On Christmas eve 99 year old Rear Admiral Rothesay Swan AO CBE RAN peacefully passed away in Sydney. His 43-year naval career was a notable one and included active service in the Second World War, the Vietnam War as well as in Confrontation. He was the last living RAN flag officer to serve in the Second World War.
Rothesay Swan joined the Royal Australian Naval College as a cadet midshipman in January 1940 from the central west of New South Wales. There were 21 other 13-year-olds in that wartime intake. He and two others, Robert Loosli and Andrew Willis would become Rear Admirals.
Two other members of the 1940 class, Vernon Parker and ‘Rocker’ Robertson would become commodores. Importantly, they and Rothesay Swan were among the founding members of the ANI and would in their turn be institute’s first three presidents.
Following his naval college graduation, where he was awarded the French Prize and the coveted Otto Albert Seamanship Prize, he went to sea in the cruiser HMAS Shropshire. The ship was part of the Australian Squadron operating as part of the US 7th Fleet in the amphibious landings first in New Guinea and then in the Philippines. During his Shropshire time Rothesay Swan was also detached to the destroyer Arunta for four months and gained a much closer view of the Biak amphibious landings. Rothesay Swan rejoined Shropshire for the battles of Leyte Gulf and Lingayen Gulf and witnessed the first Japanese kamikaze attacks of the war. During the night-time Battle of Surigao Strait the then Midshipman Swan acted as officer of the watch, because the Action Stations OOW had been sent over to the battle-scarred and depleted Australia.
After the war he specialised in communications and his career included a number of postings to the RN for training and exchange service in that post-war period. In 1959 Lieutenant Commander Swan became the Fleet Communications Officer, serving in the aircraft carrier HMAS Melbourne.
The following year he was posted as the Executive Officer of the destroyer HMAS Voyager, during which time the ship conducted a number of deployments to South East Asia on Far East Strategic Reserve and South East Asia Treaty Organisation exercises. In 1961 he joined the latter organisation in its Planning Staff in Bangkok for two years.
In late 1963 Rothesay Swan returned to Australia to commission the frigate HMAS Derwent as her commanding officer. The ship was the first of the class to be fitted with the Seacat missile system and as such Rothesay Swan was the first commanding officer of a guided missile ship in the RAN. His time in Derwent included anti-infiltration patrols off Malaysia during Confrontation.
Rothesay’s next sea command was the guided missile destroyer Hobart in 1969. He commanded Hobart for her third deployment to the Vietnam War and the ship fired over 16,500 5-inch rounds during that deployment. Hobart went on to win the Duke of Gloucester Cup in 1970. Rothesay Swan was subsequently made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for his service in command.
In 1975 when Rothesay Swan attended the Royal College of Defence Studies in London. As a commodore he assumed his final sea command – the fleet flagship, the aircraft carrier Melbourne in 1977-78. During his time in command, the carrier took part in the Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee celebrations and Fleet Review in England.
On returning ashore for the last time in 1978, he was promoted to rear admiral. His Canberra jobs were as Director-General of the Natural Disasters Organisation, for which he was appointed as an Officer in the Order of Australia and finally as Controller of Defence Establishments.
Rothesay Swan was ANI President from 1978 until 1983 and our second longest serving. It was during his tenure that the ANI staged its first two ambitious Seapower Conferences. These were trailblazing events, not only for the ANI but for the RAN, in being large public events, with Australian and international speakers to specifically address maritime issues affecting Australia.
Rothesay Swan retired from the RAN in 1983. In retirement he served as the Director Tall Ships – Australia (Bicentennial Authority) and with the Young Endeavour Youth Scheme. Rothesay Swan will be remembered as one who throughout his naval and later career, set very high standards for all who worked with him and always wanted to have purpose and achieve things for the good of the RAN.
Funeral details are here.
