Rear Admiral Daryall Frederick Lynam
Daryall Frederick Lynam was born in St Kilda, Victoria on 24 June 1926. He was educated at Sydney Technical College and Sydney University where he graduated with a Degree in Mechanical and Electrical Engineering in the early 1950s. During World War II he served as a private in the Australian Army from September 1944 until he was demobilised in January 1947. Lynam joined the RAN as a direct entry engineer, on a short service commission, with the rank of Lieutenant in July 1954.
He undertook a number of short courses in late 1954 and his first posting, in January 1955, was to 816 Squadron at the Naval Air Station (HMAS Albatross) as an Air Electrical Officer. His service with 816 Squadron also included being embarked in the aircraft carrier HMAS Sydney during February-April 1955 which was the last time Sydney operated aircraft before conversion to a general training ship. In mid-1955 he was sent to Britain for training courses and in February 1956 he rejoined 816 Squadron, in England. The squadron was embarked in the aircraft carrier HMAS Melbourne which had been commissioned in England in October 1955.
On return to Australia he continued to serve with 816 Squadron, which operated Fairey Gannet Anti-Submarine Warfare aircraft, and was occasionally embarked in Melbourne for exercises and deployments. Lynam was promoted to Lieutenant Commander in July 1957 and joined the destroyer HMAS Tobruk in August as the Weapons Electrical Engineer for the 10th Destroyer Squadron.
In June 1958 he was posted as the Staff Officer (Weapons) in the Directorate of Electrical Engineering at Navy Office in Melbourne. This was followed, in July 1960, with an appointment to the staff of the General Manager Garden Island Dockyard and he served as the Electrical Engineer (Control) in the Weapons Section. In mid-1961, Lynam was selected to be part of the team to introduce the Wessex helicopter into the RAN. From September 1961-July 1962 he served in the UK on the staff of the RAN Liaison Officer (Australian High Commission) which procured the helicopter and, upon return to Australia, served at the Naval Air Station overseeing the integration of the Wessex helicopter into the Fleet Air Arm.
Lynam was promoted to Commander June 1963 and became part of a special technical mission, attached to the United States Navy, to oversee the introduction of the Charles F Adams Class guided missile destroyers into the RAN. He was also selected to be the commissioning Weapons Electrical Engineer Officer for the lead ship HMAS Perth, which was commissioned in July 1965. As part of the commissioning crew Lynam dealt with the initial ‘teething problems’ of this new capability which helped ease the issues with the two follow on vessels; HMA Ships Hobart and Brisbane. In March 1967, Commander Lynam was posted as the Superintendent Weapons Engineer at Garden Island Dockyard; a post he held until late 1970.
Following promotion to Captain in December 1970, Lynam was posted to the ill-fated Light Destroyer (DDL) Project in Navy Office, Canberra, as the project’s Weapons Manager. Escalating costs and serious concerns over the ships' design led to the cancellation of the DDL project in late 1972. Lynam was then posted as the Director of Naval Weapons Design, also at Navy Office in Canberra, in 1973. In January 1977 he was appointed to the office of the Australian Naval Representative in the United Kingdom (ANRUK) as the Chief Staff Officer Technical.
Captain Lynam returned to Australia in early 1979 and became Director General Fleet Maintenance and Naval Adviser (Technical) and was confirmed in the rank of Commodore in March of that year. Only a few months later, in July 1979, he was promoted to Rear Admiral and appointed as the Chief of the Service Laboratories and Trials Division in the Department of Defence (located in Campbell Park Offices in Canberra).
In mid-1980, Rear Admiral Lynam was appointed as the Chief of Naval Technical Services. He was made a Commander in the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in December 1982 for services to the Navy, particularly as the Chief of Naval Technical Services.
Rear Admiral Lynam retired from the RAN in late 1983. Following his retirement he served on the Board of Directors of the State Dockyard at Newcastle, Krupp (Australia) and Stanilite Electronics. He was also active as the NSW Chairman of the Defence Industry Mobilisation Course and President of the Naval Officers Club from 1993 to 1995. His wife, Mona, was commissioning lady for the Fremantle Class patrol boat HMAS Bendigo in May 1983 and was also decommissioning lady in 2006.
Rear Admiral Lynham passed away in Sydney on 12 July 2017.
Royal Australian Navy senior officers at a mess dinner in Canberra, ACT on 9 March 1981. L-R: Rear Admiral Stevens, Rear Admiral Lynam, Rear Admiral Rourke, Rear Admiral Swan, Vice Admiral Willis, Rear Admiral Loosli, Rear Admiral Leach, Rear Admiral Doyle and Rear Admiral Robertson.
