HMAS Junee
| HMAS Junee as a training ship in 1954. Her wartime armament has been replaced with two 40 mm Bofors guns. HMAS Junee as a training ship in 1954. Her wartime armament has been replaced with two 40 mm Bofors guns. | |
| Career (Australia) |  |
|---|---|
| Namesake: | Town of Junee, New South Wales |
| Builder: | Poole & Steele Limited |
| Laid down: | 17 February 1943 |
| Launched: | 16 November 1943 |
| Commissioned: | 11 April 1944 |
| Decommissioned: | 21 January 1946 |
| Recommissioned: | 25 February 1953 |
| Decommissioned: | 21 August 1957 |
| Reclassified: | Training ship (1953) |
| Fate: | Sold for scrap in 1958 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Bathurst class corvette |
| Displacement: | 650 tons (standard), 1,025 tons (full war load) |
| Length: | 186 ft (57 m) |
| Beam: | 31 ft (9.4 m) |
| Draught: | 8.5 ft (2.6 m) |
| Propulsion: | triple expansion engine, 2 shafts, 1,800 horspeower |
| Speed: | 15 knots (28 km/h) at 1,750 hp |
| Complement: | 85 |
| Armament: | 1 x 4-inch gun, 1 x 40 mm anti-aircraft gun |
HMAS Junee (J362/M362), named for the town of Junee, New South Wales, was one of 60 Bathurst class corvettes constructed during World War II, and one of 36 initially manned and commissioned solely by the Royal Australian Navy (RAN).[1]
Construction
Junee was laid down by Poole & Steele Limited at Balmain, New South Wales on 17 February 1943.[1] She was launched on 16 November 1943 by the wife of John Solomon Rosevear, Speaker of the Australian House of Representatives, and commissioned into the RAN on 11 April 1944.[1]
Operational history
After entering active service, Junee was briefly assigned to New Guinea before being redeployed to Darwin, where she served as an anti-submarine patrol ship until February 1945, when the corvette underwent refit in Melbourne.[1]
In April 1945, Junee was sent to New Guinea, to serve as a convoy escort and anti-submarine patrol ship.[1] In August, the corvette fired her weapons in anger for the first time; sinking three Japanese supply barges while in the Sangir Islands.[1] The corvette was later assigned to Balikpapan as a guard ship, where she remained until the end of World War II.[1]
Following the end of the war, Junee evacuated Australian prisoners-of-war and civilians, assisted in the transportation of occupation forces, and aided in the reestablishment of Dutch authority in the Netherlands East Indies.[1] After fulfilling these duties, Junee returned to Australia, and was paid off into reserve in Melbourne on 21 January 1946.[1]
The corvette was reactivated and recommissioned as a training ship on 25 February 1953.[1] Initially operating along the east coast, Junee was reassigned to the west coast on 25 August, operating from Fremantle.[1]
Decommissioning and fate
HMAS Junee paid off to reserve for the final time at Fremantle on 21 August 1957.[1] She was sold for scrap to W. G. Davies of Fremantle on 18 June 1958.[1] The ship was stripped and the hull sunk 20 miles (32 km) from Rottnest Island, WA, in 1968.[1]
References
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