Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth the second has passed away a short time ago in Scotland.

Fair skies and a following sea to the very epitome of a Monarch, one who held fast to her beliefs through some terrible times.

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Chris O'Keefe
R43136
Ex WO Chippy
19th MOBI Intake
July 65 to July 85
HMAS Nirimba X 4 -Penguin-Sydney-Queenborough - Creswell - Moreton - Stalwart - Platypus - Coonawarra Reconstruction Team 76 - Platypus - Hobart - Cerberus - FHQ - Coonawarra.

Anyone can be ordinary. Shipwrights choose to be extraordinary!

There are no words I can utter to match the flood of tributes to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II at her passing earlier this morning, our time, suffice to say, to all who served in her name, today marks the...

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Rick Pengilly
WEBMASTER
Ex-CPOMTH3
R42630
13th MOBI Intake
July'62 to July'74
HMAS Nirimba - HMAS Melbourne - HMAS Cerberus - HMAS Tarangau - HMAS Lonsdale - HMAS Tarangau - HMAS Nirimba - HMAS Brisbane

While many world leaders just use the position of power and become tyrants, our Queen has always been a stabilising influence across the commonwealth and never used her power for any evil.

RIP Lillibet

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Brian Carney
R43371
Ex-WOMTP5
22nd Mobi Intake
Jan 67 - Jan 89
RANATE, Sydney, Swan, Creswell, Stalwart (FMU), Cerberus, Derwent, Nirimba, Parramatta, Nirimba, FHQ (FMMO).

A job very well done with great pride, aplomb and often enjoyment in sometimes difficult times. BZ!

Vale your majesty, RIP with your beloved Prince Phillip, and thankyou for your selfless service.

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Mike (Pony) Moore
O42860
Ex-LT GLEN(ME)
16th MOBI intake
Jan 64 - Jul 88.
Anzac, Nirimba, Stalwart, Moresby, Creswell, Waterhen, Penguin, Vampire, GMGID (PJP), Coonawarra, Attack, Ardent, Cook, Kuttabull, Cerberus.

May your walls know joy; May every room hold laughter and every window open to great possibility.

Vale Your Majesty.RIP

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Peter Ferris
R65102
Ex-WOMTP5
Direct Entry
Mar 1966 to July 1987
Cerberus X 3,Waterhen x 4,Supply, Gull,Ibis, Paluma, Lonsdale, Flinders x 2,Curlew, Snipe, Carpentaria, Nirimba, Adelaide, FHQ (DEE)

Vale Her Majesty QE2

First saw you in Perth in 1954 when you did your first Royal Tour of Australia

Proud to have served you

Charles Britt JP

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Charlie (Chuckles) Britt JP TPI
Welfare Pensions Officer
R95712
Ex-LME(D) LSMTP2
17th Intake JR's, 23rd MOBI Intake .
Oct 66 - Nov 74
Leeuwin, Nirimba, Cerberus, Stalwart, Cerberus, Waterhen, Penguin, Carpentaria, Dolphin, Penguin, Sydney, Albatross, Leeuwin, Acute, Leeuwin, Cerberus, Stalwart, Waterhen, Attack, Leeuwin, DEE.

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Graeme 'Smiley' Rhodes
R94714
Ex-CPOMTP(D)5
Jan'65 Leeuwin Intake (10th) - Jan'66 Nirimba Intake (20th)
Jan'65 to Mar '88
Leeuwin, Nirimba, Stalwart, Samarai, Lae, Penguin, Curlew, Buccaneer, Navy Office, Barbette, Cairns, RANTTU (based in Port Moresby), Stirling, Bunbury.

What an impressive display of royal pageantry we witnessed. This was really special, memorable and terribly sad ......... The end of an era.

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Brian Carney
R43371
Ex-WOMTP5
22nd Mobi Intake
Jan 67 - Jan 89
RANATE, Sydney, Swan, Creswell, Stalwart (FMU), Cerberus, Derwent, Nirimba, Parramatta, Nirimba, FHQ (FMMO).

They know how to pomp and ceremony don’t they?
A couple of things I noticed, its very hard to march not swinging your arms; those lads will have sore hips this morning.
The pall bearers also done a splendid job, they were my heroes. Walking down stairs not looking where you are putting your feet (in unison) with 7 other people carrying a coffin takes skill.

I thought Charles may have ceded the throne to William; personally I don’t think he has it in him for the long haul, particularly if he mirrors his mother’s dedication.

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Gary Fradd
S115224
Ex-LSMTH3
1973 - 1985
Cerberus, Melbourne, Creswell x 2, Nirimba, Perth x 2, Kuttabul FIMA

I reckon you may be right, Gary, regarding Prince William being offered an early shot as King and the chance of a long reign, even thought HM QE2 might have suggested it to HM CR3
before she passed...

Despite having long harboured a soft spot for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth The Second, I must confess that I'm suffering from 'Monarch Overload' bordering on the claustrophobic,
as a result of the almost non-stop TV coverage of every aspect of HM QE2's long life...

After a few days of boring, repetitive, trivial drivel, I decided instead that I'd just watch the actual funeral itself to feel part of it all...

Sadly, even that got to me after a while, O.K., so nobody does pomp and ceremony better than the Poms, and the crowds were impressive,
but I found myself repeatedly hitting 'freeze frame' every time a long-distance overhead drone shot captured the gun carriage, in an effort to count that there were in fact the reported 140 RN
sailors towing/ slowing the coffin... I counted 40 'braking', but was never satisfied that there were, in fact, 100 pulling (I got to about 96, did they include the accompanying Officers/ NCOs ...?)

Then the Chippy in me kicked in, wondering when the ceremonial Royal Orb and Sceptre were going to fall/ roll off the coffin... Surely they wouldn't have perforated a Royal Standard
and then punched holes in Her Maj's coffin to fit mountings..? And when exactly was the Royal Jeweller going to remove them prior to the internment...? And how were they planning on 'interring' the
coffin in plain sight anyway...? All was revealed in due course... They HAD drilled through the Royal Standard and into the coffin with mountings for the Orb and Sceptre (scrap one slightly
damaged Royal Standard, that'll end up on Ebay...)
Well, I'd like to think it's all behind us and they'll give HM CR3 a fair go, but I doubt it very much and I suspect that the 'overkill' of recent days will have done more to prompt Australians to
re-consider a Republic, than Malcolm Turnbull and that red-bandana-clad-bikie wanker could ever have done...!

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Rick Pengilly
WEBMASTER
Ex-CPOMTH3
R42630
13th MOBI Intake
July'62 to July'74
HMAS Nirimba - HMAS Melbourne - HMAS Cerberus - HMAS Tarangau - HMAS Lonsdale - HMAS Tarangau - HMAS Nirimba - HMAS Brisbane