Harking
back to old days
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READ
ON: A 1950s edition of Navy News.
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It
has just come to my attention that the October 20, 2005 edition
of Navy News asked whether the newspaper is still relevant to
its readers.
This
is a very late submission, and I apologise for that. I’m
currently employed as a Naval Reservist, writing histories for
current and past RAN ships, at the Navy’s Sea Power Centre.
Obviously
a lot of research is required for this task, with two major sources
being Reports of Proceedings and past editions of Navy News. Dependent
on the age of the ship, this task has required that I research
right back to 1962, to the first editions of Navy News.
The
content of Navy News from the early editions in the 1960s right
up to approximately the late 1980s, with submissions from individual
ship Navy News’ correspondents, are a wonderful snapshot
of history and of the RAN as it was at that time.
The
articles were written by sailors for sailors, and retained their
unmistakably authentic nautical flavour, with ship’s activities,
from exercises to “runs ashore”, being covered extremely
well. I write from experience, having been detailed off as Leeuwin’s
Navy News’ correspondent during one posting to the west.
This
all seemed to change some time in the 1990s, when it seemed items
from ships were watered down, or were reworded, perhaps by journalists
who lacked the seagoing knowledge and nautical “turn of phrase”
of ship Navy News correspondents.
I
realise that we live in more “politically correct” times,
but it seems to me that by comparison, the Navy News we have today,
is a glossy tabloid, which lacks the traditional RAN humour and
content it used to have.
In
fact, tongue in cheek, one could say that what we have today is
Navy News Lite.
Lite
supermarket items are, of course, a product of our times. It could
even be said that “lite” summarises our times because
it defines a whole raft of watered-down passions.
I
shudder to think what future naval historians might say about
the current Navy News as a vehicle for providing a “full-strength”
picture of life in the current RAN. Please consider bringing back
the full-strength Navy News of yesteryear, or at least model the
content of the newspaper on the Royal Navy’s Navy News.
John
Maddock
LCDR, RANR
