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| Welcome to THE ROYAL AUSTRALIAN NAVY 16th MINESWEEPING SQUADRON |
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| Book Launch |
| A Kiwi On Our Funnel by Gerry Wright |
For 30 years the British government kept most of the
records of this undeclared war under wraps. This book
tells the story of two small warships, manned by New
Zealanders that helped protect the newly independent
Federation of Malaysia from Indonesian insurgents during
those turbulent years of 1965-66.
These were the first New Zealand warships manned in part
by Volunteer Naval Reserve officers in a conflict zone since
World War II and the last to be involved in a hot action
with a known enemy.
With 190 pages and many photographs and maps, the
book explains the background, lead-up and much detail of
the naval effort in that conflict.
Principally this story is about HMNZS Hickleton and Santon
and those who served in them.
Order DIRECT from
Gerry Wright
Price $A30.00 postage included to Australia.
Our story is much the same as of those in the 16th as we
all worked together in the Inshore Flotilla, Singapore.
records of this undeclared war under wraps. This book
tells the story of two small warships, manned by New
Zealanders that helped protect the newly independent
Federation of Malaysia from Indonesian insurgents during
those turbulent years of 1965-66.
These were the first New Zealand warships manned in part
by Volunteer Naval Reserve officers in a conflict zone since
World War II and the last to be involved in a hot action
with a known enemy.
With 190 pages and many photographs and maps, the
book explains the background, lead-up and much detail of
the naval effort in that conflict.
Principally this story is about HMNZS Hickleton and Santon
and those who served in them.
Order DIRECT from
Gerry Wright
Price $A30.00 postage included to Australia.
Our story is much the same as of those in the 16th as we
all worked together in the Inshore Flotilla, Singapore.
| Tiger Territory by Dr Ian Pfennigwerth |
The Vietnam War dominates recollections of Australia’s part in the regional conflicts of the 1950s and 60s.
The defeat of the USA and its allies and its ramification internationally and domestically still reverberate. at
much the same time as the Vietnam War, but with strikingly different outcomes, and describes the role that
the ships and men of the Royal Australian Navy played in it.
Dismissed in the official history of the Malayan Emergency as ‘inappropriate to the circumstances’, Tiger
Territory demonstrates for the first time how naval power was used in the Emergency to support the
fighting ashore, and how the lessons learned were used in Confrontation with Indonesia a few years later. It
also reveals the operations conducted by RAN ships and personnel to provide the intelligence needed to
defeat incursions and to prevent dangerous escalation of hostilities.
The book traces the role played by the Australian navy in converting the Royal Malayan Navy from a
sheltered workshop for passed-over personnel into a modern and dynamic force, which fought alongside its
Commonwealth partners with skill and determination against determined Indonesian incursions into
Malaysian territory. This was a partnership of lasting importance for both countries and for the region.
While naval warfare is often fought at arms length, Confrontation was very different. The opposing forces
were frequently in full view of each other, and fire fights with infiltrators were vicious close quarters battles.
Commonwealth ships never knew whether the next of dozens of vessels intercepted and inspected would
resist with deadly force, and the ships of the Australian 16th Minesweeping Squadron were in the front line.
The bigger guns of Australian frigates and destroyers backed them, and fired on Indonesian land incursions,
while Australian navy divers played their part in protecting the vital fleet base of Singapore and in denying
the insurgents access to caches of World War II ammunition and explosives.
With Confrontation defeated it was Australia that took a leading role in the resolution of regional defence
arrangements, with an Australian Admiral taking command on the departure of the British. The Five Power
Defence Arrangements set up in 1972 still operate today.
Tiger Territory is based on many previously unaccessed official records as well as the recollections of the
veterans who served in the theatre. It concludes with an account of the campaign waged by naval
veterans for just recognition, and for the benefits denied them, although freely available to army and air
force veterans of the Malayan Emergency. This scandalous situation was not finally resolved until 2005!
Ian Pfennigwerth is well qualified to tell this story. In his 35 years in the Australian navy he served in sea,
staff and overseas postings, including two tours in Malaysia during Confrontation. Gaining his PhD in 2005,
he has developed his interest in naval history, and is now the editor of the Journal of Australian Naval
History, and provides the naval commentary for the ABC TV broadcast of the Anzac Day march in Sydney.
Author and contributor to several journals, Tiger Territory is his third book.
His previous books were A Man of Intelligence: the Life of Captain Eric Nave Codebreaker Extraordinary
and THE AUSTRALIAN CRUISER PERTH 1939-1942
Dr Pfennigwerth is available for interviews and can be contacted on pfennigs1@bigpond.com
You can read the full press report here!
The UK distributors for the book are: Gazelle Book Services Limited, White Cross
Mills, Hightown, Lancaster, Lancashire, LA1 4XS, UK, sales@gazellebooks.co.uk, Ph: 44 (0)1524
68765.
| Konfrontasi By Jim Warren |
KONFRONTASI – REMINISCENSES OF A
“ROCKY” is a diarised account of his
experiences during Confrontation by a young
naval reserve officer who served in HMNZS
Hickleton during this conflict.
Illustrated with nearly 200 photographs the book
describes, in considerable detail, what life at sea
was like during a very tense period of South East
Asia’s history.
Those who were there, regardless of which navy
they served in, will relate to the many stories Jim
has recorded and others will obtain a very clear
insight into life at sea during those difficult, but
exciting, times and what life in the Far East was
like in the 1960’s.
“Konfrontasi” is available on line at:
Cybermarket.co.au - Konfrontasi
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