Sporting mission to accomplish
It saddens an old sailor to read of the decline in Navy competitive sport - 'Cerberus rugby team leads third division VRU' and Navy Australian football team goes down to Army by 132 points' in the June 24 edition.

In the 1950s, 60s and 70s, Navy had three teams in the Victorian Rugby Union competition - first grade, reserve grade and colts, with our colts winning the state competition on many occasions.

First grade was always very competitive until June when the half-yearly postings took many players.

During the Vietnam War, Army was hard to beat in every sport because they had thousands of national servicemen to choose from, including the likes of Carl Dietrich (St Kilda ruckman), Bobby Fulton (Australian rugby) and Doug Walters (Australian cricket), plus many other first graders, but we did beat them on occasions.

In Sydney, the only Aussie rules competition had a team called 'Sydney Naval', with many more sailors playing in other first grade teams.

Maybe it is time to concentrate on sport once again, as opposed to mission statements, cultural statements and 'visions' which seem to be the buzzwords from Navy hierarchy today.

Jim Hawkins,
(Ex-Navy rugby union),
Lismore, NSW.

Have we 'gong' a bit too far?
With reference to penalties for wearing 'false gongs' (Navy News June 10), it must now be quite difficult to distinguish real from false with the flood of American-style medals and awards showered on Navy personnel.

There are medals for naval service in peacetime, medals for going to sea, medals for coming back, medals for sitting in submarines, plus a swag of clasps, badges, insignia and ribbons.
My favourites are the gold, silver and bronze stars and eagle clasps for passing medical and dental examinations.

There is already a knot-tying badge awarded to ABs by Brown Owl any Brownie could be proud of.

Then there are all those certificates, sashes, ribbons, cups, pennants and plaques lavished on anyone sans medals and as impressive as any awarded to livestock in a Royal Show.

All this debases the value of real medals and it is time to return to a single General Service Medal with appropriate clasps for theatres of war.

Instead of a plethora of medals, plaques and certificates, perhaps your Chief POETS could recite odes to deserving personnel.

In my day we didn't have POETS, but Chief Stokers who swore paint-stripping oaths and would have gone insane with rage at anyone wearing a framed certificate around their necks.

G Williamson (one GM medal),
Rockingham, WA.

More on HMS Indefatigable
Regards the letter from Glenn Bell on P19 of the June 10 edition of Navy News.

From the photo, and using the main ship recognition points, the ship is HMS Indefatigable, one of the two ships of the Royal Navy's Implacable class of aircraft carrier.

Indefatigable was ordered in 1939, completed on May 3 1944 and served with the Home Fleet, and the British Pacific Fleet.

On April 1 1945, Indefatigable had the distinction of being the first British carrier to be hit by a Japanese Kamikaze, sustaining a direct hit at the base of her Island superstructure.

Some offices were wrecked and a barrier rendered unusable, but she was fully operational within 30 minutes.

Two other Royal Navy fleet carriers, Indomitable and Victorious, were also hit by Kamikazes while serving in the Pacific.

One of the RN carriers hit by a Kamikaze had a United States Navy liaison officer onboard at the time.

He is reported to have said: "When a US carrier gets hit by a Kamikaze, it's six months in Pearl Harbor for repairs. When you guys get hit, it's 'sweepers man your brooms'."

Whereas the 'strength deck' in a US carrier was the hangar deck, the 'strength deck' in Illustrious, Implacable, Victorious, Indomitable, Formidable and Indefatigable was the three-inch thick armoured flight deck.

I think Indefatigable was still in the British Pacific Fleet in August 1945, and that Supermarine Seafires from her air group shot down the last Japanese aircraft in World War 2, but I'd have to check on that.

John Maddock,
Evaluation Section,
Business Education & Skills Development Section (BESD), Canberra.

RSL offers praise for RAN ops
The State Executive of the Returned and Services League of Australia (New South Wales Branch) met recently and considered a motion from the Swansea RSL Sub-Branch in relation to support for members of the Australian Defence Force.

The following resolution was carried unanimously.

"That the State President write to the Chief of the Defence Force conveying a message of support from the members of the Returned and Services League of Australia (New South Wales Branch) expressing our admiration for the professionalism and devotion to duty of all personnel in all recent engagements of the Australian Defence Force."

This is a direction of our State executive that I am absolutely delighted to carry out. In my nine years as State President of the League I have had countless opportunities to see at first hand just how well the members of the ADF go about their business. The words of the resolution are spot on - "professionalism and devotion to duty".

I totally support the sentiments, as it was brought home to me very positively during my visit to East Timor last year. It made me extremely proud to see so many fine young Australians carrying on a tough job under difficult circumstances with little or no fuss.

The Australian Defence Forces are operating in a number of hot spots around the globe and they are acquitting themselves with great distinction.

We want you all to know that as sons and daughters of ANZAC you are undoubtedly carrying on the great tradition that makes this nation of ours so unique. Let none say otherwise.

Rusty Priest,
State President Returned and Services League of Australia (New South Wales Branch).

The lowdown on raising flags
Navy News dated June 10 has a picture on page 4 showing the Australian White Ensign being 'raised' to half mast at HMAS Kuttabul.

Not to be outdone by this, the same mistake was repeated at HMAS Sydney 1 mast at Bradley's Head on page 12.

I trust they were lowered to half mast in each case!

J Douglas,
Sandringham, Victoria.