ANZAC DAY 2026
  
SAD NEWS
LEADING SEAMAN RADAR PLOTTER SUBMARINES BRUCE ALLAN MCLENNAN R65890
The Submarines Association of Australia (SAA) regrets to announce the passing of long-
standing member Bruce “Bruta” McLennan, who died on Sunday, April 26, 2026, at Gold
Coast Hospital following a short illness.
Bruce McLennan
Bruta's Funeral will be held at Guardian Funerals West Ballina at 2PM on Friday the 1st of May
The service will be live streamed, on the following link
Bruce Mclennan
If the link does work, please google Guardian Funerals and click on "Upcoming Funerals"
Looking for information on the following Submariners, See link below:
Phil Menere and Graham (Boots) Dagg
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HISTORY OF AUSTRALIA ON THIS DATE 29 APRIL
1915: SUB SUNK
HMA Submarine AE2 sunk in the Sea of Marmara
AE2 was the first submarine to penetrate the Dardanelles. For five days the AE2 carried out orders to disrupt Turkish shipping.
When her torpedoes were exhausted and she was attacked by Turkish gunboats the submarine was scuttled and her crew captured.
The submarine made appearances across the Sea of Marmara to give the impression of multiple boats, and several attacks against Turkish ships were made, although all failed because of increasing mechanical problems. News of the submarine's successes was spread to the soldiers ashore to improve morale. On 29 April, AE2 met E14, one of several submarines that had entered the Dardanelles following the Australian boat's successful attempt. The submarines arranged a rendezvous for the next morning. When AE2 reached the rendezvous point on 30 April, smoke from the torpedo boat Sultanhisar was sighted, so the submarine dove and moved to investigate. At 10:30, about a mile from the torpedo boat, AE2 inexplicably rose and broke the surface. While diving to evade, the boat passed below her safe diving depth; frantic attempts to correct this caused the submarine's stern to break the surface. Sultanhisar immediately fired on the submarine, puncturing the pressure hull in three places near the engine spaces. Stoker ordered the boat's company to evacuate, and scuttled AE2 at 10:45. All personnel survived the attack and were captured by Sultanhisar, although four died from illness while in captivity. AE2's achievements showed others that the task was possible, and within months Turkish shipping and lines of communication were badly disrupted, with supplies and reinforcements for the Turkish defence of Gallipoli forced to take underdeveloped overland routes. AE2 was the only RAN vessel to be lost as a result of enemy action during World War I, and along with sister boat AE1, the total of the RAN's operational losses in the war.
The submarine HMAS AE2, (LCDR H. H. G. D. Stoker, RN), was sunk by the Turkish torpedo boat SULTAN HISSAR in the Sea of Mamora.
All of the crew of 3 officers and 17 men were captured, and became Prisoners of War. Four of these men later died as POW's due to malnutrition, disease, and ill treatment. Following their release from Turkish POW camps the following awards were made, for the first successful submarine penetration of the Dardanelles:-
DSO and MID; LCDR H. H. G .D. Stoker, RN
DSC;LEUT G. A. G. Haggard, RN
DSM; CPO H. Abbott
DSM;CPO ERA H.B. Broomhead
DSM; Stoker PO H. A. Brown
MID; LEUT J. P. Cary, RN
MID; CPO ERA S. T. Bell
MID; CPO C. Vaughan
MID; Stoker PO H. J. E. Kinder.
https://anzacportal.dva.gov.au/.../dardanel.../submarine-ae2
HMAS AE2, Lieutenant Commander Stoker with his crew. (AWM)
 
World News HMS Trump and the Australian link HMS Trump
Image of the week
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To SAA Members
As you all maybe aware the Executive and State Branches have been actively driving a recruiting activity to attract new members, this has been quite a success on the back of the great work from Tony Vine our National Secretary. Letters were sent to all of the Senior Submariners within Navy asking them to pass on to their teams the document that Tony staffed outlining why submariners should join the Association.
I can say that we received nothing but positive responses to the letters and I can announce that the Commander Submarine Force, Commander CDRE Sutherland has signed on, and as he stated in his reply to the SAA he is the ‘first all Collins qualified Perisher graduate on the books’. This is on top of a couple of Collins submariners who marched with the NSWs Branch also joining (they must have enjoyed the warrie spinning).
On top of all of the great work Tony is driving I would like to share what I believe is a very important statistic, I asked Ray Kemp to provide an update on the number of submariners that he has assisted in working through the DVA system. To date Ray has assisted upwards of 800 members which I am sure you would all agree is a mighty effort. In due course I will also update you on the numbers from Andy Armes’ and his teams numbers.
I also hope to get numbers from SAA advocates around Australia who are also assisting submariners in their respective areas.
So as you can see the SAA is actively building relationships with the current submarine agencies to get the word out on what the SAA is about and the benefits of joining, and once again I thank Tony as the driving force behind this initiative.
Cheers
David Strangward, AM
SAA National President
Pod happy birthday as well old mate
 
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