The Four Lives of HMS Wexford - Naval Historical Society of Australia

Author: Lind, L.J.
Subjects: Ship histories and stories
Tags: HMS Wexford (HMAS Doomba)
RAN Ships: HMAS Doomba
Publication: December 1973 edition of the Naval Historical Review (all rights reserved)

H.M.S. WEXFORD, minesweeper of the later Hunt class was completed by Simons Shipyards, U.K. in 1919. Her commission was particularly short and in 1921 she was sold out of service.

MOST WARSHIPS have inbuilt lasting qualities. HMS Victory has weathered almost two centuries, and several United States ships of war are almost as venerable. HMS Wexford, a later Hunt class minesweeper completed in 1919 had such qualities. Wexford’s life in the Royal Navy was short and uneventful. She was sold out of service in 1921, and like so many of her class was marked for conversion. In 1923 she was converted into a cruise ship and renamed Doomba, and for sixteen years plied between Brisbane and Bribie Island with tourists.

1923: Extensively rebuilt and refitted as a cruise ship WEXFORD is renamed M.V. DOOMBA. She plied between Brisbane and Bribie lsland and became well known to many generations of Oueenslanders and tourists

With war clouds looming Doomba was taken over by the Royal Australian Navy in 1939 and converted to a minesweeper. Commissioned as HMAS Doomba she led the 20th Minesweeping Flotilla.

After the war Doomba was again sold out of service and converted to a linseed oil lighter, a role she continued until 1970 when she went to the ship breakers.

Follow us