On This Day

1946-1959 > Post WW2

July 6, 1946

HMA Ships QUADRANT and QUEENBOROUGH, (destroyers), were docked in the Captain Cook Graving Dock at Garden Island. They were the first ships of the RAN to use the dock. All previous dockings were of ships of the British Pacific Fleet.

July 5, 1946

At Colombo HMA Ships Ipswich, Burnie and Toowoomba paid off and were transferred to the Royal Netherlands Navy.

• Burnie was renamed Ceram.
• Ipswich was renamed Morotai. In 1949 the ship was transferred by the Royal Netherlands Navy to the Indonesian Navy and renamed Hang Tuah. In April 1958 she was bombed and sunk by an aircraft operated by forces in rebellion against the Indonesian Government.
• Toowoomba was renamed Boeroe and was removed from the effective list of the Royal Netherlands Navy in 1958.

July 4, 1946

HMA LST 3035 , ex HM LST 3035, commissioned into the RAN in Ceylon while in Walkers Graving Dock. She was later renamed HMAS Lae.
HMA LST 3017 , ex HM LST 3017, commissioned into the RAN at Trincomalee.

July 3, 1946

HMAS Lismore paid off at Trincomalee. The same day she commissioned as HNMS Batjan having steamed 191,132 miles as a unit of the Royal Australian Navy.

July 1, 1946

The landing ships tank Mark III, LST 3008, LST 3014, LST 3017, LST 3022, LST 3035 and LST 3501 were loaned to the RAN by the RN. They were designated the 10th (Australian) LST Flotilla.

June 16, 1946

The diesel tug HMAS MOLLYMAWK, was commissioned. MOLLYMAWK was laid down in Poole & Steel Ltd, Sydney, and launched on 3 May 1946.

June 14, 1946

HMAS Geraldton paid off at Colombo and on 24 August 1946 she was transferred to the Turkish Navy and renamed Antalya. After her sister ship Ayvalik (ex HMAS Gawler) was withdrawn from Turkish Navy service in 1963, Antalya was renamed Ayvalik. Jane’s Fighting Ships reported that Ayvalik was deleted from the Turkish Navy list in 1975.

HMAS Inverell Paid off at Brisbane. She had steamed 93,720 miles since commissioning.

June 8, 1946

The Dutch submarine K9 was wrecked off Seal Rocks, NSW, while under tow to the Netherlands East Indies.

May 31, 1946

HMAS DIAMANTINA, (frigate), towed ASR912 from Manus Island to Sydney.

May 25, 1946

HMAS Quality paid off into Reserve. In June 1950 the ship’s transfer to the Royal Australian Navy was made permanent. Unlike her sister ships which were converted to anti-submarine frigates in the early 1950s, Quality did not see further service and was sold for scrap on 10 April 1958 to Mitsubishi Ltd, Tokyo.

HMAS Strahan paid off into Reserve at Sydney. On 6 January 1961, without being again commissioned, she was sold to Kinoshita (Australia) Pty Ltd

May 23, 1946

HMAS Gympie paid off into Reserve at Brisbane, after having steamed over 100,000 miles. On 4 November 1947 Gympie’s sister ship, HMAS Lithgow, sailed from Brisbane with Gympie in tow for Sydney, where they arrived on 7 November. Gympie was sold on 6 January 1961 to Kinoshita (Australia) Pty Ltd to be broken up.

May 21, 1946

HMAS Launceston commissioned in the Royal Navy as HMS Launceston in Sydney after paying off from the RAN in mid March 1946. She sailed for Colombo in company with her sister ships Gawler and Pirie. All were destined for transfer to the Turkish Navy. As a unit of the Turkish Navy, Launceston originally bore the name Ayancik and was later renamed Hamit Naci. ‘Jane’s Fighting Ships’ reported that she was withdrawn from service in 1965.

May 16, 1946

HMAS Whyalla paid off at Brisbane. On 10 February 1947 Whyalla was sold to the Victorian Public Works Department. On 8 November 1947 the tug HMAS Reserve departed Brisbane for Melbourne with Whyalla in tow. The vessels arrived at Melbourne on 14 November. Whyalla (I) was handed over to her new owner and renamed Rip, being employed as a lights maintenance vessel. She ceased service as Rip in 1984. When the Whyalla City Council became aware that the ship was to sold as scrap, successful negotiations resulted in the Council purchasing her for $5,000. She returned to Whyalla under her own power later in 1984. Between February and April 1987, Whyalla was slowly moved up the slipway from which she was launched in 1941, and then relocated two kilometres inland and placed on permanent foundations, becoming the centrepiece for the Whyalla Maritime Museum which was officially opened on 29 October 1988. Whyalla is one of only two Bathurst Class preserved as museum ships, the other being HMAS Castlemaine in Williamstown, Victoria.

May 13, 1946

HMAS Platypus paid off into Reserve at Sydney. She was sold on 20 February 1958 to Mitsubishi Shoji Kaisha Ltd, of Tokyo, Japan, for scrap. In June 1958 the Japanese salvage vessel Tukoshima Maru departed Sydney for Japan with Platypus and the former Bathurst Class minesweeper, HMAS Dubbo (I), in tow.

HMAS Adelaide paid off after service as a depot ship from May 1945

May 10, 1946

HMAS Shepparton paid off into Reserve at Brisbane. On 4 November 1947 Shepparton’s sister ship HMAS Deloraine (I) sailed from Brisbane for Sydney with Shepparton in tow. On 7 November the ships arrived at Sydney, where Shepparton remained in Reserve. On 20 February 1958 the ship was sold for scrap to Mitsubishi Shoji Kaisha Ltd of Tokyo.

May 8, 1946

HMAS Kalgoorlie paid off at Melbourne, having steamed 131,607 miles. On the same day Kalgoorlie was transferred to the Royal Netherlands Navy and renamed Ternate

May 2, 1946

The modified River class frigate HMAS SHOALHAVEN, (CMDR R. Rhoades, RAN), was commissioned. SHOALHAVEN was laid down at Walker’s Yard, Maryborough, QLD, on 1 December 1943, and launched on 14 December 1944.

May 1, 1946

The destroyer HMAS QUIBERON, (CMDR G. Knox, RAN), towed the Japanese submarine I-205 from Kure to sea, where she was subsequently scuttled.

April 30, 1946

The total number of gallantry awards made to RAN personnel between 3 September 1939, and 30 April 1946, was 1107. This number included 28 awards bestowed by the USA, four by the Netherlands, and four by Greece. 29 awards were won by RN personnel serving in Australian ships.

Battle casualties suffered by the RAN in the period 3 September 1939, to 30 April 1946, totaled 2608. Officers – 183 killed, 75 wounded; Ratings – 1780 killed, 3 missing, 63 died as POWs, 504 wounded.

HMAS Tolga was towed out to sea, near Alexishafen (near Madang), New Guinea, by the frigate HMAS Condamine, set adrift, and sunk as a target.

HMAS Tamworth paid off. On the same day she was transferred to the Royal Netherlands Navy and renamed Tidore. In December 1949 the ship was transferred to the Indonesian Navy and renamed Pati Unus. She was disposed of in 1969.

April 27, 1946

HMAS STUART was paid off at Sydney for disposal. On 3 February 1947 she was sold to T Carr and Co Ltd of Sydney and was broken up at Ryde.

April 18, 1946

HMAS Burdekin paid off into Reserve at Melbourne and was laid up at Corio Bay, Geelong. In 1956 she was towed to Sydney. Declared for disposal on 9 November 1960, Burdekin was eventually sold on 21 September 1961 to the Tolo Mining and Smelting Co Ltd of Hong Kong, together with HMA Ships Condamine, Hawkesbury and Reserve, for an overall amount of £53,000 sterling. The purchase by Tolo was financed by the Mitsubishi Co of Japan, through its Australian agent, HC Sleigh. Burdekin was released to Mitsubishi to be broken up for scrap in Japan. Reserve, formerly an RAN tug, left Sydney for Japan late in December 1961, towing Burdekin and Condamine

April 5, 1946

HMAS Pirie paid off and recommissioned in the Royal Navy as HMS Pirie at Sydney. On 21 May 1946 she sailed for Colombo in company with her sister ships Gawler and Pirie. All were destined for transfer to the Turkish Navy. As a unit of the Turkish Navy Pirie was renamed Amasra. The vessel was not listed in ‘Jane’s Fighting Ships’ after the 1971/72 issue. In 1984, in answer to a query from the HMAS Pirie Association, the Turkish Consulate General advised that ‘Amasra was put out of service on 26 March 1984 after having rendered valuable service to the Turkish Navy’

HMAS GAWLER, (minesweeper), was paid off for transfer to the Turkish Navy. The ship was renamed AYVALIK, and remained in service until 1963.

April 3, 1946

HMAS Kiama paid off into Reserve. In her two years and two months of service Kiama steamed 60,882 miles and was underway for 6369 hours. In May 1952, without again being brought into seagoing commission, Kiama was transferred to the Royal New Zealand Navy. She paid off from the Royal New Zealand Navy on 19 August 1976 for disposal.

April 1, 1946

HMAS TOLGA, (auxiliary minesweeper), was scuttled in New Guinea waters “because she had deteriorated so badly it was considered dangerous to attempt to run her home”.

March 26, 1946

HMAS Bundaberg paid off at Brisbane, having steamed 112,199 miles since commissioning. On 4 November 1947 Bundaberg, under tow by her sister ship HMAS Katoomba, departed Brisbane for Sydney, where the vessels arrived on 7 November. Bundaberg remained in Reserve at Sydney. The ship was sold for scrap on 6 January 1961 to Kinoshita (Aust) Pty Ltd.

HMAS Stawell paid off at Brisbane. Stawell was transferred to the Royal New Zealand Navy in May 1952 and commissioned as HMNZS Stawell. In the late 1950s she paid off into Reserve. In July 1968 she was sold to Pacific Scrap Ltd of Auckland and broken up.