Mike Carlton

Dive by Mike Carlton Australian submariners at war Submariners are a special breed. Not for them a life on the ocean wave, the fresh air and sunshine of other naval sailors. With stealth and daring, they go deep and dark, alone and unseen, in often dangerous waters. They sometimes call themselves the Silent Service, with good reason. Australian submariners have...

Winner of the 2022 Commodore Sam Bateman Book Prize, awarded annually by the Australian Naval Institute to recognise excellence in books making a major contribution to naval and maritime matters. When the Second World War broke out in September 1939, the British asked Australia for help. With some misgivings, the Australian government sent five destroyers to beef up the British...

Of all the Australians who fought in the Second World War, none saw more action nor endured so much of its hardship and horror as the crew of the cruiser HMAS Perth. Most were young—many were still teenagers—from cities and towns, villages and farms across the nation. In three tumultuous years, they did battle with the forces of Nazi Germany,...

HMAS Sydney's hunt for the German raider, Emden. When the ships of the new Royal Australian Navy made their grand entry into Sydney Harbour in October 1913, a young nation was at peace. Under a year later, Australia had gone to war in what was seen as a noble fight for king, country, and Empire. Thousands of young men joined...

In 1924, the grand old battle cruiser HMAS Australia I was sunk off Sydney Heads. Once she had been the pride of the navy and the nation. She had saved Australia from an attack by a German squadron in the Pacific in World War I. But after the war, she was obsolete, and a victim in the race to disarm...

The stunning new book from one of Australia's foremost naval historians (Australian) on the Royal Australian Navy's Fleet Air Arm. Throughout the twentieth century, the pilots of the Royal Australian Navy carved their name with pride to build a service that would take shape as the Navy's Fleet Air Arm. Australian naval aviators stood tall in the gallant ranks of...

The British Admiralty's telegram arrived at Navy Office in Melbourne, the order to go to all-out war. It was coldly succinct: TOTAL GERMANY... The war at sea had begun. When the Second World War broke out in September 1939, the British asked Australia for help. With some misgivings, the Australian government sent five destroyers to beef up the British Royal...

On Air is Mike Carlton's story, no holds barred. Mike Carlton was born to controversy. His father Jimmy, a renowned Olympic athlete and later a Catholic priest, married his mother after a whirlwind wartime courtship. This scandal was hushed up at first, but eventually, it made headlines. Six years later, Jimmy Carlton died in his wife's arms, felled by asthma....