COMING NEXT; THE MOTHBALL FLEET REVISITED - a new junkyard tour. Harbour map [detail], produced by Shell 1953, courtesy Ashley Moore.

4911. 4910. For naval ships buffs the Reserve Fleet dolphins at Sydney's Athol Bight, off Bradley's Head and Taronga Park Zoo, always had a peculiar fascination - an inticement of the imagination back to the adventures of boyhood, the years 1945 to the mid-1980s.

 

We have fully indulged that spirit on the Centenary Photostream, with now scores of photos of the ships laid up at Athol Bight [No I on the map above] and other dolphins nearby, in Shell Cove [No 2 on the map] and Kirribilli [No. 3], along with the breakers yards of Sydney's Harbour's old Inner West ship repair industries, around Balmain, Birchgrove, Rozelle and White Bay. We've had some rare, much harder to find postwar images too of ships in reserve in Corio Bay Geelong, and we're finding one or two of other reserve groups in Western Australia.

 

The 'junkyard' pics - sometimes of visits aboard the laid-up ships - have come from regular Contributors Geoff Eastwood, Graeme Andrews, and Ashley Moore particularly, along with more random reserve fleet appearances in offering from others. At the end of the Pacific War, the RAN, a small navy whose main combat ships were generally subsumed into task groups of the US Seventh Fleet and the British Pacific Fleet, nonetheless had more than 330 ships in commission.

 

The Australian Army's Water Transport Units also had more than 2000 generally much smaller vessels in service.

 

That created a lot of surplus leftovers in the backwaters of our main ports after the war, just as there were Army Disposals Stores down the streets of our main cities, and Army truck depots providing surplus trucks and other heavy equipment to our farmers, builders and contractors. All more sources of junkyard fascination.

 

We have some new 1970-1972 slide images just come in, from John Darroch of the Sydney Heritage Fleet ferries group, via Geoff Eastwood, and we are going to combine these with a group we've been putting together from the Navy Heritage Collection [including the only image, albeit blurry, we've ever seen of our famous HMAS AUSTRALIA [II] during her brief last period on the reserve dolphins].

 

This is going to take a little while to put together.

 

Meantime we invite all junkyard afficionadoes to look at some of the reserve fleet images we've been uploadfing over the past two years:

 

 

HMAS DUCHESS in reserve, Athol Bight [No. 1 on the map] Year 1978: Christoper J. Howell Collection, pic NO. 3601.

 

www.flickr.com/photos/41311545@N05/5240541404/?reuploaded=1

 

HMAS HOBART [I] and HMAS SYDNEY [III] in Athol Bight, with Reserve Fleet overview, Ross Gillett Collection, pic NO. 160:

 

www.flickr.com/photos/41311545@N05/3848755368/

 

HMAS DUCHESS in reserve, Athol Bight [No. 1 on the map] Year 1978: Christoper J. Howell Collection, pic NO. 3601.

 

www.flickr.com/photos/41311545@N05/5240541404/?reuploaded=1

 

HMAS SHROPSHIRE in reserve, Athol Bight [ map No 1], 1950. Sydney Heritage Fleet, pic NO. 2903

www.flickr.com/photos/41311545@N05/4973682800/

 

HMAS QUALITY alongside HMAS SHROPSHIRE at Athol Bight, Circa 1947, Lindsey Poole, SLV, pic NO. 2997.

 

www.flickr.com/photos/41311545@N05/5007588141/in/photostr...

 

HMAS HOBART [III] and HMAS SYDNEY [III] in another Reserve Fleet overview, 1959, Graeme Andrews/Naval HGistorical Society of Australia, pic NO. 1337.

 

www.flickr.com/photos/41311545@N05/4437490282/

 

HMAS SYDNEY [III] and HMAS HOBART, a colour photo of the same grouping in 1961 from an angle including the destroyers ARUNTA [I], WARRAMUNGA [I] TOBRUK [I] with frigates and corvettes. Image by the late Roger Easterwood, pic NO. 1335.

 

www.flickr.com/photos/41311545@N05/4433972300/

 

HMAS MELBOURNE [II] and HMAS VENDETTA [II] with other consorts, Athol Bight, 19, by Geoff Eastwood, pic NO. 1339:

 

www.flickr.com/photos/41311545@N05/4437001045/

 

 

HMAS SHROPSHIRE and HMAS QUALITY seen presiding over the reserve fleet from Taronga Park Zoo, 1953, a Naval Historical Society of Australia/Graeme Andrews pic, NO. 1336.

 

www.flickr.com/photos/41311545@N05/4437427122/

 

HMAS KARA KARA, Athol Bight 1960, by Alan Zammit, pic NO. 161:

 

www.flickr.com/photos/41311545@N05/3848849630/

 

HMAS VENDETTA [II] with HMAS SNIPE and HMAS IBIS, seen from HMAS MELBOURNE [II} Athol Bight, Circa 1984, by Geoff EWastwood, pic NO. 1318:

 

www.flickr.com/photos/41311545@N05/4428454838/in/photostr...

 

HMAS VENDETTA foredeck with HMAS MELBOURNE [II] alongside, ALSO HMAS SNIPE and HMAS IBIS, Athol Bight 1984.By Geoff Eastwood, pic NO. 1323.

 

www.flickr.com/photos/41311545@N05/4431126404/in/photostr...

 

Inside the bow compartments of HMAS MELBOURNE [II] at Athol Bight, 1984, by Geoff Eastwood, pic NO. 1317.

 

www.flickr.com/photos/41311545@N05/4427640433/in/photostr...

 

Frigates HMAS GASCOYNE [I] and HMAS QUICKMATCH mothballed at Williamstown, Vic., 1972, RAN pic NO. 4802.

 

www.flickr.com/photos/41311545@N05/6011218331/in/photostr...

 

HMAS HAWKESBURY, HMAS BURDEKIN and HMAS CONDAMINE, Shell Cove Sydney [NO. 2 on the map] 1961, RAN Photo at pic NO. 1387, here:

 

www.flickr.com/photos/41311545@N05/4450636400/

 

There are many other mothball fleet photos on the Photostream, a large number of which can be found in the images adjacent to the links given here.

 

Map of inner Sydney Harbour, courtesy of Ashley Moore.

Done