Coastal Forces of the Royal Australian Navy

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Coastal Forces was a division of the Royal Navy established during World War II [1] It consisted of small coastal defence craft such as motor launches, submarine chasers, air sea rescue launches, motor gun boats and motor torpedo boats. It did not include minesweepers, trawlers or landing craft. This article is about the equivalent boats used by the Royal Australian Navy (RAN).

31 Harbour Defence Motor Launches (HDMLs) and 35 Fairmile B-type Motor Launches entered service from October 1942. They were employed on routine patrols, convoy escorts, running special forces in and out of Japanese-held areas, boom defence patrols in harbours at home and abroad, courier operations, survey work, and raiding Japanese-held coasts. [2]

Type Built Lost Notes
Harbour Defence Motor Launch
Fairmile B motor launch		 31 [3]
35 [4]
2[5]

Contents

[edit] RAN HDMLs

[edit] RAN Fairmiles

A Fairmile school was established at HMAS Rushcutter on 1 June 1942. The first Australian Fairmile, ML 813, entered service at the end of that year. Originally designed in the UK for coastal anti-submarine and convoy duties, the RAN Fairmiles performed these and a variety of other functions. Their tasks included convoy escort, servicing and supporting advancing troops, landing and recovering commandos and coastwatchers, rescuing civilians from enemy occupied territories, and invasion escort. [6]

[edit] Surviving craft

Vessel Description Built Builder In the care of Condition

[edit] References

  1. ^ British Coastal Forces of World War Two
  2. ^ Patrol boats - history
  3. ^ Australian HDMLs
  4. ^ Australian Fairmile Bs
  5. ^ RAN in the Second World War
  6. ^ HMAS Rushcutter

[edit] Reading list

[edit] See also

[edit] External links


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