-2 - “THE LOWER DECK” THE LOWER DECK is the official Newsletter of the WARSHIPS & newsletter of the MARINE CORPS MUSEUM (International), P.O. Box 89, Franklin, WARSHIPS & MARINE CORPS MUSEUM TAS. 7113 AUSTRALIA and is issued free every four months to members and friends of the Museum, Veterans Associations, libraries, (International) and ships and shore establishments of the Royal Australian Navy. Number 32 May 2003 All material in this Newsletter is COPYRIGHT and cannot be reproduced in any way without the written permission of the Museum and contributors. Newsletter Editor: Paul Morrison (after-hours phone) 02-47321423 Photograph Credits: The photograph on page 20 was taken by Museum photographer Brian Morrison. All Interfet photographs are courtesy of the officers and crew of HMNZS CANTERBURY. The Museum was established in 1963 and is a non-profit organisation manned by volunteers. If you would like to help in our on-going efforts to preserve Naval history we would be most happy to hear from you. Accounts of Naval service, photographs and other items would be greatly appreciated and would find a welcome place in the Museum. All items would be treated with the utmost care and respect. COVER: Landing Craft Air Cushion from USS PELELIU speeds past the Royal New Zealand Navy frigate HMNZS CANTERBURY. In the background are the rugged mountains of East Timor where Fretlin forces fought a guerrilla war against the Indonesian military forces until In this issue: eventually independence was announced for East Timor in 1999. INTERFET MARITIME FORCE BACK PAGE : HMAS HUON on the Huon River in Tasmania. The East Timor, 1999 ship is one of six minehunters built for the Royal Australian Navy. HMAS YARRA, the last of these minehunters was commissioned into the st Navy on 1 March 2003. It is beside the beautiful and scenic Huon River in Tasmania’s south-east, in the town of Franklin that the Museum will be opened to the public towards the end of 2004. We are in the process Issued free every four months to members and friends, Naval Associations, libraries, ships and shore establishments of the Royal Australian Navy of preparing to renovate the interior of our Heritage-Listed building. -3 - -4 - MUSEUM NEWS period would otherwise have been lost. It was not only the history of the RAN they were preserving, but also the histories of other Navies. And the encouragement also continued. 40th Anniversary of the Museum Chris Sattler, our third member joined the Museum in 1969 and the th This year marks the 40 Anniversary of the foundation of the Museum. number of artifacts catalogued by the Museum has increased greatly It’s history though goes back a little earlier to 1959 when Brian since. We now have nearly 10,000 catalogued items in the Museum, an Morrison (then aged 12) and his seven year old brother Paul developed extensive library of books as well as a negative/slide library. The an interest in Naval history. It was easy to be interested in this history Museum’s motto is: Preserving the Past for the Future. for the brothers lived in the Sydney harbourside suburb of Mosman. A long walk (or a short bicycle ride) down to Bradley’s Head would take them to where the ships of the Reserve Fleet (or the Ghost Ships as the Recent Acquisitions by the Museum kids in the area called them) were moored, and amongst these silent and The Museum has purchased an oil painting of HMS WARRIOR. The rusting vessels were many famous ships that had served with great painting is unsigned but is in the style of William Frederick Mitchell distinction in the Navy during World War 2. There was also the old (1845 – 1914), a prolific marine artist of the late 19th century who did a Bradley’s Head Fort built in the 1860s to defend Sydney Harbour from series of paintings on the ships of Queen Victoria’s Navy. sea attack as well as a larger fort on nearby Middle Head also built during this period but expanded greatly during World War 2. And there was the R.A.N’s fire-fighting school at HMAS PENGUIN. It was difficult for the two brothers not to be interested in Naval history! In the suburb of Mosman and its nearby suburbs were also a number of retired Royal Australian Navy personnel. Some of these veterans gave encouragement by donating items to what was essentially a ‘collection’ of Naval artifacts that the two brothers were assembling. The encouragement though was so great that in 1963 it was decided to set up a Naval Museum which was later expanded to a spare room in the house where they lived. They were extremely grateful to their parents, for the HMS WARRIOR was designed by John Russell and was the first establishment of this Museum also involved a large number of nail holes ironclad battleship specifically built for the Royal Navy, displacing in the timber walls of the spare room! They even had their own Museum 9,210 tons and carrying a broadside armament of twenty eight 7-inch Newsletter which ran for one issue (schoolwork and the running of a (178mm) guns. She was commissioned into the Royal Navy in 1861 and ‘serious’ Naval Museum didn’t allow the time for a second issue). is today restored and preserved as a Museum ship in Portsmouth. Through the kindness of retired Naval veterans (some of whom had USS THORN (DD-647) served in the Navy during World War 1), and the assistance given by USS THORN (DD-647) was a BRISTOL class destroyer that served in many of the ships that made up the post-World War 2 Royal Australian the United States Navy during World War 2. The ship was commiss- Navy the Museum flourished in a time when there was little interest in ioned into the Navy in April 1943 and its Battle Honours included 7 Naval history. Much of the history preserved by the brothers during this -5 - -6 - Battle Stars, 2 Japanese aircraft and 1 Japanese destroyer. THORN also had one of the shortest men to serve in the U.S. Navy. Harold Shorty Starry had tried to enlist in the armed forces but was told he was too small at 4 foot 11 inches – one inch under minimum requirements. He wrote a letter to Secretary of the Navy, Frank Knox, stating – “I’m as big as any Jap.” The Navy waived the rule and Shorty was allowed to enlist. Kaj ‘Swede’ Swenson also served in USS THORN during the war. In the post-war years he was active in setting up the ship’s Association and in tracking down every crew member (more than 600 of them) who served in the ship. Swede also edits the Association’s newsletter. Swede is a good friend of the Museum’s and has helped us greatly over the years. We even had the pleasure of meeting him and his wife Betty when they visited Sydney some years ago. The Editor remembers seeing Swede for the first time – he was not hard to miss for he was wearing a The Navy House in Grosvenor Street, Sydney was always a favourite, USS THORN (DD-647) ball cap. “I’m still looking for THORN not only for the MANOORA crew members but for any Navy personnel shipmates,” he said. “We’re missing about a hundred and who knows? whose ships were in port, because ‘Johnnies’ (as it was fondly known) Some of them might be living in Sydney and may recognise the cap.” possessed a bar strictly for Naval personnel only. Swede is determined that his old ship will not be forgotten. He has been working for the past few years on the USS THORN (DD-647) Web Site. The Web Site is a comprehensive history of the ship that includes Funny Naval Signals photographs of the ship, including a few of USS THORN alongside the An aircraft was towing a target down a line of cruisers who were firing Japanese battleship NAGATO at war’s end; some of the actions it fought at the target with their anti-aircraft armament. A shell suddenly burst in in; the various departments that made up the ship; as well as photographs front of the aircraft. of individual crew members, and details of their service. There are also From pilot by radio to the cruisers: technical details of the ship, a complete history of its service, its eventual fate and just about everything else, and the Web Site is designed for easy I AM PULLING THIS BLOODY THING, NOT PUSHING IT. navigation. You can even sign the Log before you exit! It is highly INTERFET MARITIME FORCE recommended by the Editor as one of the best web sites he has visited. East Timor, 1999 Take a look at it on - http://www.geocities.com/thorndd647 Roger Gittus’ Navy In 1999, warships from several countries, as well as ground forces acting Roger Gittus was a talented artist who served in the Landing Ship in a peace-keeping role took part in overseeing the independence of East 1 Infanty HMAS MANOORA during World War 2. The Museum has a Timor. It was feared there would be a bloody confrontation between the number of his original pen and ink sketches preserved in our archives. 1. Timor is an island of the Malay Archipelago. As far back as 1520 the Portugese traded in Timor for sandalwood but in 1613, when the Dutch established themselves on the western -7 - -8 - pro and anti-independence movements in East Timor, and there was also were landed over the shore by amphibious craft at a hastily prepared the possibility that units of the Indonesian military stationed in West beach.