- 188 – It was a successful week for the Great White Fleet celebrations, with a significant contribution to the festivities being thanks to the professionalism of the musicians from both the Royal Australian Navy Band and United States Pacific Fleet Band. Although there was limited rehearsal time together, the polished performances both entertained and impressed Australian and American VIP’s, and all attending audience members. It was a chance for the two Navies to work together and continue their enduring friendship, as well as bringing some great entertainment to the community. Noted American historian, Professor Jim Reckner, who was in Australia to lecture on the Great White Fleet commented: One of the events that most struck me was the wonderful joint RAN-USN band concert in Sydney. The highlight of that performance, for me, was a wonderfully stirring rendition of "God Bless America" sung by a young female RAN member. Immediately after the performance, I commented to the Chief of the Navy and also to the General Counsel of the US Navy who was representing the Secretary of the Navy, that, in my view, there is no other country in the world where America could receive such a sincere and meaningful salute. I left Sydney last Saturday singing the praises of Australia as a tried and true friend of America, and will continue to sing those praises.
RIMPAC 2008 Article by Petty Officer Sharon Jarvis Three weeks in Hawaii?? Free meals and accommodation thrown in?? Sounds like a great deal!! Oh, by the way, you’ll also spend 52 days at sea. Welcome to RIMPAC 08! So began the journey for ten musicians: Leading Seamen Martin Hancock and Aaron Geeves, Able Seamen Damian Dowd, Patrick Beaman, Haylen Newman, Natalie Urquhart, Catherine Wainwright, David Rampant, John McCorkelle, and myself. The date of departure had been set (9 June), so the two weeks prior were spent rehearsing, organising gear and familiarising ourselves with HMAS Tobruk—our place of work for the next 71 days. We set sail 10 June; only one day later than scheduled. The transit to Hawaii took us 17 days and during this time our days were filled doing rehearsals, damage control exercises and café party. For seven of our group this was their first sea experience and they quickly adapted to life at sea, with some extra guidance from two of our more experienced members, Leading Seaman Geeves and Able Seaman Dowd. Our first commitment alongside in Pearl Harbour was a cocktail party and Beat to Quarters onboard HMAS Success. Over 400 invited guests were entertained by our fabulous jazz group and ceremonial band, culminating in Able Seaman Dowd performing a stirring rendition of I Am Australian, the Star Spangled Banner and the Australian National Anthem. The band received very positive feedback and the night was a huge success, resulting in the mention of us doing a cross decks with a United States ship during the sea phase of RIMPAC. Of course, we shrugged it off and gave it no more thought; but little did we know what lay ahead! Later in the week we performed at two combined commitments with the Pacific Fleet Band, the first being a Change of Command Ceremony and that afternoon a concert at the Aloha Tower Shopping Centre. In Australia, when there is a change of command, a somewhat small ceremony is conducted but we have nothing compared to how the United States Navy conducts theirs. Talk about bigger than Ben Hur! Patriotic is an understatement when it comes to the Americans! One memorable phrase would have to be “the mightiest ship, in the mightiest Navy, in the mightiest nation in the world”. This was, however, topped off when the new Commanding Officer of the ship took to the podium, in front of many invited guests, high ranking United States Naval Officers and the ship’s company, and started to cry whilst giving his speech. He was obviously overwhelmed by the entire occasion as were we! We all came away from the ceremony feeling as if we had been extras in some kind of Tom Cruise movie.
Royal Australian Navy Band: A Musical Voyage
