HMAS Westralia (1939)

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For other ships of this name, see HMAS Westralia.

Career (Australian)
HMAS Westralia after conversion to an LSI in 1944
Builder:	Harland and Wolff
Launched:	1929
Commissioned:	January 1940
Reclassified:	Armed merchant cruiser (1940-1943) Landing Ship Infantry (1943-1946) Troop transport (1946-1951) Civilian ship (1951-1961)
Motto:	"Faithful and Bold"
Fate:	Sold for scrap in 1961
Badge:
General characteristics
Displacement:	8,108 tons gross, 4,717 tons net
Length:	445 ft (136 m)
Beam:	60 ft (18 m)
Draught:	22 ft 6.5 in (6.87 m)
Propulsion:	2 Harland and Wolff oil engines, twin screws, 1,750 horsepower
Speed:	14 knots
Capacity:	1,004 troops (as Landing ship)
Complement:	541
Armament:	(as AMC): 7 x 6 inch guns 2 x 3 inch anti-aircraft guns (as LSI): 1 x 6 inch gun 2 x 3 inch anti-aircraft guns 12 x 20 mm Oerlikon anti-aircraft guns

The first HMAS Westralia was an auxiliary cruiser of the Royal Australian Navy. It was built at the Harland and Wolff shipyard in Glasgow for the Huddart Parker company as a twin screw motor vessel, being completed in 1929. Westralia was requisitioned for war service by the Australian government in 1939 as an armed merchant cruiser. She was fitted with 6 inch guns, and 3 inch AA guns, commissioning into the Royal Australian Navy in January 1940.

[edit] Operational history

Westralia's time as an AMC was spent escorting convoys in the Pacific and Indian oceans, especially from Australia and New Zealand. One major event occurred in May 1942 when Westralia, in company with the cruiser USS Chicago, sighted a Japanese submarine just outside Sydney Harbour. This was just before the attack on Sydney Harbour by midget submarines which led to the sinking of HMAS Kuttabul.^[1]

In 1943, Westralia was converted into a Landing Ship, Infantry (LSI). In this role, Westralia was used primarily for the transport of United States Marine and Army units. The ship took part in landings at Cape Cretin, Leyte Gulf, the Philippines and Borneo. After the end of the war, Westralia was used for the repatriation of Australian troops, before being paid off in September 1946. However, as she was being refitted for a return to civilian service, Westralia was taken up again for use on the run between Sydney and Kure for the British Commonwealth Occupation Force. However, she was not commissioned into the RAN in this role, instead having a merchant navy crew.

She ended her time with the BCOF in April 1949. However, she was then chartered as a troop carrier by the British Ministry of Transport, and served in the Mediterranean until March 1950. Westralia was finally returned to her owners in March 1951. Westralia was sold to the Asian and Pacific Shipping Co Ltd in 1959, serving as a livestock carrier, until she was eventually sold for scrap in 1961.

[edit] References

^ Jenkins, David (1992). Battle Surface! Japan's Submarine War Against Australia 1942–44. Milsons Point: Random House Australia, pp 193–194. ISBN 0-09-182638-1.