The Bathurst class minesweeper, (corvette), HMAS COOTAMUNDRA, (LEUT G.A. Johns, RANR(S)), was commissioned. COOTAMUNDRA was laid down at Poole & Steel Yard, Sydney, on 20 February 1942, and launched on 3 December 1942. Lady Davidson, (wife of the General Manager of the Bank of New South Wales), performed the launching ceremony.
HMS BULOLO, a former Burns-Philp passenger ship on the Australia/New Guinea trade, arrived at Aden. She had been converted into a command ship for amphibious landings to be conducted in the Mediterranean.