A visit to the Australian National Maritime Museum at Darling Harbour sounded like a good place to redeem a Discover NSW Voucher. It fully covered the cost of entry, and I had a most interesting visit.
I had visited the museum before – but only to a small part, and had not seen the ships, which are probably the best part. So I proceeded to the Submarine and Destroyer. There seemed to be a queue for the submarine, so I first visited the Destroyer – The Vampire.
The vessel is fitted with two forward and one aft turret, each with two four and a half inch guns. The control room, shown below, seems to be where most of the action takes place rather than the bridge.
Upstairs at the Bridge, it is interesting that the vessel used speaking tubes – which seem to have been regarded as being more reliable when under attack that electronic communications.
This cabin looks pretty good – it is the Captain’s –
No view, but this is where the boat is steered.
And this room, sends the shells to the turrets. The munitions are stored below somewhere.
Near the back – some anti-aircraft guns –
And depth charges and radar –
Now it was time to visit the submarine – HMAS Onslow. But by now the queue was a lot larger! But it did not take too long to go down.
You enter the boat via a forward hatch which takes you down to the six torpedo tubes.
Then you move along a ver narrow corridor past bunks and other small rooms.
You need to climb through number of these round hatches –
And then to the main action room –
Here there were two periscopes – one used to aim and fire torpedos, and the other used by the watch person to look around. It was fitted with a seat that rotated with the periscope.
There aisle seemed to be a lot of dials, controls and valves.
Further along is a communications room.
Then the electric motors. The boat is entirely powered by batteries and can stay underwater for several weeks.
Here is the conning tower – with radar, radio, two periscopes and the snorkel –
The nest boat was a bit different. A replica of an old Dutch vessel the Duyfken.
And amongst other things, in the building outside was this chronometer –
I then went to the main halls. Part is devoted to art with a marine theme –
And their is a naval section –
Some old craft –
Another chronometer –
Then I made my way to a replica of The Endeavour.
It seems that a lot of ropes were used.
Below deck – it was very low ceilings.
This is Captain Cook’s cabin –
And a better cabin used by Joseph Banks –
And a large work room –
Nearby, but not available for boarding at the time of my visit, was The Krait –
I had recently been on a bushwalk to Refuge Bay where the commando crew of this boat were selected and trained. It is one of the most important boats in Australian military history.
I finished my visit at the Sea Monsters section. This is an exhibit of large extinct sea animals –
All in all, a very interesting place to visit. I will go again.