1882
The RN established the Directorate of Intelligence under ADML Sir George Tryon. Both Tryon and ADML Sir Lewis Beaumont, who later directed DNI, served on the Australia Station, and contributed to the formation of the RAN.
1898
During the Spanish American War, when Rear Adm. Cerveras Spanish fleet attempts to flee from the harbor at Santiago, Cuba, but the U.S. Navy’s Atlantic Squadron successfully pursues, attacks, and systematically destroys the Spanish vessels.
1903
Imperial ships of the Australia Station were:- ROYAL ARTHUR, (1st class cruiser); ARCHER, PHOEBE, and PYLADES, (3rd class cruisers); LIZARD, and TORCH, (gunboats).
1916
The River class destroyer HMAS TORRENS, (LEUT K. P. Dalglish, RN), was commissioned. TORRENS was laid down in Cockatoo Island Dockyard, Sydney on 23 January 1913, and launched on 28 August 1915. Lady Helen Munroe-Ferguson, (Wife of the Governor-General), performed the launching ceremony.
1929
HMAS ALBATROSS, (seaplane carrier), sailed from Sydney with the Governor General Lord Stonehaven and Lady Stonehaven, for an official visit to New Guinea.
1941
The tug HMAS HEROS, was commissioned. HEROS, (as ST ERTHE), was laid down in Glasgow, in 1919, for the RN. She was requisitioned for the RAN on 3 July 1941, from her owners J. Fenwick & Co Pty Ltd, Sydney.
1942
A PBY-5A aircraft successfully fires the first airborne retro-rocket at Goldstone Lake, Calif.
1943
Submarine chaser USS SC1048 rescues survivors of a U-boat attack who had been sighted by a Navy blimp in the North Atlantic Ocean. The survivors are from the tanker Bloody Marsh, which was previously torpedoed July 2 and sunk by German submarine (U 66), which during its career sinks 37 Allied vessels until sunk by aircraft from USS Block Island (CVE 21) and USS Buckley 51) nearly a year later.
1944
USS Frost (DE 144) and USS Inch (DE 146) sink German submarine (U 154) off Madiera.
Task Force 74, HMA Ships AUSTRALIA, (cruiser), ARUNTA, and WARRAMUNGA, (destroyers), and the US Ships MULLANY and AMMEN, withdrew to Hollandia, after bombarding Japanese positions on Noemfoor Island. AUSTRALIA fired 288 rounds of 20.3 cm shells.
1947
The Australian Government approved the establishment of the RAN Fleet Air Arm.
1950
USS Valley Forge (CV 45) and HMS Triumph participate in first carrier action of Korean War. VF 51 aircraft from Valley Forge shoot down two North Korean aircraft. The action is also the first combat test of F9F Panther and AD Skyraider.
1953
HMAS Anzac (II) returned to Sydney after an absence of 305 days. Of these, 228 were spent at sea, 40 of them on patrol in the Korean War combat areas. During the entire period she steamed 57,865 mile
1968
The Attack class patrol boat HMAS ARROW, was commissioned. ARROW was laid down in Walker’s Yard, Maryborough, QLD, in September 1967, and launched on 17 February 1968. Mrs Hansen performed the launching ceremony. ARROW was sunk during Cyclone Tracey in Darwin, NT, on 24/25 December, 1974, with the loss of two of her crew.
1970
First Macchi MB-326H delivered to RAN FAA
1972
The wreck of HMAS WARRNAMBOOL, (minesweeper), sunk by a mine in 1947 off the coast of Queensland, was sold to the Southern Cross Diving and Salvage Company.
1980
The first WRANS midshipmen passed out of the Royal Australian Naval College.
1982
HMAS BANKS, (survey ship small), was attached to HMAS CRESWELL as a training tender. HMAS WHYALLA, (Fremantle class patrol boat), was commissioned.
1999
VADM D. J. Shackleton, AO, RAN, was appointed Chief of Naval Staff.