This travelling exhibition will tell the personal stories of men in the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) through rare artefacts from the collections of the Australian National Maritime Museum, the National Film and Sound Archives and the Australian War Memorial. It includes multimedia and interactives that will highlight the lived experience of the fledgling Australian Navy as it underwent its first test – a test of war.

It looks at some of the navy’s well known triumphs such as the battle between HMAS Sydney and the German raider SMS Emden, as well as the lesser known work of the Bridging Train and the role of the submarine AE2 at Gallipoli.