Ron’s vast Naval and business experience, as well as his extensive research of Naval history including the Second World War in the Pacific and other military topics of interest, has led to the creation of this website.
The articles below are some “key events” that hold particular interest and have been a key focus of his research. They have earned a vital place in our nation’s history, and form part of Ron’s extensive knowledge of Naval History and World events from which he derives his speeches and keynote addresses.
Eighty-Two (82) years ago on this day – December 7, 1941 – the War across Western/ Eastern Europe, North Africa and throughout the Mediterranean became a global conflict which lasted until September 1945.
This war, the Second World War resulted in over 75 million people either killed, wounded, taken prisoner or displaced.
Just five years after the conclusion of the Second World War, Australia became involved in the Korean War. Personnel from the Royal Australian Navy (RAN), Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), and the Australian Regular Army (ARA) were committed soon after the war began and would serve for the next three years in the defence of South Korea.
Since Federation in 1901, Australia has been involved militarily in several wars and conflicts, which include the First World War, the Second World War, Korea, the Borneo/Malay confrontation, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan.
Why should Parents, Educators and others strive to educate and inform our children about these conflicts and why the outcomes should mean so much to them?
PT (Patrol-Torpedo) boats were small, fast ,and expendable vessels for short range oceanic scouting, armed with torpedoes and machine guns for cutting enemy supply lines and harassing enemy forces. Forty-three PT squadrons, each with 12 boats were formed during World War II by the U.S. Navy.
PT boat duty was very dangerous and the squadrons suffered an extremely high loss rate in the war.
The Battle for Guadalcanal was a series of Land and Sea campaigns during the Second World War in the Pacific. And a long and brutal campaign it was, fought between Imperial Japanese Forces and US/Australian Forces, aka – the Allies!
Along with the Battle in the Coral Sea (May 4 – 8, 1942) and the Battle for Midway (June 3 – 6,1942), the outcome of this seven-month campaign for Guadalcanal marked a turning point in favor of the Allies in the Pacific War.
Australia’s worst maritime disaster occurred on July 1, 1942 when the SS Montevideo Maru, a freighter which had been seconded by the Japanese Navy was transporting allied prisoners and civilians from Rabaul destined for Japan
The Battle in the Java Sea began when American-British-Dutch-Australian (ABDA) Naval Command – sailing from Surabaya attempted to prevent the Japanese invasion of Java, the capital island of the 300year-old Dutch East Indies possession, on February 27, 1942.
The allied Task Force was under the command of Royal Netherlands Navy, Rear Admiral Karel W F M Doorman (one of the Netherlands most distinguished commanding officers), was defeated after seven hours of intense fighting.
At exactly 9:58 in the morning on February 19, 1942 Darwin came under attack from the air by a foreign power.
This is the day when war came to Australia.
188 aircraft took part in the first attack, and these were launched from 4 x Imperial Japanese Navy aircraft carriers operating in the Timor Sea, and 54 bombers which took off from Ambon in the Celebes constituted the second attack.
