Alcohol fuelled ship's 19 month tour29jul03 / The North Queensland Newspaper, Australia
BY 1744 hours the alcohol store on HMAS Darwin was starting to resemble the front bar of a local hotel...the logconfirms that alcohol is going to be a problem on this visit to Japan. "... abusive and disrespectful at the Galaxy Bar ashore. Had pistol against their heads ashore. There was a strong smell of alcohol on all the above."
It was to be the start of a catalogue of drunken incidents involving the crew that would culminate in the death of one of their own, 20-year-old Leading Seaman Cameron Gurr.
....The booze cruise kicked off in October 2000 when the Darwin was in the Japanese port of Sasebo, a joint US-Japanese navy base on the island of Kyushu.
The frigate was in the country for Exercise Goodwill, a joint training exercise aimed at improving co-operation between the Australian and Japanese navies.
