Australia requisitioned large numbers of civillian ships for war purposes in 1939 and 1940. Requisitions continued as late as 1943 in some cases. Some, like the Armed Merchant Cruisers (AMCs) Kanimbla, Manoora and Westralia, were of considerable value in the front line. Others like the Armed Yachts and Auxilliary Patrol vessels only found themselves there by accident, but when they did their achievements reflected creat credit on their shipmates in the newer, smarter, more powerful regular Navy. The raiding boats of the SRD, in particular, waged an all-out guerrilla war against Japanese communications in the island-studded triangle between Fremantle, Singapore and Rabaul.
AMCs / LSIs
Patrol Ships
Raiders
Armed Yachts
Surveys
Armed Merchant Cruisers/Landing Ships (Infantry)
HMA Ships Kanimbla, Manoora, Westralia
These three ships were to become well known to Australian and American soldiers in the New Guinea - Borneo - Phillipines area. All three were passenger and mail motor vessels taken up from trade and converted to armed merchant cruisers. As the desperate ned for such ships waned with the coming of greater naval resources, they were converted to Landing Ships, Infantry (LSI). In this role they were to be found at many of the significant beach-landings in south east Asia in late 1944 and 1945. They retained their peace-time names into war service. Today these names are recalled in new classes of fleet tenders and landing ships presently serving with the RAN.
Specifications
HMAS Kanimbla
Dimensions: length 468.8 feet, beam 66.3 feet, draft 24.4 feet, 10,945 tons. Speed - 19 knots. Complement - 345. Armament (as AMC) - Seven 6 inch guns Two 3 inch AA guns 2 Lewis light machine guns; (as LSI) One 4 inch AA gun two 4 0 mm Bofors AA guns, two 2-pounder AA guns, 12 20mm Oerlikon AA guns, 1280 troops.
HMAS Manoora
Dimensions: length 480 feet, beam 56 feet 3 inches, draft 24 feet. 10,856 tons. Speed: 15.7 knots. Armament (as AMC) Seven 5 inch guns, two 3 inch AA guns, two Lewis light machine guns, one Seagull V Aircraft; (as LSI) One 6 inch gun, (later replaced by two 4 inch AA Guns), two 3-inch AA guns, eight 20 mm Oerlikon AA guns, (six 40 mm Bofors AA guns were later added).
HMAS Westralia
Dimensions: length 445 feet, beam 60 feet, draft 22 feet six and a half inches. 8,108 tons. Speed (max) 14 knots. Armament (as AMC) 7x6 inch 2x3 inch AA; (as LSI) 1x6 inch 2x3 inch (AA) 12x20 mm Oerlikons.
Kanimbla was the first Armed Merchant Cruiser (AMC) to commission into the RAN (6th September 1939). Her tasks included patrolling and escort work, and rounding up the shipping of European nations overrun by Germany to ensure that they did not fall into German hands. Her duties took her to the Red Sea area where she carried a half-battalion of Indian troops to secure the Iranian port of Bandar Shahpur (24th August 1941) against pro-German elements in that country. She converted to an LSI between February and June 1943. She took part in the Morotai landings (September 1944), Lingayen Gulf battles (January 1945), Brunei (June 1945) and Balikpapan (July 1945).
Manoora commissioned as an AMC in December 1939. Like the other AMCs her tasks at this time included patrolling and escort work. She was the first to convert to an LSI (September 1942 - February 1943). She spent most of 1943 engaged in troop transport and exercises. Both she and Kanimbla conveyed American troops to Morotai (15th September 1944). She was with the other LSIs as part of the Lingayen Gulf invasion force (January 1945), and alongside Westralia in the landings of Australian troops at Tarakan (April-May 1945) and Balikpapan (July 1945).
Westralia was requisitioned in November 1939, and commissioned 17th January 1940. After a time spent patrolling and escorting, she became an accommodation ship for a period before conversion to LSI between February and June 1943. She was heavily involved in training operations north of New Guinea before taking part in the Leyte Gulf landings (October 1944), and Lingayen Gulf (January 1945). During this action she was credited with shooting down a Japanese aircraft. Her last actions were to land Australian troops at Tarakan (April-May 1945) and Balikpapan (July 1945).
Special Services and Raiding Ships
HMA Ships Kuru, Tiger Snake, River Snake, Black Snake, Sea Snake, Grass Snake, Diamond Snake, Mother Snake, Taipan, Krait, Kuru, Alatna, Karina, Nyanie, Misima, Motor Work Boats (AM) 1830, 1629, 1983, 1985, 2003, 2004.
The activities of "Z" special Forces and the Services Reconnaissance Department (SRD) have become as much part of Australia's military history as Gallipoli and Tobruk. "Z" special Force were Australian Army Commandos; SRD was a grab-bag of boats of all shapes and sizes crewed by the RAN, and it was their task to assist "Z" Special Forces with transport, reconnaissance, supply, insertion and so on. Operations saw various parts of the force involved in raids into Singapore Harbour, the Celebes, Timor and Borneo, the pace of operations increasing steadily towards the end of the war.
In the hard times of 1942 and 1943, when the Australians, British and Americans were struggling to contain Japanese expansion, some vessels became little legends in their own right. Kuru, a minute motor-boat of just 55 tons, made a hero of herself on the "Timor Ferry Service" in early 1942; along with the auxilliary patrol vessel Vigilant, she ferried refugees, comandos, stores and equipment between Fremantle and small, dark bays on the Timor coast - a round trip of more than 6,000 kilometres. But perhaps the best known was Krait, originally the Japanese Kofoku Maru, a 70-foot wooden motor fishing vessel of 1920 vintage. She was seized at Singapore and sailed away before the place fell to the Japanese on 15th February 1942. An excellent type of vessel for raiding, she was taken into service and carried out many daring intrusions into enemy territory. The most famous was Operation "Jaywick", the successful insertion of canoe-borne Commandos into Singapore Harbour (26th September 1943).
Alatna, Karina, Nyanie and Misima were "AM"s - army launches transferred to Naval service, each of 62 feet and capable of 20 knots, bearing a couple of machine guns by way of armament and with considerable capacity for shifting large amounts of cargo. They first came into service at the beginning of 1944. They were officially tenders, but in practice were used as fast supply boats - "fast supply" meaning running guns and stores across five thousand kilometres of open ocean into enemy-held areas and delivering them to the commandos operating behind enemy lines.
By the end of 1944, three vessels were being used as depot ships by these raiders. Taipan was a junk, captured and converted; Anaconda and Mother Snake were big "mother ships" for the raiders, of 550 tons displacement, 125 feet overall, with a large crew of 14 to 19. Anaconda carried a single 20 mm Oerlikon gun, while Mother Snake was a floating anti-aircraft battery by comparison, sporting a 40 mm Bofors gun and two Oerlikons.
The "Snake" boats came early in 1945, and in their way are a clear indication of the resources becoming available, and of the heights to which Australian Naval organisation was ascending. The "Snakes" were purpose-designed commando-carriers - trawlers of 66 feet and 80 tons, equipped with sail as well as motors, mounting at most an Oerlikon and a few machine guns, usually concealed. They looked very much like Malay fishing boats or Chinese junks - a deliberate design feature. They also carried one very special piece of equipment, the "S" phone. This invention of the British SOE (Special Operations Executive) was a short-range radio set which sent its signal down a narrow directional beam. Since it could only be received by someone the transmitter was pointing at, it was almost undetectable to conventional listening apparatus. It was thus very useful in smuggling spies across beaches.
With the end of the war came the end of a need for Commando insertions - none of these boats had been lost in service, and all were turned over to civillian use, or in the case of the ex-army boats, returned by the Navy to their original owners. Sadly, Alatna was sunk in a collision within six months of the the war ending.
HMA Ships Bingera, Birchgrove Park, Bambo, Bonthorpe, Burrabra, Heros, Kingbay, Kybra, Viti, Vigilant (renamed Sleuth (1944) and Hawk (1945)), Wyrallah (renamed Wilcannia), Yandra.
All these ships were taken up in 1939 or 1940, except Burrabra, which was requisitioned in 1942. Kybra, Bingera, Yandra and Wilcannia were fitted out as anti-submarine escorts from the start. As with other auxilliaries, many were elderly coal-burners but otherwise they differed widely from each other.
The tiny Vigilant, described as looking like a miniature destroyer, was built in 1938 displacing only 106 tons, and sported an old 3-pounder gun; the largest, Whyralla, was 1049 tons and carried a 4-inch gun. The slightly smaller (990 tons) Yandra was even more heavily armed, with both a 4-inch and a 12-pounder. Bingera was almost a heavyweight by comparison, with a 4-inch, a 2-pounder, a 40 mm Bofors, two 20 mm Oerlikons and her depth charges.
They were originally intended as anti-submarine patrols; Yandra depth-charged a submarine during the midget attack on Sydney Harbour (31st May 1942). Eventually their war careers were as varied as every other small ship which served with the RAN. King Bay was a 237-ton motor ketch requisitioned in July 1940. She served as an examination vessel at Fremantle, a tender to a shore establishment and helped clear the harbour at Broome of wrecks after Japanese air-attack. She was finally handed over to the Army who called her "AV 708" and used her for their own purposes in northern waters. Heros became a tug, and part of the search party which went looking for survivors from the cruiser Sydney.
Bingera, Wilcannia and Yandra also carried out search and rescue for survivors of the Sydney - Kormoran fight. Vigilant had a very exciting six-months during 1942 smuggling commandos and equipment in and out of Timor on the "Timor Ferry Service". Bambo and Bingera eventually became stores-carriers.
HMA Ships Adele, Laurabada, Martindale, Southern Cross, Stradbroke II; Motor Vessels Albur, Allura, Apache, Beaver, Bonito, Boonooroo, Celeste, Dalmar, Destiny, Jane, Lil John, Latona, Lauriana, Maringa, Martindale, Merrywing, Oneone, Steady Hour, Sea Mist, Yarroma, and others. The armed yachts were taken up from civillian use in the early months of World War II to be employed as examination ships, pilot boats and river and coast protection patrols. As might be expected, they varied widely in size and configuration.
Southern Cross was a diesel-engined 112-foot, 298 ton vessel built in 1933 and initially armed only with small arms. The 150-ton Laurabada served in New guinea waters armed with six machine guns; early in 1942 she evacuated civillians from the area and later carried stores and undertook the perpetual survey duties which most small Australian craft eventually became involved in.
Martindale reflected the wealthy civillian origins of this type of vessel; her first CO was an English DSM-winner of the Great War who had his crew wear sand-shoes to avoid scuffing the woodwork.
The Naval Auxilliary Patrol (NAP) had equally wealthy origins. In 1937 a number of private large-boat owners formed the Volunteer Coastal Patrol (VCP), a sort of maritime militia. The idea spread, and the VCP received official recognition as the NAP in June 1941. It eventually reached a peak of over two hundred boats. The vessels of this organisation expanded the RAN's capacity to patrol rivers, estuaries and harbour approaches - Flying Foam served as an official examination vessel at Darwin in October 1939. Their privileged origins did not keep them out of action. Lauriana was the first vessel to sight a submarine on the surface during the Japanese midget submarine attack on Sydney Harbour (31st May 1942), and Yarroma is credited with the final depth charge attack.
HMA Ships Moresby, Stella, Polaris.
The survey service was a vital part of the war against Japan. Survey ships entered literally uncharted waters sometimes behind enemy lines. Their work carried them into dangerously shallow coastal areas, sometimes under fire. Without their work the big squadrons of heavy ships would not have been able to maneuvre in safety, and the many sea-borne invasions could not have taken place.
Moresby was a Great War minesweeper of the British "24" or "Racehorse" class (ex HMS Silvio), at 1,320 tons and 276 feet overall, she was a big example of her type. She joined the RAN in 1925 and never left it. Her wartime service included spells as an anti-submarine training vessel, survey vessel, convoy escort (January 1942 - December 1943) and again a survey vessel until 1945. Her armament was relatively heavy, including both a 4-inch and a twelve-pounder and two Oerlikons. She was the venue for the surrender ceremony in Timor on 11th September 1945.
Stella and Polaris were purpose-built survey vessels belonging to the Commonwealth Scientific Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), and loaned to the RAN for the duration of the war. Stella was a 111-ton, 82-foot motor vessel which entered service in September 1942.
Other ships which operated with the survey service were Benalla and Shepparton, "Bathurst" Class minesweepers finished as survey ships; the requisitioned trawlers Durraween, Goolgwai and Samuel Benbow; the frigate Lachlan and the sloop HMAS Warrego; and many of the Fairmiles and Harbour Defense Motor Launches at various times.