Former navy chief dies
FORMER chief of the Royal Australian Navy Vice Admiral Ian MacDougall has been remembered as “a great patriot” and a pioneer of the nation’s submarine service.
The 40-year naval veteran died in Tasmania last week at the age of 82.
Born in Sydney in 1938, Vice Admiral MacDougall was Australia’s most senior submariner, whose career dated back to the early days of the Oberon Class submarines.
Former defence minister Kim Beazley paid tribute to Vice Admiral MacDougall, saying he was “a great submariner and enormously intelligent public servant”.
“As Defence Minister and after, I enjoyed his humour and brilliance on many occasions.
“We have lost a great patriot. Deepest sympathy to his family, his former naval colleagues and his many friends.”
Liberal MP for Braddon Joan Rylah remembered Vice Admiral MacDougall as a member of the North-West community.
“Vice Admiral MacDougall moved to Greens Point, Marrawah, about 15 years ago, after his retirement, and he was an extremely valued and popular member of the North-West Coast community.
“Among many reforms initiated during his leadership, Vice Admiral
MacDougall, who was also Chief of Navy from 1991-1994, strongly advocated for women serving at sea, including in submarines, and put in place many reforms required to make this workforce change a success.”
Enlisting in the Royal Australian Navy a month before his 16th birthday, then Midshipman MacDougall completed his training in the United Kingdom before serving on the HMAS Vampire and the aircraft carrier HMAS Melbourne.
He was among the first to volunteer for the navy’s new submarine arm in the early 1960s.
“I jumped at the chance. The opportunity to enter a new and challenging area of the navy was very attractive,” he said later.
In an oral history interview with the National Library of Australia, he said he had enjoyed his life in the navy, but acknowledged it wasn’t for everyone.
“Whatever you’re doing in this life you are fortunate, are you not, if you could wake up every morning — and I did for 40 years — saying ‘You beauty, I’m going to work today’.”
He said it took a particular type of person to work in submarines.
“When you’re in an isolated community you have to create life, and people with a sense of humour were very helpful in this regard obviously,” he said. “I remember somebody in the boat I was privileged to command ... one of them fashioned a wooden dog on wheels and would lead it through the boat on its daily walk and it would stop and have conversations with various people.”
He spoke of long patrols in cramped, noisy and smelly conditions where there was little chance to wash bodies or clothes.
“Husbands going home to their families were required to stand out in the garden while the wives hosed them down as they were literally covered in diesel oil and [their] skin was impregnated with it. I’m exaggerating a little.
“They carried a bag of laundry which was probably radioactive, but seemed to go through the washing machine in time to go back to sea again.”
Vice Admiral MacDougall commanded the submarines HMS Otter and HMAS Onslow in the early 1970s, was promoted to Captain in 1982, and Commander of the Australian Submarine Squadron three years later.
In 1989, as Rear Admiral, he was appointed Maritime Commander Australia and Chief of Naval Staff two years later — becoming the first submarine commander to lead the RAN.
Among his honours was his appointment Companion in the Military Division of the Order of Australia in 1993.
After retiring from the navy in 1994, Vice Admiral MacDougall served as the Commissioner of the New South Wales Fire Brigades from 1994 until 2003. He was also the Patron of the Australian Submarine Association.
Vice Admiral MacDougall was married to television presenter Sonia Humphrey, who died in 2011.