Swinden Greg (4 results)

Soft cover. Condition: As New. 17 page photocopy. Monograph No. 52.

"Sales/posting to the USA suspended". Card covers, landscaped quarto, 164pp, b&w photos. Light wear to card edges, small stain to the top right corners of the first four or so pages; a good copy. On 26 March 1913, HMAS Melbourne, Australias first light armoured, Chatham Class, cruiser, commissioned at Birkenhead on 18 January 1913, lay alongside Port Melbournes Town Pier, on completion of her maiden voyage. On 4 October 1913, Melbourne, along with Australia, Sydney, and the other standard bearers of the Royal Australian Navy, entered Sydney Harbour as part of the inaugural RAN Fleet Review. Less than a year later the nation was at war and Melbourne deployed as part of the joint force to seize German territories to Australias north and to provide a shield against the German East Asiatic Naval Squadron. On 8 November 1914 Melbourne assumed command of the Australian-New Zealand 36 ship convoy and her sister ship Sydney and the Japanese battle cruiser Ibuki on the day before the historic Sydney-Emden engagement off the Keeling Islands Group in the Indian Ocean. An engaging feature of this publication is the effective use of a range of material to describe the daily lives and personal circumstances of the many individuals who comprised the crews of Melbourne, as she moved from time of peace to war to peace. Officers and men come alive on the page, whether in the course of grinding routine or exceptional duty, at times of achievement, or during the frank accounts of crime and punishment, of desertion, to the previously unsung heroes, exemplars, and everyman, to the stimuli of reinforcement and relief, to the never ending cycle of duty, refurbishment and training and response to new technology such as the aircraft, the submarine and the mine.

Paperback. 2013, First edition. A fine, unmarked copy that has been SIGNED (not inscribed) by Andrew Kilsby. Scans available if required.

1996 Naval Historical Society Australia, softcover 64 pages, illustrated ISBN 0958745676 In very good condition.