Our Dolphins

AUSTRALIAN SUBMARINE DOLPHINS

On 5 April 1958 the Royal Navy issued its first submarine branch badge which was to be worn on the left sleeve. The cloth badge was the first time that submariners had been visibly linked to their “trade”, other than junior ratings by their cap tallies. Due to its ugly design it was soon known as a “sausage on a stick” and as wearing the badge was optional many submariners chose not to do so.

CMDR Alan H. McIntosh RAN

In June 1964 a submarine project team was formed at the Australian Navy Office in Canberra, consisting of Commander (later Captain) Alan H. McIntosh RAN, a non-submariner and Lieutenant Commander (later Commander) Henry Cook RAN (an ex Royal Navy submariner) to oversee the introduction of submarines in to the RAN.

Commander Cook believed that Australian submariners would be proud to wear a properly designed badge worn on the left shoulder. At some time between 1964-1965, he put forward a proposal that a submarine badge be devised along those lines. Commander Cook recalls that the proposal was not well received until it reached Rear Admiral VAT Smith RAN (later Admiral Sir Victor Smith KBE) who convinced the Naval Board of the day that the proposal should proceed subject to a suitable design being developed.

The design was the work of Commander McIntosh, the submarine project officer in 1965. The  Dolphins on his submarine supporter’s tie inspired it; the crown was drawn from the florin (the two shilling piece before decimal currency was introduced). Stokes, of Melbourne, who manufactured many service badges, produced the Badge. Mr. Stokes reported that it was by far the most handsome badge his firm had made.

The Naval Board accepted the design and production of the  Dolphins went ahead. On 25 July1966 the RAN issued Navy Order number 411, which covered who was eligible to wear the submarine badge and how.

As one of the protagonists for the submarine badge Commander Cook, who had been promoted and appointed Director of Submarine Policy in February 1966, was given the distinction of being the first submariner to wear the Dolphins. The first qualified Australian submariner to be awarded his Dolphins was G.J. Currie, who was also the first Australian submariner to return to Australia in 1966 prior to the formation of the Australian Submarine Squadron and joined the RN Fourth Division as spare crew.

In 1968 the officers and crew of HMS Trump, the last British submarine in the Royal Navy’s Fourth Division based at Sydney, were given Australian submarine Dolphins to wear for a year. At the end of that year the sailors were asked to fill out a survey. Ninety nine per cent of the crew were in favour of wearing the badge and the design. It was not until 1972, having assessed the value of the Australian submarine badge, that the Royal Navy issued a variation on Captain McIntosh’s design.

by Peter Smith

Pennant of Commander Australian Navy Submarine Group