Battle honours of the Royal Australian Navy
Battle honours of the Royal Australian Navy (short version)
What battle honours are
- Battle honours recognise the battles, campaigns, and notable actions in which Royal Australian Navy (RAN) ships and units have fought.
- They are passed on to future ships of the same name, and they show a navy’s history of service in war and peace.
How honours are awarded and changes over time
- Before 1947, the British Admiralty administered honours for Australian ships.
- In 1947 Australia created a Badges, Names and Honours Committee to advise on honours and naval heraldry, with later involvement by the UK Ministry of Defence.
- The RAN mostly followed the Royal Navy’s honours list until the 1980s, but added the Vietnam War.
- In 2010 the system was overhauled to recognise post‑Vietnam operations and other campaigns not included in the earlier list.
- Ships inherit honours won by their predecessors with the same name. Until 1989 Australian ships could also inherit honours from British ships with the same name, a practice later stopped to avoid pre‑Federation honours applying to Australian ships.
- In addition to large battles, some honours cover actions won by a single ship against a single enemy; only three of these “single-ship action” honours were awarded in the 20th century, and all went to RAN ships.
- Year ranges listed for honours cover the whole campaign; ships’ participation might be shorter and shown as a reduced year range.
Era-by-era overview (highlights, not a complete list)
- Pre‑Federation conflicts
- New Zealand 1860–61: Involvement in the First Taranaki War.
- China 1900–01: Involvement in the Boxer Rebellion.
- World War I honours
- Rabaul 1914: Capture of German New Guinea and colonies in the Pacific.
- Emden 1914: Battle of the Cocos.
- Dardanelles 1915: Gallipoli Campaign operations.
- German East Africa 1915–16: Blockade duties.
- North Sea 1915–18: Operations with the British Grand Fleet.
- Indian Ocean 1917: Patrols against German ships.
- Adriatic 1917–18: Involvement in the Adriatic Campaign.
- World War II honours
- Atlantic 1939–43: North Atlantic convoy escort and combat.
- Calabria 1940, Spada 1940, Malta Convoys 1941–42, Leyte Gulf 1944, Okinawa 1945, etc.: Major battles and campaigns across the Mediterranean, Atlantic, Indian Ocean, Pacific, and surrounding theatres.
- Key campaigns include Libya 1940–41; East Indies 1940–44; Mediterranean 1940–43; Bismarck 1941; Crete 1941; Greece 1941; Guadalcanal 1942; Darwin 1942–43; New Guinea 1942–44; Sicily 1943; Burma 1944–45; Borneo 1945; Lingayen Gulf 1945; Sunda Strait 1942; Savo Island 1942; Coral Sea 1942; and many others.
- 1946 to present honours
- Korea 1950–53: Involvement in the Korean War.
- Malaya 1955–60; Malaysia 1964–66: Emergencies and Confrontation in Southeast Asia.
- Vietnam 1965–72: Involvement in the Vietnam War (initially for combat units, later including support ships and escorts).
- Kuwait 1991: Gulf War deployments.
- East Timor 1999–2000: INTERFET peacekeeping operations.
- Persian Gulf 2001–03; Iraq 2003: Post‑9/11 Middle East operations and the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
Notes
- The list above highlights major campaigns and representative honours. The full official set includes many more specific entries with detailed criteria.
- For a complete catalog of all battle honours and their exact criteria, see Royal Australian Navy campaign and battle honours references.
This page was last edited on 29 January 2026, at 10:20 (CET).