Photos: Supplied.
Award-winning Mike Carlton is known for his decades of frontline work in the media; as a war correspondent in Vietnam, ABC Bureau Chief in Jakarta, ABC reporter in London, New York and Asian capitals; a radio satirist and talk host; presenter at Nine Network News, A Current Affair and the ABC’s ground-breaking This Day Tonight and as a Sydney Morning Herald columnist.
But Australia nearly lost one of its most impactful journalists when Mike lost his heart to ships. As a youngster his favourite pastime was to bicycle down to WW2 ships moored near Bradley’s Head in Sydney Harbour.
“I used to love looking at them and drawing pictures of them. Around about that time I read Monsarrat’s The Cruel Sea – and that sold me. I had romantic notions of hunting submarines in the North Sea but when I later wanted to join the navy my mother was not keen at all. She got me talked out of it by a friend of ours who was a naval commander; he persuaded me that it was cold and wet and badly paid and that I wouldn’t like it so I went into journalism instead.”
Mike’s passion for seafaring lasted and several navy books later Mike is regarded as one of Australia’s foremost naval historians and – rare for civilians – has been awarded a Navy Gold Commendation for his outstanding commitment and contribution to the Royal Australian Navy.
“I had a long interest in naval history and read everything about it then one day at lunch with Admiral James Goldrick he suggested that I write about Australian naval history. So I had a go at my first book – and it was one of the happiest things I’ve ever done – pure delight. I love the research and the best thing is actually meeting war veterans. I’ve developed a substantial network of navy and ex-navy contacts and friends. It took a while. I had to demonstrate that they could trust me and that I knew what I was talking about.”
Mike’s book Dive! was suggested by Chief of Navy Vice-Admiral Mark Hammond, himself a former sub-mariner. Mike’s first submarine dive was far from his expectation of sailors running about, orders being shouted and the boat tipping around.
“Actually, it was quite boring,” he says. “It’s no more exciting than going down in the lift at David Jones; it’s calm, it’s gentle, nobody shouts and you barely notice what’s happening. I once asked a captain if they ever have to do crash dives like they do in the movies and he said ‘No, if it gets to that point we’re already dead.’”
Mike’s newest book, The Burning Blue covers the Australian Fleet Air Arm and the men – and later women – who flew the planes. The concept started in Britain in WW1 but many of the pilots were Australians who couldn’t access flying training in Australia. The adoption of the Australian Fleet Air Arm wasn’t formalised until after WW2. From its beginning, the concept met with opposition from the RAAF, which assumed automatic control of anything with wings, including the Walrus seaplanes. Launched by a catapult, usually on a reconnaissance or rescue mission, the biplanes returned to land in the sea, from where they were winched back on board.
Having written about surface ships, submarines and naval aviation, does Mike have any unfulfilled marine ambitions?
“I’ve suggested several times that I’d like to captain a destroyer but I don’t think they’re going to let me!”
Mike Carlton will conduct an Author Talk on Wednesday, 22 July 2026 at 10:00am at Cleveland Library. This is a free event, however bookings are required.
