Royal Australian Navy - 16th Minesweeping Squadron


Oh the Navy’s sleek destroyers
And Mighty cruisers too
With their speed and fighting power
Sail oe’r the ocean blue.

The are firm and sturdy vessels
With their missiles and their power,
They can steam for weeks and longer
At over thirty knots per hour.

But don’t forget the sweepers
With their small and wooden frames,
Where men are made of iron
And deserving of no shame.

They know they serve their purpose
As they slowly sail the sea,
For they serve with pride and honour
For the country of the free.

They lack the speed and glamour
As every tar should know,
But until they’ve swept the channels,
The other ships can’t go.

Anon
Reproduced by the kind
permission of
Mr John Foster , Author of
'Hands to Boarding Stations'
Poets of the Seas
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A Ton Class Minesweeper

They were wooden ships
That plied the ocean blue
Powered by Napier Deltics with Foden gen. Sets too.
They were the 16th Minesweeper Squadron of the RAN.

Based at Sydney’s Waterhen
Skippered by officers gallant and true
With men made of iron that made the crew.

It was all hands on deck with sweeps to be done
The cook, the steward, and the stokers,
The greenies, and the spooks too

To the Solomon Isles we had to go
Sweep those channels
Where mines lay there
Money to be made
So clear the channel boys, we must try
We heard The merchant Navy cry!


Then conflict came, Hawk & Gull first,
Then Curlew, Snipe
Then Ibis, Teal
Bought up the rear

All boats served with distinction
But nobody ever heard
For no “rules of engagement” were given
The boats weren’t ‘allotted’ so we played by ear!

Gus Murray got his DSC
The only officer to be decorated
That’s the way it was back then
But you could speak about us all you want;
But remember!
You don’t go anywhere ‘til the channel’s been swept clean!

(c) Rodney G Clarey
Ode To A Minesweeper