Missing Pieces: - Royal Australian Navy

220 Missing Pieces
unfortunately, did not set a trend for all the RAN’s future military engagements. At
the shore command level, it learned little about the collection and dissemination
of intelligence. Despite the operational experience gained, neither the Malayan
Emergency nor Confrontation had a positive impact on the development of intelligence
specialist skills by the RAN, except for Sigint personnel.
When Confrontation erupted, the RAN was caught short again with insufficient
language-skilled personnel. This impacted directly on the Sigint stations and indirectly
on the operational units. As in Korea, what apprehended personnel said during
interrogation had to be interpreted for RAN commanders and their staffs by foreigners.
With the complex inter-racial mix of some parts of Malaysia, the opportunity for
misinterpretation was always present. The Australian Government had declared as
early as 1953 that its key strategic area of interest centred on Malaya, but little progress
had been made by the Australian Services in acquiring the necessary language skills
for its forces to operate there.
The Ton Class minesweeper HMAS Hawk played a central role during Confrontation