HMAS Manoora (1935)

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HMAS Manoora after conversion to a LSI
HMAS Manoora after conversion to a Landing Ship Infantry
Career (Australia) Naval Ensign of Australia
Builder: Alex Stephen and Son, Govan
Laid down: July 1934
Launched: 24 October 1934
Commissioned: 12 December 1939
Decommissioned: 6 December 1947
Out of service: 1972
Reclassified: 2 February 1943 (from AMC to LSI)
Motto: "In War and Peace"
Fate: Scrapped
Badge: Image:HMAS manoora crest.gif
General characteristics
Displacement: 10,856 tons gross
Length: 480 ft (150 m)
Beam: 66 ft 3 in (20.2 m)
Draught: 24 ft (7.3 m)
Propulsion: Diesels, twin screws
Speed: 15.7 knots
Capacity: 1,230 troops (as LSI)
Complement: 345
Armament: As AMC:
7 x 6-inch guns
2 x 3-inch anti-aircraft guns
2 x Lewis light machine guns
As LSI:
1 x 6-inch gun (later replaced by 2 x 4-inch guns)
2 x 3-inch anti-aircraft guns
8 x 20mm Oerlikon anti-aircraft guns
6 x 40mm Bofors anti-aircraft guns (added later)
Aircraft carried: 1 x Seagull V aircraft (as AMC)

The first HMAS Manoora was a motor vessel laid down for the Adelaide Steamship Company by Alex Stephen and Son at Govan in Scotland in July 1934, launched on 25 October 1935 and completed in 1935. The ship entered service on the Cairns to Fremantle run but was requisitioned by the Royal Australian Navy on 11 October 1939, outfitted at Sydney for service as an armed merchant cruiser and commissioned on 12 December 1939.

The ship arrived in Sydney on 30 September 1942 and was converted to a Landing Ship, Infantry (LSI) by 2 February 1943. HMAS Manoora paid off on 6 December 1947 and was returned to the owners on 31 August 1949. She was sold to an Indonesian company in 1961 and renamed Albulombo. The ship was finally sold for scrap to a Japanese firm in 1972.

HMAS Manoora in 1942, carrying a Seagull V aircraft ahead of the funnel.
HMAS Manoora in 1942, carrying a Seagull V aircraft ahead of the funnel.

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