Commodore J A Robertson RAN

On behalf of the Chief of Navy, it is with regret to advise that Commodore Alan ‘Rocker’ Robertson passed away last evening. Commodore Robertson was born in Footscray 1926 and joined the RAN College in 1940 and graduated in 1943 with the prize for English. He was posted to the United Kingdom and joined his first ship, HMSCumberland in Jan 1944 from which he went to HMS Paladin. Both these ships were based in Trincomalee. He then proceeded to India and undertook a minesweeping course in early 1945; on completion of the course he returned to England and joined HMS Vanquisher at Sheerness. Later in 1945, he joined HMS Excellent for courses before joining Shropshire for 18 months. In mid 1947 he joined HMAS Australia, then Swan and later HMAS Lithgow as part of the 20th Minesweeping Flotilla which was formed to clear the minefields in New Guinea-Solomons area, Torres Strait and the Great Barrier Reef. In mid 1948 he joined GPV 963 prior to being posted to HMASArunta for several months and then ashore to HMAS Cerberus. In 1952 he returned to the United Kingdom and specialised in Communications and, after RN Exchange, joined HMAS Melbourne for her commissioning in 1955. As a communicator, he served at Harman in 1956/57, Lonsdale in 1957, HMAS Melbourne 1958 /59 before he became OIC NAVCOMMSTA Darwin. During his time at Darwin he became the Executive Officer of HMAS Melville and served until mid 1961 before proceeding to HMASVoyager as the Executive Officer. After passing the RN Staff course at Greenwich in 1963 he had a further two years exchange Royal Navy service which was in Singapore as a Joint Planner on the staff of the CINC Far East. Subsequently, he was posted as Executive Officer HMAS Melbourne in 1966 and the following year he commanded HMAS Duchess until 1969. Later in 1969 he became the Director of Naval Communications and in 1971/72, he commanded HMAS Hobart. In February 1975 he commanded HMAS Stalwart and in August 1977 was promoted to Commodore and appointed as DGNOP. Commodore Alan ‘Rocker’ Robertson was one of the Australian Naval Institute’s founding fathers and was renowned for his innovative and lateral thinking both during and after his naval career. The private family funeral details are not known at this stage.