The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) is the principal naval force of Australia, a part of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) along with the Australian Army and Royal Australian Air Force. The Navy is commanded by the Chief of Navy (CN), who is subordinate to the Chief of the Defence Force (CDF) who commands the ADF; the current CN is Vice Admiral Michael Noonan. The CN is also directly responsible to the Minister of Defence, with the Department of Defence administering the ADF and the Navy.
HMVS Cerberus is a breastwork monitor that served in the Victoria Naval Forces, the Commonwealth Naval Forces (CNF), and the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) between 1871 and 1924.
HMAS Quiberon (G81/D20/D281/F03) was a Q-class destroyer of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). Although built for the Royal Navy and remaining British property until 1950, Quiberon was one of two Q-class destroyers commissioned into the RAN during World War II. She was passed into full RAN ownership in 1950, and converted into an anti-submarine frigate.
HMAS Queenborough (G70/D270/F02/57) was a Q-class destroyer that served in the Royal Navy (RN) and Royal Australian Navy (RAN).
HMPNGS Buna is a Balikpapan-class heavy landing craft operated by the Papua New Guinea Defence Force (PNGDF). Prior to 1974, the vessel was called HMAS Buna and was operated by the Royal Australian Navy (RAN).
HMAS Flinders, named for Matthew Flinders (1774–1814), was a hydrographic survey ship of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). Built by HMA Naval Dockyard at Williamstown, Victoria, Flinders was commissioned into the RAN in 1973, and was used to conduct hydrographic surveys in the waters to Australia's north, including parts of New Guinea. In 1974, the ship was tasked with assisting clean up efforts in the wake of Cyclone Tracy, which devastated large parts of Darwin. The ship was decommissioned in 1998 and sold to civilian operators, who have since converted her into a private yacht in the Cayman Islands.
HMAS Melbourne (R21) was a Majestic-class light aircraft carrier operated by the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) from 1955 until 1982, and was the third and final conventional aircraft carrier to serve in the RAN. Melbourne was the only Commonwealth naval vessel to sink two friendly warships in peacetime collisions.
HMS Vengeance (R71) was a Colossus-class light aircraft carrier built for the Royal Navy during World War II. The carrier served in three navies during her career: the Royal Navy, the Royal Australian Navy, and the Brazilian Navy.
HMPNGS Salamaua is a Balikpapan-class heavy landing craft operated by the Papua New Guinea Defence Force (PNGDF). Prior to 1974, the vessel was called HMAS Salamaua and was operated by the Royal Australian Navy (RAN).
HMAS Sirius is a commercial tanker purchased by the Royal Australian Navy and converted into a fleet replenishment vessel to replace HMAS Westralia. She is named in honor of HMS Sirius of the First Fleet. Launched in South Korea on 2004, and converted in Western Australia, Sirius was commissioned in 2006; three years before a purpose-built vessel would have been built, and at half the cost. The tanker is expected to be replaced in 2021.
HMQS Mosquito was a torpedo boat operated by the Queensland Maritime Defence Force and Commonwealth Naval Forces. She entered service in 1885 and after Federation was transferred to the Commonwealth Naval Forces, serving as a training vessel until she was paid off in 1910.
HMAS Wollongong, named for the city of Wollongong, New South Wales, was one of fifteen Fremantle class patrol boats to operate with the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). Wollongong is the only RAN vessel to have appeared in two television series, portraying a fictional Fremantle class patrol boat in both.
The harbour defence motor launch (HDML) was a 72 ft (22 m) long British-designed motor vessel used for harbour defence during World War II. Nearly 500 were built by numerous Allied countries during the war.
Coastal Forces was a division of the Royal Navy established during World War II. It consisted of small coastal defence craft such as motor launches, submarine chasers, air-sea rescue launches, motor gun boats and motor torpedo boats. It did not include minesweepers, naval trawlers or landing craft. This article is about the equivalent boats used in the Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN).
Coastal Forces was a division of the Royal Navy established during World War II. It consisted of small coastal defence craft such as Motor Launches, submarine chasers, air-sea rescue launches, Motor Gun Boats and Motor Torpedo Boats. It did not include minesweepers, trawlers or landing craft. This article is about the equivalent boats used by the Royal Australian Navy (RAN).
HMQS Otter was launched in 1884 and served as a patrol vessel that served with the Queensland Maritime Defence Force and Commonwealth Naval Forces. She was paid off and sold in 1906, but the Royal Australian Navy requisitioned her in both world wars.
HMQS Midge was a torpedo launch that served with the Queensland Maritime Defence Force, the Commonwealth Naval Forces and the Royal Australian Navy. After entering service in 1887, Midge served as "picquet boat" along the Brisbane River until Federation in 1901, when she was transferred to the Commonwealth. After this, she served as a training boat until 1912 when she was decommissioned.
HMAS Waree (W128) was a tug boat operated by the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) during World War II. She operated as a tug boat for the Waratah Tug and Salvage Company before being requisitioned by the RAN in 1942, and operating in northern Australia and Papua. She sank on 17 October 1946 off the New South Wales coast while sailing to Sydney from Thursday Island.
The Craft of Opportunity Program (COOP) was a Royal Australian Navy (RAN) acquisition program intended to supplement the navy's mine warfare capability with civilian vessels that could be quickly converted into minesweepers. Vessels acquired under COOP were not commissioned into the RAN, and instead operated with the prefix "MSA".
HMAS HDML 1321, also known as Rushcutter was a 58-ton Harbour Defence Motor Launch of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). Built by Purdon & Featherstone, Battery Point, Hobart, Tasmania and commissioned into the RAN on 11 November 1943, being the first Australian-built HDML to be commissioned and the last HDML in RAN service. She was assigned to Z Special Unit and delivered commandos for the 1945 ill-fated raid on Muschu Island. She was later reclassified as a Seaward Defence Boat and put into reserve after the war. She was recommissioned as HMAS Rushcutter in 1953 and used as an unarmed training vessel for the Royal Australian Naval Reserve and Australian Navy Cadets until 1970. Paid off in August 1971, she was converted to pleasure craft MV Rushcutter and is now based in Darwin.
Australia