The Sailor
22-12-2007, 03:09
During the Second World War, 56 Bathurst-class corvettes were built for the Royal Australian Navy . These were only little warships, but they were the off shore eyes and ears of our nation. They did every job needed from minesweeping to anti submarine detection.
When war looked imminent after the Munich crisis in 1938, the Royal Australian Navy realised it needed a fleet of escort ships to guard convoys and keep the sea lanes open - and needed them urgently. First it looked for ships in Britain, but it was like Goldilocks trying out the porridge and beds - none was just right, so there was no alternative. Australia would have to design and build its own escort ships.
The result was a ship as Australian as a kangaroo - designed by Australians who had never designed warships before, built by Australians who had never built ships before and manned by Australians most of whom had never been to sea before. They were 700 tonnes, could do 16 knots, had a crew of 67 ratings and five officers and were called corvettes. By the end of the war they had so much extra equipment that they were 1000 tonnes and had a ship's company of about 100.
The keel of the first was laid down in February 1940. She was launched in August 1940 and commissioned in December as HMAS Bathurst. In accordance with naval tradition, the entire class was called the Bathurst class.
Ships were soon sliding down the slipways of eight shipyards and corvettes were being commissioned at the rate of one every 26 days. The program called for ingenuity as well as hard work - when one shipyard in Queensland could not get tallow to grease the slipway they used bananas. The engines were made in railway workshops all over Australia. In all, 60 were built
They were:
Ararat | Armidale | Ballarat | Bathurst | Benalla | Bendigo | Bowen | Broome | Bunbury | Bundaberg | Burnie | Cairns | Castlemaine | Cessnock | Colac | Cootamundra | Cowra | Deloraine | Dubbo | Echuca | Fremantle | Gawler | Geelong | Geraldton | Gladstone | Glenelg | Goulburn | Gympie | Horsham | Inverell | Ipswich | Junee | Kalgoorlie | Kapunda | Katoomba | Kiama | Latrobe | Launceston | Lismore | Lithgow | Maryborough | Mildura | Parkes | Pirie | Rockhampton | Shepparton | Stawell | Strahan | Tamworth | Toowoomba | Townsville | Wagga | Wallaroo | Warrnambool | Whyalla | Wollongong
Photo: HMAS Latrobe
When war looked imminent after the Munich crisis in 1938, the Royal Australian Navy realised it needed a fleet of escort ships to guard convoys and keep the sea lanes open - and needed them urgently. First it looked for ships in Britain, but it was like Goldilocks trying out the porridge and beds - none was just right, so there was no alternative. Australia would have to design and build its own escort ships.
The result was a ship as Australian as a kangaroo - designed by Australians who had never designed warships before, built by Australians who had never built ships before and manned by Australians most of whom had never been to sea before. They were 700 tonnes, could do 16 knots, had a crew of 67 ratings and five officers and were called corvettes. By the end of the war they had so much extra equipment that they were 1000 tonnes and had a ship's company of about 100.
The keel of the first was laid down in February 1940. She was launched in August 1940 and commissioned in December as HMAS Bathurst. In accordance with naval tradition, the entire class was called the Bathurst class.
Ships were soon sliding down the slipways of eight shipyards and corvettes were being commissioned at the rate of one every 26 days. The program called for ingenuity as well as hard work - when one shipyard in Queensland could not get tallow to grease the slipway they used bananas. The engines were made in railway workshops all over Australia. In all, 60 were built
They were:
Ararat | Armidale | Ballarat | Bathurst | Benalla | Bendigo | Bowen | Broome | Bunbury | Bundaberg | Burnie | Cairns | Castlemaine | Cessnock | Colac | Cootamundra | Cowra | Deloraine | Dubbo | Echuca | Fremantle | Gawler | Geelong | Geraldton | Gladstone | Glenelg | Goulburn | Gympie | Horsham | Inverell | Ipswich | Junee | Kalgoorlie | Kapunda | Katoomba | Kiama | Latrobe | Launceston | Lismore | Lithgow | Maryborough | Mildura | Parkes | Pirie | Rockhampton | Shepparton | Stawell | Strahan | Tamworth | Toowoomba | Townsville | Wagga | Wallaroo | Warrnambool | Whyalla | Wollongong
Photo: HMAS Latrobe