Lieutenant Commander WOC Roberts was commanding officer of HMAS Wagga from September 1953 to December 1954, He describes incidents in Wagga’s later career in peace time. HMAS Wagga was one of sixty Australian Minesweepers, commonly known as corvettes, built during World War II in Australian shipyards as part of the Commonwealth Government’s wartime shipbuilding programme. Twenty were built on Admiralty order but manned and commissioned by the Royal Australian Navy. Thirty-six including Wagga were built for the Royal Australian Navy and four for the Royal Indian Navy. Wagga began her seagoing career in January 1943, escorting convoys on the east coast of Australia. On 14 April 1943, at Milne Bay, Wagga came under intense air attack from Japanese dive bombers. There were several near misses but she was not hit and escaped serious damage. She was constantly employed in the New Guinea during 1944 and 1945. At wars end Wagga was based at Hong Kong until October 1945, conducting local minesweeping operations and anti-piracy patrols. She arrived in Australia and was paid off into the Reserve Fleet at Melbourne on 28 November 1945, having steamed 105,000 miles on active service.
Recorded 3rd October 1980.
Duration is 1 hour and 2 minutes
