John Foster (Australian sailor)

John Douglas Foster OAM (25 November 1935 – 10 October 2010) was an officer in the Royal Australian Navy, who spent his retirement researching the fate of the submarine HMAS AE1.

Early life
Foster was born in Sydney to Harold and Winifred Foster and was educated at Newington College (1944–1951).

Naval career
In 1952, Foster joined the Navy as a cadet midshipman. After two years of training at HMAS Cerberus (naval base), he went on to became a specialist in torpedo and anti-submarine warfare. His first two commands were on the English coastal minesweepers HMS Repton (M1167) and HMS Shoulton (M1182), and his first Australian command was on HMAS Hawk (M 1139). On Hawk he saw active service in Borneo during the Malayan Emergency, then during the Vietnam War era was assigned to HMAS Yarra (DE 45). After promotion to Commodore, Foster was posted for service to the Australian embassy in Washington, DC. In 1971, he was posted back to Canberra before his final command on HMAS Parramatta (DE 46). In 1976 and 1977, Foster served in Papua New Guinea, during the transfer of facilities to the newly created Papua New Guinea Defence Force.

AE1
Whilst serving in Papua New Guinea, Foster became interested in Australia's first submarine, AE1. After retiring from the Navy, he made numerous trips to Rabaul in the hope of finding the vessel's wreck. With the Western Australian Maritime Museum, Foster organised an expeditionary group to search for the submarine in 2003. A documentary film was made about this trip by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Foster was the founder of the support group Project AE1 with a membership of mainly former military personnel. In 2009, he made his last trip to Papua New Guinea with new information but the wreck was not found prior to his death.

Honours

 * National Medal (1977) - awarded for diligent long service to the community in hazardous circumstances, including in times of emergency and national disaster, in direct protection of life and property
 * National Medal (1978) - awarded 1st Clasp
 * Medal of the Order of Australia (2009) - Awarded for service to the recording of Australian naval history and the search for the submarine HMAS AE1 lost during World War One.

Publications

 * AE1: Entombed but not forgotten (2006)