GREENBANK NAA NEWSLETTER GREY FUNNEL DITS Disclaimer: The material contained in this publication is in the nature of entertainment for the members. Contributions are acknowledged, with thanks, from service organisations. The editor expressly Disclaims all and any liability to any person, whether an association member or not. Views expressed may not necessary be those held by the Executive or the members. Editor: Tony Holliday [email protected] 0403026916 Series No. 3 Date: March 2020 Issue No3. GREENBANK NAVAL ASSOCIATION Sub Section Events: March 2020 - April 2020 March: Tuesday 3 March 2020 1900-2100 Normal Meeting RSL Rooms Wednesday 25 March 2020 1000-1030 Executive Meeti8ng RSL Rooms April: Tuesday 07 April 2020 1900-2100 Normal Meeting RSL Rooms Saturday 25 April 2020 0930 Anzac Day Service Wednesday 29 April 2020 1000-1030 Executive Meeting RSL Rooms Your Sub Section Executive : At the Sub Section AGM held on Sunday 9th February the following Executive Positions were filled; President: Michael Brophy Treasurer: Henk Winkeler Secretary: Tony Holliday Vice President 1 Terry McLean Vice President 2 vacant Social Committee Vacant Council Delegate Vacant Congratulations on those members who have been re-elected to the Executive Editors Request: Articles for the newsletter can be handed in at meetings, or by email: articles may be edited to fit the newsletter. The contents of this edition of the newsletter have been obtained from information provided from Len Kingston-Kerr whom I thank greatly, various publication publications and NAA information emailed in. 1 ROYAL AUSTRALIAN NAVY – PERSONALITY CPO C.S. Choules A former Royal Navy World War I and Royal Australian Navy World War II veteran, Claude’s life spanned the existence of the Australian Navy, which came into being on 1 March 1901, only two days before his birth. Born in Pershore, England on 3 March 1901, Claude Stanley Choules joined the Royal Navy as a Boy on 10 October 1916, and served in the training ship HMS Impregnable situated at Devonport dockyard. The Impregnable had been a 140 gun square-rigged wooden battleship prior to becoming a training ship. In 1917, Claude joined the battleship HMS Revenge, flagship of the First Battle Squadron. While serving in Revenge, Claude witnessed the surrender of the German High Seas Fleet at the Firth of Forth, in November 1918, ten days after the Armistice. He also later saw the scuttling of the German Fleet, by the Germans, at Scapa Flow. In 1919 he saw service in Revenge in the Black Sea which was a tense period with the Russian Civil War still taking place and Turkish Nationalists fighting to gain control of their country after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. A ‘big ships man’, Claude then served in the battleship Valiant with the Mediterranean Fleet between 1920 and 1923. A subsequent posting saw him stand by the construction of the RN’s first purpose built aircraft carrier HMS Eagle, which was followed by a two year posting as a Petty Officer on board Eagle, again in the Mediterranean Fleet. In February 1926, along with eleven other RN senior sailors, Claude came to Australia on loan as an Instructor at Flinders Naval Depot. Taking a liking to the Australian way of life, Claude decided to transfer permanently to the RAN. On 3 December 1926 he married Ethel Sim Wildgoose at the Scotch Church in Caulfield, Victoria and they later had two daughters and a son. After returning England for courses to qualify for Chief Torpedo and Anti-Submarine Instructor, Claude stood by the building of the RAN’s heavy cruisers HMA Ships Australia (II) and Canberra. Claude was a commissioning crew member of HMAS Canberra (I) and served in her until 1931. Claude took his discharge from the RAN in 1931 and the family moved to Western Australia. In 1932 he re-joined the Navy as a Chief Petty Officer Torpedo and Anti-Submarine Instructor at the Naval Training Depot in Fremantle. During World War II, Claude was the Acting Torpedo Officer, Fremantle and also the Chief Demolition Officer for Western Australia. Early in the war Claude was flown to Esperance, on Western Australia’s southern coast, to identify a mine washed ashore nearby. The mine was identified as German and Claude then disposed of the first mine to wash up on Australian soil during WW II. As the Chief Demolition Officer, Claude had the task of destroying facilities and oil storage tanks in Fremantle harbour thus rendering them useless in the event of a Japanese invasion. 2 For a number of weeks during the dark days of 1942, explosive charges were in place to carry out this task. Additionally Claude had depth charges placed in ships that had been unable to sail to Albany, with the intent of sinking them in Fremantle harbour should the Japanese invade. Claude remained in the RAN after the war and transferred to the Naval Dockyard Police (NDP) to allow him to remain in the service until March 1956, as retirement from the RAN for ratings in those days was at 50 years, while personnel could serve in the NDP until the age of 55. Claude was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II coronation medal in 1954 for his long service to the RAN. After retirement from the Naval Dockyard Police, Claude purchased a Cray fishing boat and spent many years fishing off the Western Australia coast. Claude Choules died in Perth, WA on 5 May 2011, aged 110, and was acknowledged as the last veteran, who had seen active service, from World War I. On 13 August 2011, Prime Minister Julia Gillard and the Minister for Defence Stephen Smith (also Member for Perth) announced that the recently purchased vessel, the Royal Fleet Auxiliary Largs Bay would be renamed HMAS Choules. HMAS Choules was commissioned, in Fremantle, on 11 December 2011. ________________________________________________________ ROYAL AUSTRALIAN NAVY - ADMIRALS RADM GLA BAYLISS: Geoffrey James Alexander Bayliss was born in Nyaunghla (Nyaung-U), Central Burma on 14 September 1937 to British parents. He received his primary education in Trinidad, West Indies and at Bathgate Academy in Scotland before the family moved to Brisbane, Queensland. He attended Brisbane Boys College at Toowong and later the University of Queensland, where he commenced a medical degree. Bayliss was a fourth year undergraduate medical student when he joined the Royal Australian Navy, in February 1958, as a probationary Sub Lieutenant. Posted to HMAS Moreton he continued his medical studies in Brisbane and graduated in 1961. During university breaks he undertook training at HMAS Watson including a compressed air diving course. After graduation from Queensland University he completed his residency at Ipswich General Hospital and was promoted to surgeon lieutenant in January 1962. Lieutenant Bayliss joined his first ship, the survey vessel HMAS Diamantina, in February 1963. During his time on board as the ships medical officer, Diamantina escorted the Royal Yacht Britannia into Fremantle, in March, before conducting surveys in Australian and Southeast Asian waters including visits to Singapore and two visits to Bali (where the ship disembarked medical supplies to assist the local population). The latter visit, in September, was of concern to the ship's company as the Indonesian Government policy of Confrontation with Malaysia was increasing in intensity and as a precaution the ship was at action stations when in Indonesian waters. 3 Surgeon Lieutenant Bayliss was appointed to HMAS Albatross in December 1963, but in June 1964 transferred to HMAS Rushcutter where he worked in the School of Underwater Medicine which was associated closely with the RAN Clearance Diving Branch which was then based at Rushcutter. Bayliss was promoted to Surgeon Lieutenant Commander in January 1967 and in November of that year joined the fast troop transport HMAS Sydney as the ships medical officer. During his time on board, Sydney undertook troop transport duties to South Vietnam on seven occasions (December 1967, January 1968, March 1968, May 1968, November 1968, February 1969 and May 1969). Surgeon Lieutenant Commander Bayliss completed his service in Sydney in August 1969 and then proceeded to England on exchange service and was posted to the Royal Naval Hospital Haslar in Gosport, Hampshire. On return to Australia Geoffrey Bayliss was appointed to HMAS Penguin, in January 1972, for duties at the RAN hospital. He was promoted to Acting Surgeon Commander in 1973 and assumed duties as the Deputy to the Medical Officer in Charge of the hospital. He was confirmed in the rank of Surgeon Commander in December 1973 and joined the aircraft carrier HMAS Melbourne in January 1974 as the Fleet Medical Officer. During his service on board the carrier undertook a deployment to the San Francisco, during February to March, to embark new Chinook helicopters for the RAAF. On completion Melbourne undertook work-ups and took part in Exercise KANGAROO ONE in the Shoalwater Bay area in June and other training in the Eastern Australian Exercise Area during October and November. The carrier was alongside at Garden Island in December 1974 when Cyclone Tracy devastated the city of Darwin on Christmas Day 1974. Melbourne was crash sailed along with most of the Australian Fleet on 26 December, as part of Operation NAVY HELP DARWIN, and arrived in Darwin on New Year’s Day 1975 to assist with the clean-up and rehabilitation of the city. The carriers medical department was heavily involved in providing support to the civilian population as well as maintaining the health of the ship's company who were working long hours ashore on clean up duties in excessive heat. Melbourne departed Darwin on 18 January 1975 and then deployed to Hawaii for Exercise RIMPAC 75 in March. On completion of this exercise she returned to Australia and undertook a major refit at Garden Island.