FIMA/Perth
recently restored a 58-year-old torpedo at a naval memorial in
Fremantle.
The torpedo is part of a memorial dedicated in 1967 by the US
Submariners Association to US submariners who worked out of Fremantle
during World War II.
LCDR Vaughan Thompsett from FIMA Perth said he was approached
to do the refurbishment by the Ex Services Alliance for Monument
Hill, an umbrella group for a large number of naval associations
in WA.
“We just refurbished the torpedo itself and came and did
the mountings which were in pretty poor condition,” LCDR
Thompsett said.
FIMA sailors grit-blasted the torpedo back to its original metal
and refurbished the torpedo mounts.
They also painted the torpedo in anti-graffiti paint to hopefully
deter any future negative social behaviour and coated the nose
cone in a clear metal lacquer.
The torpedo, a Mark 15, mod 3 weapon made in 1944 at Newport USA,
had suffered extensive graffiti and corrosion damage over the
years.
Ex Services Alliance for Monument Hill convenor Chris Grisewood
said he was grateful for the navy’s assistance.
“We are over the moon, you’ve only got to look at it,”
Mr Grisewood said.
“If you saw it before it was hacked into with names, it had
graffiti all over it, it wasn’t a war memorial any more,
it was just a mess.”
The memorial will be re-dedicated during this Remembrance Day
Service by the mayor of Fremantle..
