Home About Navy History History milestones History milestones Keywords Before 1900 The European exploration and charting of the Australian continent 1 March 1606 Indigenous Australian maritime histories 1 January 1788 Deployment of HMCS Victoria to the New Zealand Wars 19 April 1860 1900-1909 The Boxer Rebellion and HMCS Protector 6 August 1900 Foundations of an Australian Navy 1 March 1901 1910-1919 King George V grants title of Royal Australian Navy 10 July 1911 The Royal Australian Navy fleet unit sails into Sydney Harbour 4 October 1913 Outbreak of the First World War 4 August 1914 The capture of German colonial possessions in the Pacific 11 September 1914 The battle between HMAS Sydney and SMS Emden 9 November 1914 HMAS AE2 and the Dardanelles Campaign 25 April 1915 Royal Australian Naval Bridging Train 7 August 1915 1920-1929 The scuttling of HMAS Australia (I) and the naval expansion 12 April 1924 1930-1939 Anti-submarine warfare, mine warfare and coastal trade 3 September 1939 The outset of the Second World War 3 September 1939 1940-1949 The Scrap Iron Flotilla 2 January 1940 The Royal Australian Navy in the Battle of the Atlantic 1 May 1940 The Dominion Yachtsman Scheme 1 June 1940 HMAS Sydney (II) and the Bartolomeo Colleoni 19 July 1940 Evacuating Greece and Crete 28 October 1940 The Women’s Royal Australian Naval Service (WRANS) 1 April 1941 The Coastwatchers 1 May 1941 The Tobruk Ferry Service 1 May 1941 The loss of HMAS Sydney (II) 19 November 1941 Outbreak of the Pacific War 7 December 1941 The ‘Singapore Strategy’ and the fall of Singapore 15 February 1942 Japanese Air Raids in Northern Australia 19 February 1942 HMAS Perth and the Battles of the Java Sea and Sunda Strait 27 February 1942 HMAS Yarra and the evacuation of the East Indies 4 March 1942 The Battle of the Coral Sea 3 May 1942 Japanese midget submarine attack on Sydney Harbour 31 May 1942 The Battle of Savo Island 9 August 1942 HMAS Armidale (I) and support for the Australian Army 1 December 1942 Pushing North: The Philippines 25 October 1944 Operation Oboe 1 May 1945 The establishment of the Fleet Air Arm 3 June 1947 Cold War regional alliances and conflicts 1 June 1948 1950-1959 The Korean War 25 June 1950 1960-1969 Charles F. Adams Perth-class destroyers and the Ikara missile system 1 January 1961 Oberon-class submarines 1 January 1963 HMAS Voyager and HMAS Melbourne collision 10 February 1964 The ‘Vung Tau Ferry’: HMAS Sydney’s service in the Vietnam War 1 April 1965 Vietnam War clearance divers 6 February 1967 On the gun line in Vietnam 1 March 1967 The service of the Royal Australian Navy Helicopter Flight Vietnam 1 July 1967 1970-1979 Cyclone Tracy 25 December 1974 1980-1989 Collins-class submarine acquisition 1 January 1982 Anzac-class frigate acquisition 1 January 1985 Fleet reviews over the years 1 October 1986 Two-ocean Basing 1 March 1987 1990-1999 Operation Damask and the Gulf War 2 August 1990 The Royal Australian Navy in the Middle East 10 August 1990 HMAS Tobruk, Somalia and Operation SOLACE 15 December 1992 Rescues in the Southern Ocean 29 December 1994 East Timor and Operation Stabilise 21 September 1999 2000-2009 Iraq War 18 March 2003 Sumatra assist, RAMSI, Tonga assist and Fiji assist 26 December 2004 2010-2019 Operation Bushfire Assist 31 December 2019 Keywords History milestones Before 1900 1900-1909 1910-1919 1920-1929 1930-1939 1940-1949 1950-1959 1960-1969 1970-1979 1980-1989 1990-1999 2000-2009 2010-2019
