Jan-Feb, Mar-Apr, May-Jun 1965 - Navy League of Australia

' ' "'^JP|Navy in Borneo and look on"the others" as temporaryguests. And back in Singaporethere is always the Base supportship, H.M.S. MULL OF KIN-TYRE, lending her not inconsiderablesize and expertise tokeep her charges operating.What do these small shipsdo? . . . Firstly, and of greatestimportance, they provide seawardbarrier patrols off thecoast at Kuching in Sarawak andTawau in Sabah (formerly BritishNorth Borneo). Their job isto hunt, stop and search smallboat traffic in these waters.H.M.S. PUNCHESTON stoppeda kumpit, leading to the discoveryof a huge quantity of armsand ammunition intended forclandestine subversion in Sarawak.The patrols mean manydays at sea (usually four to fiveweeks in the patrol area withperhaps an occasional three orfour days off in a local port).Sometimes the weather is marvellousand the job is pleasant.BUTTERPERFECTIONAt other times the North-eastMonsoon blows a "hooligan"(and these ships roll on a flannel,it is said). Certainly theyare very uncomfortable. And atthese times they are presentedwith a lee shore and its attendantdangers.One of the problems of theBorneo operations has been thatvirtually no roads exist in thevast jungle areas and the onlymeans of communication—apartfrom the air—is water.The uncharted and dangerousjungle rivers of Sarawak andSabah have been negotiated asfar as is navigable by all theC.M.S's without serious mishap,notwithstanding the ever-presentdangers of half-submerged logsof enormous size, and unchartedshoals. Bent screws are commonplaceafter a Borneo patrol.One irate minesweeper officersaid recently: "We sometimesthink the Army imagine that weexist to transport them. I supposefrom a soldier's outlookthis is understandable and theyare quite right in thinking we arethe only really safe, effective andfast means of moving sizeablebodies of troops operationally inBorneo!"A minesweeper in Borneo can—and does—move some 200troops at a time but only thosewho have been moved in such away can actually vouch for thefact that they do all get in theship while it is still afloat.However, despite their prolonged"gunboat" duty in Borneo,the minesweepers do keeptheir hand in during regular minecounter measure exercises andCaptain LP, has been heartenedto see how well the ships canstill do their proper job!The work of the Inshore Flotillain the Far East takes toll ofmen and material. The maintenanceand repair programme hasbeen exceptionally heavy. Thishas meant a heavy load on theresources of MULL OF KIN-TYRE; she has borne it allwherever and whenever needed.Repair and maintenance partiesare sent all over the Far EastStation to look after the sorelytried sweepers. Places as farapart as Hong Kong and Tawauhave seen parties from theMULL cheerfully disembowellingminesweepers and makingthem go again. On the otherhand, of course. Hong Kongdoes have its compensations.The MANXMAN (CaptainI.F.) has not been so much insupport as she should have beenbut has been engaged in "hoeingher own row". She has nowovertaken ALBION in the timespent oft* the Borneo coast, especiallyat the Eastern Sabahport of Tawau, where she wasoften joined by one of thesweepers from Hong Kong andwas of valuable assistance to theRoyal Malaysian Naval craftbased there. Many of the smallerships have had reason to begrateful for her fresh water, provisions,stores and technicalfacilities.Fortunately, it has not beenall work and no play—the Flotillacan produce a formidablehockey, and good soccer andrugby teams. It also won thesmall arms ships' cup at theFleet Rifle Meeting this year.The lucky ships have managedto slip away for a quick visit toHong Kong and Penang andwhile up at Hong Kong, H.M.S.MANXMAN again proved herversatility by giving the droughtstrickenColony three-quartersof-a-milliongallons of freshwater.All these ships are on a LocalForeign Service so it means agreat deal to the men—and theirfamilies — having to spend somuch of their time away fromthe Base (upwards of 60 percent), but it has been cheerfullyaccepted.JANUARY-FEBRUARY, IMSH.M.A.S. MORESBY'SSURVEY SEASONH.M.A.S. MORESBY, theRoyal Australian Navy's latestsurvey ship has just completedher first survey in tropicalwaters. Built at Newcastle StateDockyard and commissioned inMarch. 1964. MORESBY carriedout a small survey in Tasmanianwaters "to put herthrough her paces" before departingfor the Barrier Reef andTorres Strait Areas last Augustfor a 4i month survey season.Sailing from Sydney on 10thAugust. MORESBY proceededto Townsville where she left oneof her 34 foot motor surveyboats to chart Cleveland Bay.While the motor boat Fantomewas charting Cleveland Bay,MORESBY worked in RockinghamBay, the approaches to thesugar port of Lucinda Point(Ingham. Queensland). After amonth in this area she proceededto Cairns which was to becomeher base for operations in TorresStrait.During the remainder of theseason we returned to Cairns onthree occasions at four weekintervals. Whilst on the groundsa visit was paid to Port Moresbyon October 17-20 and mail stopswere frequently made at ThursdayIsland.The surveys of RockinghamBay and Cleveland Bay werepart of a plan to modernise thecharts of the Queensland coastand more important to provideinformation for the shipment ofsugar from the sugar terminal atLucinda. The expansion at presentoccurring in the sugar industrywas apparent to MORES­BY as a bulk sugar terminal wasJANUARY-FEBRUARY, IMSAUGUST-DECEMBER, 1964opened at Cairns during theship's stay in these waters.The present charts of theseareas were compiled principallyfrom information gained byLieutenant Richards in 1865whilst in H.M.S. PALUMA, andhave been amended from timeto time by later information.In both Rockingham Bay andCleveland Bay no major changeswere observed from LieutenantRichards' charts, but the chartwhich will be from MORESBY'Sobservations will be made moredetailed and provide for the requirementsof the modern deepdraught merchantman.September 9 saw MORESBYin Torres Strait ready to commenceher survey of that area.Torres Strait is the shortestroute to the various easternAustralian ports from the easternarchipelago. The route hasmuch tanker traffic as well astramp merchantmen, howeverthe main channel has only 30feet of water in places at lowwater.The requirement exists for adeeper channel for the modemday deep draught merchantmenwho desire to utilise this shorterroute.Before the survey could commence,however, the area ofTorres Strait had to be triangulated;known positions obtainedfrom which a relative position ofvarious sea depths and shoalscan be obtained. This entailedmany parties passing nights ontropical islands carrying out observationsand measuring distances.By the beginning of Octobersounding was commenced andcontinued through until 5thDecember, 1964. This is theprocess of actually recording thedepths but once again as in theBarrier Reef survey no majorchanges were found.A reconnaissance of EndeavourStrait showed no likelihoodof deeper water. Napoleon Passagewhich is to be surveyed byH.M.A.S. PALUMA, has approacheswhich are comparativelyshallow and would precludeits use by deep draughtships.This has been the ship's firstmajor work since commissioningand it has been under tropicalconditions. All who served inher have been more than satisfiedwith her performance andhave found that living in a shipin the tropics can be comfortable.NUCLEAR-PROPELLEDSHIP LAUNCHEDLate last year the hull of thefirst West European nuclearpowered ship was launched atKiel. She has been named OTTOHAHN after the German physicistwho was an early worker onnuclear power. She is to be completedas an ore carrier and willbe powered by a Babcock andWilcox reactor using enricheduranium. The ship is expectedto cost about £4,750,000 ofwhich £2.430,000 is for the reactoralone. The OTTO HAHNis expected to make her maidenvoyage in 1967 and she will beemployed on comparativelyshort runs in the European oretrade as an experimental ship.In the meantime, the AmericanSAVANNAH visited Southamptonand it has been announcedthat five transatlantic voyagesare planned for her in the courseof this year and next. Short passagesfrom one European portto another and transatlanticpassages are being offered to thepublic.