HMAS ''Assault'' is a former

Royal Australian Navy The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) is the principal naval force of the Australian Defence Force (ADF). The professional head of the RAN is Chief of Navy (CN) Vice Admiral Mark Hammond AM, RAN. CN is also jointly responsible to the Minister of ...

(RAN) training centre that was in use during

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 ...

, located at

Nelson Bay Nelson Bay may refer to: *Nelson Bay, New South Wales *Nelson Bay, Tasmania * Nelson Bay, Alaska *Nelson Bay Cave Nelson Bay Cave also known as Wagenaar's Cave is a Stone Age archaeological site located in the Robberg Nature Reserve on the Ro ...

in the

Mid North Coast The Mid North Coast is a country region in the north-east of the state of New South Wales, Australia. The region covers the mid northern coast of the state, beginning from Port Stephens north of Sydney, and extending as far north as Woolgoolg ...

region of

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

, Australia.

Formation and history

In June 1942, Royal Navy Commander F. N. Cook, the former commander of the Combined Operations Centre – – who was on loan to the RAN to help establish an Australian

combined operations In current military use, combined operations are operations conducted by forces of two or more allied nations acting together for the accomplishment of a common strategy, a strategic and operational and sometimes tactical cooperation. Interactio ...

school, identified Port Stephens as the ideal location to establish a RAN training base for

amphibious landings Amphibious warfare is a type of offensive military operation that today uses naval ships to project ground and air power onto a hostile or potentially hostile shore at a designated landing beach. Through history the operations were conducte ...

. On 9 August, General

Douglas MacArthur Douglas MacArthur (26 January 18805 April 1964) was an American military leader who served as General of the Army for the United States, as well as a field marshal to the Philippine Army. He had served with distinction in World War I, was C ...

ordered the establishment of the Joint Overseas Operational Training School (JOOTS) at Port Stephens. While the base was under construction, was assigned to the area as an accommodation ship, with serving as a tender. The stone frigate HMAS ''Assault'' was commissioned on 1 September 1942; ''Assault'' was initially operated from ''Westralia'', but moved ashore on 10 December 1942. The base's main purpose was to train boat crews for

landing craft Landing craft are small and medium seagoing watercraft, such as boats and barges, used to convey a landing force (infantry and vehicles) from the sea to the shore during an amphibious assault. The term excludes landing ships, which are larger. Pr ...

, beach commandos to prepare beaches and co-ordinate landings on the shore, and signals sections to facilitate communications between ships and land-based forces. Training at ''Assault'' was initially hampered by the lack of LCVP and LCM craft available, with the base forced to use

folding boat A folding boat is usually a smaller boat, typically ranging from about 2 to nearly . Folding boats can be carried by one or two persons, and comfortably fit into a car trunk when packed. They come in several varieties. There are folding kaya ...

s towed by launches and lighters to simulate landing craft, and , a requisitioned pleasure boat, as an assault transport. By March 1943, enough landing craft had been manufactured in Australia and delivered from the United States to allow for full-scale landing exercises. For administrative purposes, landing and shore personnel trained at ''Assault'' were considered to be attached to the base, not the ships that they were embarked in. The Naval Training Center at ''Assault'' was used to train landing craft crews, beach parties and signal teams. Between September 1942 and October 1943 the following Naval personnel were trained at ''HMAS Assault'': *100 officers *100 coxswains *120 beach commanders *453 boat crews *250 stokers *40 signalmen The JOOTS section of ''Assault'' was closed on 1 October 1943, with all joint amphibious warfare training consolidated at the

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facility at ,

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

. The RAN continued training its own boat and beach crews at ''Assault'' until August 1944, when the base was decommissioned and reduced to a caretaker establishment. In April 1945, the base was given to the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

, who used it as a Commando Depot for the

Royal Marines The Corps of Royal Marines (RM), also known as the Royal Marines Commandos, are the UK's special operations capable commando force, amphibious light infantry and also one of the five fighting arms of the Royal Navy. The Corps of Royal Marine ...

units attached to the British Pacific Fleet. ''Assault''s sickbay was used as migrant accommodation from 1949 to 1953. It was opened as a small hospital in 1956, then closed in 1981. On 10 August 1981 the buildings were handed over to the Port Stephens Society of the Arts and are now used as the Port Stephens Community Arts Centre.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Assault, Hmas Closed facilities of the Royal Australian Navy Port Stephens Council Military education and training in Australia Military establishments in the Hunter Region 1942 establishments in Australia 1945 disestablishments in Australia Military units and formations established in 1942 Military units and formations disestablished in 1945 Former military installations in New South Wales

Formation and history

See also

References