HMAS Echuca

History
Australia
Namesake: Town of Echuca, Victoria
Builder: HMA Naval Dockyard
Laid down: 22 February 1941
Launched: 17 January 1942
Commissioned: 7 September 1942
Decommissioned: August 1946
Recommissioned: January 1947
Decommissioned: 28 June 1948
Honours and
awards:
Fate: Transferred to RNZN
History
New Zealand
Acquired: 5 March 1952
Commissioned: May 1952
Decommissioned: April 1953 into reserve
Fate: Sold for scrap 11 April 1967
General characteristics
Class & type: Bathurst-class corvette
Displacement:
  • 650 tons standard
  • 1,025 tons full load
Length: 186 ft (57 m)
Beam: 31 ft (9.4 m)
Draught: 8.5 ft (2.6 m)
Propulsion: triple expansion engine, 2 shafts, 2,000 ihp
Speed: 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph) at 1,750 hp
Complement: 85
Armament:
  • 1 × 4-inch gun
  • 3 × 20 mm Oerlikons
  • Machine guns
  • Depth charges chutes and throwers

HMAS Echuca (J252/M252), named for the town of Echuca, Victoria, was one of 60 Bathurst-class corvettes constructed during World War II, and one of 36 initially manned and commissioned by the Royal Australian Navy (RAN).[1]

Design and construction

In 1938, the Australian Commonwealth Naval Board (ACNB) identified the need for a general purpose 'local defence vessel' capable of both anti-submarine and mine-warfare duties, while easy to construct and operate.[2][3] The vessel was initially envisaged as having a displacement of approximately 500 tons, a speed of at least 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph), and a range of 2,000 nautical miles (3,700 km; 2,300 mi)[4] The opportunity to build a prototype in the place of a cancelled Bar-class boom defence vessel saw the proposed design increased to a 680-ton vessel, with a 15.5 knots (28.7 km/h; 17.8 mph) top speed, and a range of 2,850 nautical miles (5,280 km; 3,280 mi), armed with a 4-inch gun, equipped with asdic, and able to fitted with either depth charges or minesweeping equipment depending on the planned operations: although closer in size to a sloop than a local defence vessel, the resulting increased capabilities were accepted due to advantages over British-designed mine warfare and anti-submarine vessels.[2][5] Construction of the prototype HMAS Kangaroo did not go ahead, but the plans were retained.[6] The need for locally built 'all-rounder' vessels at the start of World War II saw the "Australian Minesweepers" (designated as such to hide their anti-submarine capability, but popularly referred to as "corvettes") approved in September 1939, with 60 constructed during the course of the war: 36 (including Echuca) ordered by the RAN, 20 ordered by the British Admiralty but manned and commissioned as RAN vessels, and 4 for the Royal Indian Navy.[2][7][8][9][1]

Echuca was laid down by HMA Naval Dockyard at Williamstown, Victoria on 22 February 1941.[1] She was launched on 17 January 1942 by Lady Royle, wife of First Naval Member Sir Guy Royle, and commissioned into the RAN on 7 September 1942.[1]

Operational history

World War II

Echuca’s initial role was as an anti-submarine patrol and convoy escort vessel along the eastern Australia coast and in New Guinea waters.[1] She stayed in this role from October 1942 until August 1944, when she was ordered to Darwin and attached to the United States Seventh Fleet's Survey Group.[1] She performed survey duties until the end of World War II, when she was refitted with minesweeping gear in Brisbane and assigned to the 20th Minesweeping Flotilla.[1] The Flotilla was responsible for clearing minefields set up in the waters of Australia, New Guinea, New Britain, and the Solomon Islands.[1]

Echuca received the battle honours "Pacific 1942–44" and "New Guinea 1943–44" for her wartime service.[10][11]

Echuca was paid off into Reserve in August 1946, but recommissioned in January 1947 for mine clearance work in the Great Barrier Reef.[1] The corvette performed this duty until August 1947, and in November 1947 towed the decommissioned corvette HMAS Inverell to Sydney.[1] Echuca was decommissioned again in Fremantle on 29 June 1948. At the end of April 1952, the corvette was sailed to Melbourne.[1]

RNZN service

On 5 March 1952, Echuca and three other Bathurst class corvettes (HMA Ships Inverell, Kiama, and Stawell) were transferred to the Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN).[12] She was commissioned into the RNZN in May 1952, and received the prefix HMNZS.[13]

The corvette remained in service with the RNZN until 1967, although from 1953 she was classified as being in reserve.[1][13] She was sold to Pacific Scrap Limited of Auckland for scrapping[1] on 11 April 1967.

Citations

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 "HMAS Echuca". HMA Ship Histories. Sea Power Centre – Royal Australian Navy. Retrieved 27 September 2008.
  2. 1 2 3 Stevens, The Australian Corvettes, p. 1
  3. ↑ Stevens, A Critical Vulnerability, p. 103
  4. ↑ Stevens, A Critical Vulnerability, pp. 103–4
  5. ↑ Stevens, A Critical Vulnerability, pp. 103–5
  6. ↑ Stevens, A Critical Vulnerability, p. 104
  7. ↑ Stevens, A Critical Vulnerability, pp. 105, 148
  8. ↑ Donohue, From Empire Defence to the Long Haul, p. 29
  9. ↑ Stevens et al., The Royal Australian Navy, p. 108
  10. ↑ "Navy Marks 109th Birthday With Historic Changes To Battle Honours". Royal Australian Navy. 1 March 2010. Archived from the original on 13 June 2011. Retrieved 23 December 2012.
  11. ↑ "Royal Australian Navy Ship/Unit Battle Honours" (PDF). Royal Australian Navy. 1 March 2010. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 June 2011. Retrieved 23 December 2012.
  12. ↑ "HMAS Inverell (I)". HMA Ship Histories. Sea Power Centre – Royal Australian Navy. Retrieved 27 September 2008.
  13. 1 2 Gillett, Ross (1988). Australian and New Zealand Warships since 1946. Brookvale, NSW: Child & Associates. p. 140. ISBN 0-86777-219-0. OCLC 23470364.

References

Books
Journal and news articles

External links

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