HMAS Burnie
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 HMAS Burnie |
|
| Career (Australia) |  |
|---|---|
| Namesake: | City of Burnie, Tasmania |
| Builder: | Mort's Dock and Engineering Company |
| Laid down: | 4 June 1940 |
| Launched: | 25 October 1940 |
| Commissioned: | 15 April 1941 |
| Renamed: | Ceram (Royal Netherlands Navy) |
| Struck: | 1958 |
| Fate: | Transferred to Royal Netherlands Navy in 1946 |
| 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, 2 shafts. 2,000 hp |
| Speed: | 15 knots at 1,750 hp |
| Complement: | 85 |
| Armament: | 1 x 4 inch gun, 3 x Oerlikons (later 2), 1 x Bofors (later), Machine guns, Depth charge chutes and throwers |
HMAS Burnie (J198/B238/A112), named for the port of Burnie, Tasmania, was a Bathurst class corvette built by Mort's Dock and Engineering Company at Mort's Dock in Balmain, New South Wales, launched on 25 October 1940 by Lady King, wife of the chairman of directors of Mort's Dock and Engineering Company, and commissioned on 15 April 1941 under the command of Lieutenant George E. Gough. HMAS Burnie paid off on 5 July 1946, was transferred to the Royal Netherlands Navy on 10 July 1946 and renamed Ceram. She was removed from the effective list in 1958
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[edit] Operational history
[edit] RAN service
She was one of 60 Australian minesweepers built during World War II, and one of 56 intended for the Royal Australian Navy. Initially she was part of the 20th Minesweeping Flotilla, after joining it on 10 May 1941, and then was based temporarily at Fremantle for escort and patrol duties. In December 1941 the Royal Australian Navy used Burnie to help oppose the Japanese advance in the Dutch East Indies after the Pearl Harbor attack.
On 16 January 1942, Lieutenant T. Christy Ranr took over command from Lieutenant George E. Gough. Between 18 February and 20 February of 1942 it took part in the evacuation of Sumatra, and on 28 February of the same year it helped rescue survivors from the Dutch vessel Broero on Java Head.
In September 1942 Burnie was transferred to the British Eastern Fleet; engaging in anti-submarine patrols and convoy escorts between Bombay, Aden, and Colombo, and returned to Australia in 1944. At that point she was assigned to the Minesweeping Flotilla as a part of the British Pacific Fleet, carrying out similar anti-submarine patrol and convoy escort duties in New Guinea, the Admiralties, and the Philippines. Minesweeping operations were also performed by her near Hong-Kong in 1945, and in August of that year she paid a visit to Burnie, Tasmania, her namesake.
[edit] Post-RAN service
On 5 July 1946, Burnie, along with her sister ships HMAS Ipswich and HMAS Toowoomba, arrived in Ceylon. Burnie was transferred to the Royal Netherlands Navy and renamed HNLMS Ceram, serving more than 160,000 miles under that name.
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[edit] References
- HMAS Burnie - HMA Ship Histories. Sea Power Centre. Royal Australian Navy. Retrieved on 19 December, 2006.
- The Last Corvettes to leave Tjilatjap, http://vader.nw.com.au/~stella/tjilatjap.htm.
