the 'Doctor' has arrived, has been officially switched on at HMAS Stirling.

		Youth scheme dabble in decom The pilot Navy Youth Scheme which saw 20 young men and women given 12 weeks paid work experience at FIMA/Sydney has come to a close....and been a success. Many of the young people have liked what they have seen in the service and now seek full time employment with the RAN.

		Just like old times During a visit to Victoria on December 12, 2001, the Chief of Navy, VADM David Shackleton, took the opportunity to visit Navy's last surviving dual World War I and II veteran Mr William Allan, aged 102, at his nursing home in Essendon.

		Letters to the Editor

		Historical Highlights The use of the bell and hourglass to mark the passing of time on board ships was discussed in the last article. Alongside the bell in ships of the past was placed an hour glass - usually keeping track of half an hour of time with a measure of sand running from the top to the bottom of the glass.

		Champion defends Navy LEUT Andrei Ezergailis from HMAS Stirling successfully defended his 2000 ADF National Golf Championship during the 2001 national championships at the Federal Golf Course in Canberra during December. A grand total of 106 keen ADF golfers descended under generally fine skies...

		Sport briefs

		Penrhyn's penchant HMAS Harman's Sydney-Hobart entry, Lady Penrhyn, successfully defended Harman's 2000 win of the Oggin Cup, awarded to the first Service yacht on corrected time. HMAS Harman was allocated a different yacht this year and only two of last year's crew backed up for this year's campaign.

		Brumbies form alliance with HMAS Canberra The ACT Brumbies rugby union team held a unique presentation at training session recently when it handed a complete set of jerseys to the CO of HMAS Canberra, CMDR Roger Boyce. Wallaby and ACT Brumbies captain, George Gregan made the presentation to CMDR Boyce...