The Bathurst class minesweeper, (corvette), HMAS COWRA, (A/LCDR W. J. Gilles, RANR), was commissioned. COWRA was laid down in Poole & Steel Yard, Sydney, on 12 August 1942, and launched on 27 May 1943. Mrs P. C. Spender, (Wife of a Member of the Australian Advisory War Council), performed the launching ceremony.