The Australian landing ship medium ''Brudenell White '' (AV 1354) was a

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

landing ship medium Landing Ship Medium (LSM) were amphibious assault ships of the United States Navy in World War II. Of a size between that of Landing Ships Tank (LST) and Landing Craft Infantry (LCI), 558 LSMs were built for the USN between 1944 and 1945. The ...

which was later sold to

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

and operated by the

Australian Army The Australian Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of Australia, a part of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force. The Army is commanded by the Chief of Army (Austral ...

. The ship was built by the Brown Shipbuilding Company in

Houston, Texas Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

and was commissioned into the United States Navy (USN) as USS ''LSM-477'' on 3 April 1945. She was assigned to the Pacific Theater of Operations and performed occupation duty following the end of the war. She was decommissioned on 15 May 1946 and laid up in the Pacific Reserve Fleet. The ship was purchased by the Australian Army on 16 July 1959 and was named ''Brudenell White'' (AV 1353) in honour of the Australian

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

general

Brudenell White General Sir Cyril Brudenell Bingham White, (23 September 1876 – 13 August 1940), more commonly known as Sir Brudenell White or C. B. B. White, was a senior officer in the Australian Army who served as Chief of the General Staff from 192 ...

. The ship was one of four LSMs operated by the newly formed 32nd Small Ship Squadron,

Royal Australian Engineers The Royal Australian Engineers (RAE) is the military engineering corps of the Australian Army (although the word corps does not appear in their name or on their badge). The RAE is ranked fourth in seniority of the corps of the Australian Army, b ...

and was refitted in Japan before she arrived in Australia on 31 December 1959. From 1960 to 1970 she performed routine duties in support of the Australian Army, and carried equipment between ports in

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu Hiri Motu, also known as Police Motu, Pidgin Motu, or just Hiri, is a language of Papua New Guinea, which is spoken in surrounding areas of Port Moresby (Capital of Papua New Guinea). It is a simplified version of ...

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

and

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. The ship made her first deployment to a war zone in September 1970 when she sailed to Vung Tau in

South Vietnam South Vietnam, officially the Republic of Vietnam ( vi, Việt Nam Cộng hòa), was a state in Southeast Asia that existed from 1955 to 1975, the period when the southern portion of Vietnam was a member of the Western Bloc during part of th ...

. She operated in South Vietnamese waters for about a month and returned to Sydney in November. She commenced a second voyage to South Vietnam in March 1971 but this was cancelled while she was en route. ''Brudenell White'' was decommissioned on 30 September 1971 when the 32nd Small Ship Squadron was disbanded. She was sold to Pacific Logistics in September 1971 and was renamed ''Paclog Utility''. The ship sunk when she struck a mine off the coast of

Cambodia Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailand t ...

while being towed to her new operators there.

References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Brudenell White Ships built in Houston LSM-1-class landing ships medium of the Australian Army