The Australian landing ship medium ''Harry Chauvel'' (AV 1353) 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 Pullman-Standard Car Manufacturing Company in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

and was commissioned into the United States Navy (USN) as USS ''LSM-319'' on 10 August 1944. She was assigned to the Pacific Theater of Operations and saw action during the

liberation of the Philippines Liberation or liberate may refer to: Film and television * ''Liberation'' (film series), a 1970–1971 series about the Great Patriotic War * "Liberation" (''The Flash''), a TV episode * "Liberation" (''K-9''), an episode Gaming * '' Liberati ...

during 1944 and 1945. Following the war she was decommissioned on 14 June 1946 and laid up in the Pacific Reserve Fleet. The ship was purchased by the Australian Army on 16 July 1959 and was named ''Harry Chauvel'' (AV 1353) in honour of the Australian

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

general

Harry Chauvel General Sir Henry George Chauvel, (16 April 1865 – 4 March 1945) was a senior officer of the Australian Imperial Force who fought at Gallipoli and during the Sinai and Palestine Campaign in the Middle Eastern theatre of the First World W ...

. The ship was one of four LSMs operated by the newly formed 32nd Small Ship Squadron, Royal Australian Engineers and was refitted in Japan before she arrived in Australia on 31 December 1959. From 1960 to 1964 ''Harry Chauvel'' supported Australian Army exercises and operated in a survey role on two occasions. In May 1964 she sailed for

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 briefly took part in the

Indonesian Confrontation Indonesian is anything of, from, or related to Indonesia, an archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. It may refer to: * Indonesians, citizens of Indonesia ** Native Indonesians, diverse groups of local inhabitants of the archipelago ** Indonesian ...

Borneo Borneo (; id, Kalimantan) is the third-largest island in the world and the largest in Asia. At the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, in relation to major Indonesian islands, it is located north of Java, west of Sulawesi, and eas ...

. During the late 60s the ship supported Australian Army exercises in Australian,

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 ...

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 ...

and made three voyages to

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 ...

to support the Australian units deployed there. ''Harry Chauvel'' 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 Dispatch''. The ship foundered while under tow from Sydney to the Philippines.

References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Harry Chauvel Ships built in Chicago LSM-1-class landing ships medium of the Australian Army