17 April – On this day in 1967, the guided missile destroyer HMAS Hobart was in action conducting a bombardment of North Vietnamese ferry complex at Truc Li. Hobart’s accurate fire prompted a heavy counter-attack by fifteen North Vietnamese shore batteries, which fired about 130 rounds at Hobart and the USS Allen M. Sumner.
17 April – On this day in 2005 the RAN’s veteran heavy lift ship HMAS Tobruk (II) (Commander N.K. Bramwell, RAN) sailed from Darwin for Kuwait carrying heavy stores, equipment and 20 light armoured vehicles for the Australian Army’s Al Muthanna Task Group. Expeditionary military operations rely heavily on Mobility in Mass; a role which the RAN has a long and proud history of performing.
Learn more about Mobility in Mass in Chapter 9 of Australian Maritime Doctrine on the following link:
http://www.navy.gov.au/media-room/publications/australian-maritime-doctrine
