Rear Admiral Brynmor Wheatley Mussared
Brynmor Wheatley Mussared was born on 22 January 1917 at Semaphore, South Australia and entered the Royal Australian Naval College in 1932. On passing out from the college in 1935 he was awarded 'maximum time' (early promotion to Lieutenant) as well as the prize for engineering-seamanship-navigation.
He undertook initial training at sea in the heavy cruiser HMAS Canberra and was promoted to Midshipman in May 1936. Mussared then proceeded to the United Kingdom to undertake Engineer Officer training at the RN Engineering College Keyham. He became a Sub Lieutenant (Engineer) in 1938 and upon return to Australia, in 1940, was appointed to Canberra as a Lieutenant (Engineer). HMAS Canberra was engaged in escort duties and hunting German raiders in the Indian Ocean and later served in the Pacific as a unit of Task Force 74. She was sunk, at the Battle of Savo island, in the Solomon Islands on the night of 8/9 August 1942.
After surviving the loss of Canberra, Lieutenant Mussared spent six months in Sydney on the staff of the Squadron Engineer Officer at Garden Island. He then served for a short time in the destroyer HMAS Vendetta, engaged on convoy escort duty between Townsville and New Guinea, as well as at Williamstown dockyard, before he was appointed, in mid-1943, as the Engineer Officer of the destroyer HMAS Nizam. He served in her as part of the British Eastern Fleet on operations in the Indian Ocean, and Bay of Bengal, and later Nizam was part of the British Pacific Fleet during the final period of hostilities with Japan. Lieutenant Mussared was awarded a mention in dispatches in June 1946 for his distinguished service in Nizam.
Following the war Mussared served at HMAS Tarangau at Manus Island as the Base Engineer Officer and in 1950 became the Engineer Officer of the destroyer Tobruk. In 1953 he served in the aircraft carrier HMAS Vengeance both of which saw service in Korean waters. Following promotion to Commander he was in charge of the Engineering School at HMAS Cerberus during 1955-57 and then on promotion to Captain became the Commanding Officer of HMAS Nirimba during 1958-61. Captain Mussared then served in Navy Office on the staff of the Deputy Chief of Naval Technical Services before proceeding England to serve on the staff of the Australian Naval Representative in the United Kingdom (ANRUK). On return to Australia, in 1967, he served as the Fleet Marine Engineer Officer and Chief Staff Officer (Technical).
In 1969 he was promoted to Commodore and became the General Manager at Garden Island Dockyard. Mussared was promoted to Rear Admiral in 1971 and moved to Navy Office to become the Project Director for the Light Destroyer (DDL) Project. In 1972 he became the Third Naval Member and Chief of Naval Technical Services. Rear Admiral Mussared was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE), in the Queens Birthday Honour's List 1972, for his services to the RAN.
Rear Admiral Mussared retired from the Royal Australian Navy in 1974. He passed away on 5 November 1995 in Mona Vale, NSW.
