HMAS Kangaroo

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HMAS Kangaroo in 1940
Career (Australia) RAN ensign
Namesake: Kangaroo
Builder: Cockatoo Docks and Engineering Company, Sydney, NSW
Laid down: 15 November 1939
Launched: 4 May 1940
Commissioned: 27 September 1940
Decommissioned: 15 December 1955
Fate: Srapped
General characteristics
Displacement: 768 tons (standard)
Length: 178 ft 3 in (54.3 m)
Beam: 32 ft (9.8 m)
Draught: 11 ft 3 in (3.4 m)
Propulsion: Triple expansion, 1 HP 850, single screw
Speed: 11.5 knots
Complement: 32
Armament: 1 x 12 pounder 12 cwt QF
2 x Oerlikon 20 mm cannon
2 x Lewis Gun
2 x .30 inch Marlin MG

HMAS Kangaroo was a Royal Australian Navy boom defence vessel. She was built in Sydney, New South Wales by Cockatoo Docks and Engineering Company and was commissioned into the RAN on 27 September 1940.

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, 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] Before construction could begin, the number of boom vessels was increased back to three, and Kangaroo was laid down to this design.[3] The unused design was later used for the Bathurst class corvettes.

Kangaroo arrived in Darwin, Northern Territory in January 1941 and established and maintained the anti-submarine boom in Darwin Harbour with three similar vessels. Kangaroo suffered damage and one fatality during the bombing of Darwin in February 1942. She was repaired in Brisbane from 1 April to 20 May 1942 and spent the remainder of the war in Darwin.

Kangaroo remained in active commission after the war and performed various duties Australian and New Guinea waters during the late 1940s and early 1950s. She paid off to reseve on 15 December 1955 and was used as an accommodation ship. Kangaroo was sold for scrap on 28 August 1967 and was scrapped in 1968.

[edit] References

  1. ^ 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
  • Seapower Centre - Australia HMAS Kangaroo ship history
  • 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. 
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