User:Saberwyn/Bathurst class corvette

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Class overview
Operators: Initial operators:
Royal Austalian Navy (RAN)
British Admiralty
Royal Indian Navy
Secondary operators:
Indonesian Navy
People's Liberation Army Navy
Royal Netherlands Navy
Royal New Zealand Navy
Turkish Navy
Civilian operators
Succeeded by: Ton class minesweeper (RAN)
Cost: A£250,000 per vessel
Completed: 60
Cancelled: 1 (1938 prototype)
Preserved: 2
General characteristics
Class and type: Bathurst class Australian Minesweeper (Corvette)


Contents

[edit] Design and construction

In the late 1930s, the Australian Commonwealth Naval Board identified the need to design a 'local defense vessel' that was easy to construct and operate.[1] The ships had to be capable of both anti-submarine and mine-warfare duties.[1] Early specifications required a design of approximately 500 tons, with a speed of at least ten knots, a range of 2,000 nautical miles, and a 4-inch gun, two depth charge throwers, and two depth charge chutes as minimum armaments.[1]

In 1937, three ships were ordered by the RAN for use as Boom Defense Vessels.[1] The plan was altered in early 1938 to require only two ships; the third, HMAS Kangaroo was earmarked to be constructed as a prototype local defense vessel.[2] The RAN's Director of Engineering was instructed to prepare plans for the ship in July 1938, which were completed six months later.[3] The ship was to weigh 680 tons, with a speed of 15.5 knots, and a range of 2,850 miles.[3] Kangaroo would have been armed with two 4-inch guns and depth charges, and equipped with asdic.[3] The design was based loosely on the United Kingdom's Bangor class minesweepers and Flower class corvettes, but the Australian-designed vessel was larger and better suited for Australian conditions.[4][5] Before construction could begin, the number of boom vessels was increased back to three, and Kangaroo was laid down to that design.[3]

Although the Kangaroo prototype was never built, the design was retained, and in September 1939 the Australian Commonwealth Naval Board approved the construction of seven ships corresponding to the design.[6] The ships were officialy designated "Australian Minesweepers" (AMS) to hide their intended anti-submarine role, although the Bathursts were popularly referred to as corvettes.[4][5] Although the design was not perfectly suited for any specific role, the all-round general capability for minesweeping, patrol, and escort duties was seen as a good short term solution until better vessels could be requesitioned or constructed.[5][7]

The lead shipyard was Cockatoo Island Dockyard in Sydney, which laid down the first ship in February 1940.[4][8] The other seven shipyards involved were Walkers Limited in Maryborough, Queensland, Evans Deakin & Co in Brisbane, Morts Dock & Engineering Co in Sydney, Poole & Steele Limited in Sydney, NSW State Dockyard at Newcastle, New South Wales, HMA Naval Dockyard at Williamstown, Victoria, and Broken Hill Pty Co Ltd at Whyalla, South Australia.[9] Additional orders were quickly placed by the RAN, the British Admiralty and the Royal Indian Navy, with 60 ships constructed over the course of World War II; 36 were commissioned into the RAN, 20 were manned by RAN personnel but were paid for by the Admiralty, and 4 were built for the Royal Indian Navy.[5] The inital rate of construction was slow, due to a variety of factors: industrial problems, restrictive work practices, and a lack of qualified labour primary among them.[8] Despite initial predictions that two vessels per month would enter service through 1941, the RAN was advised at the end of 1940 that only seven would be completed by the end of the next year.[8] Rate of construction increased by late 1941, although the increasing need of shipbuilding resources for repairs as the war progressed slowed the rate of construction back down.[10]

  • The ship was designed as a simple and easy-to-construct general purpose local defence vessel.[11]
  • Each ship cost approximately A£250,000 to construct.[11]
  • Six large escort vessels based on a scaled-up version of the Bathurst design were considered for construction in mid-1941, but the design was determined to be inferior to the River class frigate.[12]

[edit] Armament and equipment

  • The Bathurst's were equipped with modified Type 128 asdic equipment, redesigned to be used without a gyroscopic stabiliser.[13]

[edit] Role

  • As well as their mine warfare and anti-submarine escort roles, the corvettes performed a wide range of duties, including troop and supply transport, bombardment, aupporting assault landings, surveying and hydrography, and towing disabled ships.[5] The Bathursts were seen as 'maids of all work' by the RAN, even though the design was inappropriate for some roles; being too small, too slow, or inadequately armed or equipped for some tasks.[4]
  • Due to the conflicting roles of local defense vessel and ocean-going escort, the Australian-based Bathursts were initially under two different controllers; operationally under the US Navy's Naval Commander South-West Pacific Area Forces (COMSOUWESTPAC), and administratively under the Naval Officer In Charge (NOIC) of the ship's homeport.[14] Following multiple incidents where a ship would be assigned to two different deployments simultaneously, conflicts between local needs, escort schedules and maintenance requirements, and protests from NOIC Fremantle and Darwin, the Australian-based corvettes were placed completely under NOIC control in May 1942.[15] COMSOUWESTPAC would indicate that ships would be needed from a particular port for escort duties, leaving the NOIC of the port free to allocate available ships.[15]
  • During the early part of the war, the majority of personnel recruited by the RAN were required for service on the corvettes.[16] The ships were primarily manned by reservists.[5]
  • Later in the war, Bathursts equipped with the 4-inch main gun were primarily allocated to northern waters, because of the increased air threat and the greater anti-aircraft capabilities of the 4-inch compared to the 12-pounder gun mounted on other corvettes.[17] Ships equipped with the newer 'LL' minesweeping gear were distributed as evenly as possible throughout major Australian ports.[17]
  • By March 1943, the number of corvettes in RAN service had increased to over 30, at which point the RAN no longer had to allocate escorts on the availability of a ship alone, and could consider the equipment and capabilities of each Bathurst.[18]
  • Following the disposal of the Bathursts, the RAN lacked a dedicated mine warfare capability until late 1962, when six surplus Ton class minesweepers were purchased from the Royal Navy.[19]

[edit] Operational history

[edit] World War II

  • In the early part of their war service, Bathursts were involved in the evacuation of several locations which fell to the initial Japanese advance, and in the transportation of supplies and reinforcements to Australian and Dutch guerrilla operations in Timor.[20]
  • 8 corvettes were deployed to the Mediterranean in May 1943.[22] Their anti-aircraft armament made them appropriate for escort duties in this theatre, and they remained until shortly after the Allied occupation of Sicily.[22]
  • On 11 February 1944, the corvettes Ipswich and Launceston, along with Indian sloop HMIS Jumna, were responsible for the sinking of Japanese submarine RO-110 in the Bay of Bengal.[23]
  • Only three Bathurst class corvettes were lost during World War II.[11] HMAS Armidale was the only corvette destroyed by the Japanese;[11] she was sunk by aircraft-borne torpedoes on the afternoon of 1 December 1942 while transporting personnel of the Netherlands East Indies Army to Betano, Timor.[24] The other two ships, HMA Ships Wallaroo and Geelong, were lost in collisions in June 1943 and October 1944 respectively.[11]

[edit] Post-WWII

  • After the war, the Admiralty-owned vessels were disposed of; five to the Turkish Navy, eight to the Royal Netherlands Navy, one to China, with the rest conveted and sold for civilian use or broken up for scrap.[5] Four of the Netherlands Bathursts were later sold on to the Indonesian Navy.[5] One of these, HMAS Ipswich, operating as KRI Hang Tuah, was destoryed by American mercenaries hired by anti-government rebels on 28 April 1958.[25]
  • Of the 33 surviving RAN vessels, twelve were formed into the 20th Minesweeping Floatilla and tasked with clearing minefields deployed during the war in the waters of Australia, New Guinea, and the Solomons.[5] The remainder were placed into reserve.[5] HMAS Warrnambool was sunk by a mine in the Great Barrier Reef in September 1947.[5]
  • The remaining thirty-one ships [what happened to one?] were placed in operational reserve, with the intention that they be reactivated for escort work in the event of another war or international crisis.[26]

[edit] Ships and Operators

[edit] Surviving examples and monuments

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d David Stevens (2005). A Critical Vulnerability, pg 103
  2. ^ David Stevens (2005). A Critical Vulnerability, pp 103-104
  3. ^ a b c d David Stevens (2005). A Critical Vulnerability, pg 104
  4. ^ a b c d David Stevens et al. (2001). The Royal Australian Navy, pg 108
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Hector Donohue (1996). From Empire Defence to the Long Haul, pg 29
  6. ^ David Stevens (2005). A Critical Vulnerability, pg 105
  7. ^ David Stevens (2005). A Critical Vulnerability, pg 148
  8. ^ a b c David Stevens (2005). A Critical Vulnerability, pg 152
  9. ^ Geroge Gill (1968). Royal Australian Navy, 1942-1945, pg 104
  10. ^ David Stevens et al. (2001). The Royal Australian Navy, pgs 121, 132
  11. ^ a b c d e David Stevens et al., 2001, The Royal Australian Navy, opposite pg 112
  12. ^ David Stevens (2005). A Critical Vulnerability, pg 166
  13. ^ David Stevens (2005). A Critical Vulnerability, pg 154-155
  14. ^ David Stevens (2005). A Critical Vulnerability, pg 188
  15. ^ a b David Stevens (2005). A Critical Vulnerability, pg 189
  16. ^ David Stevens et al. (2001) The Royal Australian Navy, pg 115
  17. ^ a b David Stevens (2005). A Critical Vulnerability, pg 228
  18. ^ David Stevens (2005). A Critical Vulnerability, pg 227
  19. ^ a b David Stevens et al. (2001). The Royal Australian Navy, pg 189
  20. ^ David Stevens et al. (2001). The Royal Australian Navy, pp 129-130
  21. ^ a b David Stevens (2005). A Critical Vulnerability, pg 183
  22. ^ a b David Stevens et al. (2001). The Royal Australian Navy, pg 141
  23. ^ David Stevens et al. (2001). The Royal Australian Navy, pg 148
  24. ^ HMAS Armidale (I). HMA Ship Histories. Sea Power Centre - Royal Australian Navy. Retrieved on 2008-01-22.
  25. ^ Lew Lind (1986). The Royal Australian Navy - Historic Naval Events Year by Year, pg 236
  26. ^ David Stevens et al. (2001). The Royal Australian Navy, pg 162
  27. ^ David Stevens et al. (2001). The Royal Australian Navy, pp 169-170
  28. ^ a b David Stevens et al. (2001). The Royal Australian Navy, pg 172
  29. ^ HMAS Wagga. HMA Ship Histories. Sea Power Centre - Royal Australian Navy. Retrieved on 2008-01-06.

[edit] Bibliography

  • Donohue, Hector (October 1996). From Empire Defence to the Long Haul: post-war defence policy and its impact on naval force structure planning 1945-1955, Papers in Australian Maritime Affairs (No. 1). Canberra: Sea Power Centre. ISSN 1327-5658. ISBN 0-642-25907-0. 
  • Lind, Lew [1982] (1986). The Royal Australian Navy - Historic Naval Events Year by Year, 2nd, Frenchs Forest, NSW: Reed Books, p 236. 
  • Stevens, David; Sears, Jason; Goldrick, James; Cooper, Alastair; Jones, Peter; Spurling, Kathryn, (2001). in Stevens, David: The Royal Australian Navy, The Australian Centenary History of Defence (vol III). South Melbourne, VIC: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-195-54116-2. 
  • Stevens, David (2005). A Critical Vulnerability: the impact of the submarine threat on Australia's maritime defense 1915-1954, Papers in Australian Maritime Affairs (No. 15). Canberra: Sea Power Centre Australia. ISBN 0-642-29625-1.