HMAS PLATYPUS [1916]

[Rorqual]

Hi you guys am compiling a list and pic's of RN Submarine Depot ships/Repair Ships
Anyone got a pic' of the HMAS Platypus built 1916 and ''lent'' to the RN
untill 1919.
It was renamed Penguin in 1929 but reverted back to its original name in 1941

It finished its days in the Reserve fleet Sydney as an Accomodation ship
and was finally sold in 1958

Thanks in anticipation

Fred

[herakles]

It's not much I'm afraid.

There was also an HMAS Platypus, the RAN submarine base at Neutral Bay, Sydney.

[astraltrader]

Hi Fred - for some reason pictures of HMAS/HMS Platypus are thin on the ground - I have these you are welcome to, but the size and quality are not what I would normally like to provide. Still as they say - better than a poke in the eye with a blunt stick!

Righto - Approx year of pictures.

1.1918 2.1942 3.1942[aerial] 4.1943 5.1944 6.1945

7. 1946. 8. 1944.

So that is the best I can do - I would like a large sized clear picture of her myself!

[kookaburra]

a few more from my bookshelf, but again of indifferent size and quality: edit: actually some appear large here (I never know how that happens) and the second is quite good..


'Old Plats' - she made such poor headway in a head wind the RAN joke was about 'loitering on ther high seas.'

She was near-missed by bombs during the first Japanese raid on Darwin, and a ship sank beside her.

First pic is 1919, with J class submarines beside her, HMAS Melbourne left and HMAS Encounter right.


Second pic is Garden Island, 1919, with submarines J3,J7,J4, and J2 alongside, cruiser HMAS Sydney right, with Special Service Vessel Suva beside her.


Third - date to be edited in

Fourth - date to be edited in


Fifth - disposal 1958



Sixth pic is in Sutherland Dock, Cockatoo Island for pre-delivery refit, 1919.

Seventh pic is mid-war period with training vessel Kooronga passing


Eighth pic is New Guinea 1945 with HMAS Bowen, Air Clan and Army work boat Sollum alongside.

Ninth, lost track of it.

Tenth, Plats workshop, Morotai, 1943

[astraltrader]

If you look Jeff I have already provided the dates of your 3rd and 4th pictures as they are the same ones that I posted!

[Rorqual]

Superb ,many thanks guys. Its right about the lack of pics of her. Probably cos the two Navy thing and her changing names aswell.
Just been doing the write up on Penguin [1902] managed to get a pic of her as she was originally the cruiser Encounter.
Platypus never really altered from build looking at the pic's anyway .
Surely had a useful life . She was designed for 14knts when
built which was reasonable for 1916 anyway -probably a coal burner aswell hehe !

My first ship was a depot ship for boats and my final one before getting volunteered for boats in 1971 was a depot ship !! Useful ships so I though I would do a list of them from 1901/2 --when the first UK subs were being built.
Was on Forth at Singapore S/m 7 when the UK S/m 4 boats left Oz .
See they have a memorial now at Penguin .
Interesting stuff anyway. Winter project 2008 heheh!

Fred

[kookaburra]

Well beyond Rorqual's 2008 submarine depot ship project I guess, but I was looking for a home for this fine first shot of HMAS Platypus, and this has to be it.

Rorqual, if you are still gathering on this I'll post another on 'Submarines of Australia' later today, as it's more of a submarine shot than the depot ship.

HMAS Platypus, 3445 tons standard, was built at John Brown and Co Ltd at Clydebank as the RAN's first purpose-built submarine depot ship. The Navy's first submarine depot ship was the 1,141 ton requisitioned auxiuliary Upolo (built 1891), which filled the role of mother ship to the first RAN submarines AE1 and AE2 . Details on her are scarce, but I'll hunt some up.

By the time Platypus was completed in March 1917, both the RAN submarines had been lost, and she remained in British waters for the remainder of WW1 serving as a sub depot ship for the Royal Navy. She commissioned into the RAN on March 3, 1919, and arrived in Australia with the 'J' Class submarines presented to the RAN.

I think we've had some details already on her long and varied role with the RAN after that. Here are these recently-obtained photos: I think it's the destroyer HMAS Quality being dismantled alongside her in the second pic.