Book Launch: First Gulf War: RAN Logistics

Much has been written about the operational aspects of major conflicts and battles, but the vital contribution of logistics support is often overlooked. The historical record of the Royal Australian Navy’s participation in the 1990–91 First Gulf War, (Operation Damask) is no exception, with most accounts concentrating on operations at sea. This book provide detail on the remarkable achievements of those who prepared the initial task group to deploy in three short days and then sustain them and a second task group until hostilities ceased.

Although the ships’ companies, vessels and aircraft of the first Damask deployment were at high levels of readiness, much still had to be accomplished before they could deploy to a potentially hostile environment. A significant number of urgent acquisitions of medical equipment and other essential stores were required, together with the rapid installation of enhanced air-defence and protective systems. These critical modifications, completed under intense time pressure, became even more important for the ships and aircraft of the second deployment, enabling them to enter an increasingly dangerous environment with greater confidence and capability.

The First Gulf War was also the first occasion since the Vietnam War that the RAN was required to engage in hostilities. During the intervening two decades a significant change in RAN logistics systems was the creation of Naval Support Command. Operation Damask provided a demanding real-world test of this large organisation and demonstrated its ability to respond with speed, flexibility and resourcefulness to urgent supply, engineering and technical requirements.

To bring this little-known story to life, the author will be joined by several veterans who planned, coordinated and delivered support to the deployed ships at different levels of the logistics organisation including those serving ashore in the Middle East. Their firsthand experiences provide a unique insight into the extraordinary effort behind the RAN’s Gulf War deployment.

Dr Victor Rudenno has a background in engineering and Finance. An amateur historian,

he is the author of the book “Gallipoli: Attack from the Sea”, which covers naval and

submarine warfare and is published by Yale University Press, UNSW Press and in

Turkish by Middle East Technical University. This presentation is based on the book

‘The First Gulf War: RAN Logistics’ published by the Naval Historical Society of

Australia.

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