ANTI-SUB DEFENCES OF AUSTRALIAN PORTS

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 11, Issue 4, 12 March 1947, Page 6

ANTI-SUB DEFENCES OF AUSTRALIAN PORTS

TIMELY WORK OF EX-R.A.N, OFFICER

An important pioneer phase of the Royal Australian Navy ended when Captain li. M. Newcomb, R.N., relinquished . his command of the antisubmarine school at Rushcutter Bay to return to England, writes a Sydney Morning Herald correspondent. In view of later developments, the arrival of Captain Newcomb in Australia in November,- 1938, to establish the first anti-submarine school in the Empire outside the British Isles, was a timely event. The school began with one officer but the war came soon afterwards, and the staff mushroomed to a maximum of 93 officers, including the staff of the radar school. Port Defence About 200 ratings and 500 officers reecived tuition in anti-submarine work. Most were Australians, but there were also Americans, French, Dutch and one Chinese captain. Apart from tuition, Captain Newcomb made a significant contribution to Australia’s safety by designing the anti-submarine defences of all Australian ports. The underwater defence of Sydney alone involved the laying of scores of miles of cable. That Japanese submarines eventually tangled with these defences was as exiciting to their author as to the majority of Sydney people, for although Captain Newcomb has been 30 years in the Royal Navy he confesses ruefully that his service has been “most unexciting.” Captain Newcomb enjoyed h<y> eight years 1 in Australia, and he hopes to return. Detailing his family, he says that he has a wife and two children—“one English and one Australian.” Aussies Better Educated There is not much difference between British and Austhalian sailors, Captain Newcomb declares, except that most Australian ratings are better educated than their counterparts in the Old Country, and hence are quicker to grasp the intricacies of such a. highly technical course as anti-submarine work. He believes that while the British sailor willingly obeys any order, the Australian does not go willingly until the purpose of the action is explained to him. Then he jumps to it, and he does the job as well as, if not better than, the Royal Navy man.