HMAS ''Burnie'' (J198/B238/A112), named for the city of
Burnie,
Tasmania
)
, nickname =
, image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates:
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdi ...
, was one of 60
''Bathurst'' class corvettes constructed 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 ...
and one of 20 built for the
Admiralty
Admiralty most often refers to:
*Admiralty, Hong Kong
* Admiralty (United Kingdom), military department in command of the Royal Navy from 1707 to 1964
*The rank of admiral
* Admiralty law
Admiralty can also refer to:
Buildings
*Admiralty, Tr ...
but manned by personnel of and commissioned into the
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).
Entering RAN service in April 1941, ''Burnie'' saw action during World War II, and was decommissioned on 5 July 1946. The corvette was sold to the
Royal Netherlands Navy
The Royal Netherlands Navy ( nl, Koninklijke Marine, links=no) is the naval force of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
During the 17th century, the navy of the Dutch Republic (1581–1795) was one of the most powerful naval forces in the world an ...
(RNLN) five days later, was renamed HNLMS ''Ceram'', and remained in service until 1958.
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.
[Stevens, ''The Australian Corvettes'', p. 1][Stevens, ''A Critical Vulnerability'', p. 103] The vessel was initially envisaged as having a
displacement
Displacement may refer to:
Physical sciences
Mathematics and Physics
*Displacement (geometry), is the difference between the final and initial position of a point trajectory (for instance, the center of mass of a moving object). The actual path ...
of approximately 500 tons, a speed of at least , and a range of
[Stevens, ''A Critical Vulnerability'', pp. 103–4] The opportunity to build a prototype in the place of a cancelled
Bar-class boom defence vessel
The Bar class were a class of boom defence vessels of the Royal Navy, Royal Australian Navy and South African Navy during World War II.
Ships Royal Navy
* HMS ''Barbain'' (Z01)
* HMS ''Barbarian'' (Z18)
* HMS ''Barbastel'' (Z276)
* HMS ''Bar ...
saw the proposed design increased to a 680-ton vessel, with a top speed, and a range of , armed with a 4-inch gun, equipped with
asdic, and able to be fitted with either
depth charge
A depth charge is an anti-submarine warfare (ASW) weapon. It is intended to destroy a submarine by being dropped into the water nearby and detonating, subjecting the target to a powerful and destructive Shock factor, hydraulic shock. Most depth ...
s or
minesweeping equipment depending on the planned operations: although closer in size to a
sloop
A sloop is a sailboat with a single mast typically having only one headsail in front of the mast and one mainsail aft of (behind) the mast. Such an arrangement is called a fore-and-aft rig, and can be rigged as a Bermuda rig with triangular sa ...
than a local defence vessel, the resulting increased capabilities were accepted due to advantages over British-designed mine warfare and anti-submarine vessels.
[ Construction of the prototype did not go ahead, but the plans were retained.][Stevens, ''A Critical Vulnerability'', p. 104] 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 ordered by the RAN, 20 (including ''Burnie'') ordered by the British Admiralty
The Admiralty was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom responsible for the command of the Royal Navy until 1964, historically under its titular head, the Lord High Admiral – one of the Great Officers of State. For much of it ...
but manned and commissioned as RAN vessels, and 4 for the Royal Indian Navy.[Stevens, ''A Critical Vulnerability'', pp. 105, 148][Donohue, ''From Empire Defence to the Long Haul'', p. 29][Stevens et al., ''The Royal Australian Navy'', p. 108][
''Burnie'' was laid down by Mort's Dock & Engineering Company, ]Sydney
Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...
on 4 June 1940.[ The corvette was launched on 25 October 1940 by Lady King, wife of the Mort's Dock Chairman of Directors, and was commissioned into the RAN on 15 April 1941.][
]
Operational history
Royal Australian Navy
Australia and Singapore
''Burnie'' was initially assigned to the 20th Minesweeping Flotilla
The 20th Minesweeping Flotilla was a Royal Australian Navy Naval mine#Mine sweeping, minesweeping flotilla that operated during the Second World War. Formed on 9 December 1939 and styled in the naming convention for minesweeping flotilla names us ...
, which she joined on 10 May 1941.[ The ship was then temporarily based at ]Fremantle, Western Australia
Fremantle () () is a port city in Western Australia, located at the mouth of the Swan River in the metropolitan area of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth. The Western Australian vernacular diminutive for ...
as a patrol ship and convoy escort, then was sent to Sydney
Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...
. In June, ''Burnie'' and sister ship HMAS ''Goulburn'' were assigned to the Royal Navy's China Force
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
, and sailed to Singapore via the east coast of Australia, arriving on 12 July.[ There Burnie with HMAS'' Goulburn'', and composed the 21st Minesweeping Flotilla assigned to minesweeping, patrol and escort duties. ''Burnie'' was present in Singapore when Japan ]attacked Pearl Harbor
The attack on Pearl HarborAlso known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service upon the United States against the naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii, j ...
and invaded Malaya.[
]
Collapse of Java
The corvette was involved in a series of actions delaying the Japanese advance through Malaya and the Netherlands East Indies
The Dutch East Indies, also known as the Netherlands East Indies ( nl, Nederlands(ch)-Indië; ), was a Dutch colony consisting of what is now Indonesia. It was formed from the nationalised trading posts of the Dutch East India Company, which ...
, including anti-submarine patrol, demolition work, troop and civilian evacuation, and anti-aircraft engagements, both individually and in concert with other Allied ships.[ During this time, she was involved in the evacuation of Sumatra in mid-February 1942, and, with ''Bendigo'', rescued survivors from the Dutch vessel ][Allied Merchant Ship Losses in the Pacific and Southeast Asia (7 December 1941 – 9 March 1942): Confiscated former French 7,135-ton freighter ''Dupleix'' sunk 25 February in the Indian Ocean south of Sunda Strait by torpedo from IJN submarine I-58. Ship spelling sometimes ''Boeroe'', but ''Boero'' per Lloyd's and Gill.] on 28 February from the beach at Java Head
Tanjung Layar, formerly Java's Eerste Punt in Dutch, and Java's First Point, or Java Head in English is a prominent cape at the extreme western end of Java, at the Indian Ocean entrance to the Sunda Strait. Java Head is a bluff at the sea's ed ...
. During the final days the ship was flagship for Commodore Collins
Collins may refer to:
People Surname
Given name
* Collins O. Bright (1917–?), Sierra Leonean diplomat
* Collins Chabane (1960–2015), South African Minister of Public Service and Administration
* Collins Cheboi (born 1987), Kenyan middle- ...
commanding the China Force.[ This continued until September 1942, when ''Burnie'' was assigned to the British Eastern Fleet for anti-submarine patrol and convoy escort duties in the Indian Ocean.][
Along with ''Goulburn'' the ship had left Singapore on 25 January assigned to sweep the southern half of ]Banka Strait
Bangka Strait is the strait that separates the island of Sumatra from Bangka Island ( id, Pulau Bangka) in the Java Sea, Indonesia. The strait is about long, with a width varying from about to .
See also
* Japanese cruiser Ashigara
* List of ...
arriving in Batavia
Batavia may refer to:
Historical places
* Batavia (region), a land inhabited by the Batavian people during the Roman Empire, today part of the Netherlands
* Batavia, Dutch East Indies, present-day Jakarta, the former capital of the Dutch East In ...
30 January and on finding the harbor congested were at Tanjung Priok by 2 February where ''Burnie'' and ''Goulburn'' began on 5 February a continuous anti-submarine patrol until the Japanese invasion of Java. By 12 February and a flood of ships fleeing the fall of Singapore and Japanese advances the ship was sent to Oosthaven
Bandar Lampung (Lampung: , ''Kutak Bandarlampung'', formerly Dutch: ''Oosthaven'', lit. "Eastern Harbor") is the capital and largest city of the Indonesian province of Lampung. Located on the southern tip of Sumatra, Bandar Lampung was originally ...
in Sumatra
Sumatra is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the sixth-largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 (182,812 mi.2), not including adjacent i ...
for anti-submarine patrols at that port. On the 17th the ship entered the port with to assist in demolition of facilities covering a bridge to the wharf with her gun while a shore party worked through the night destroying ammunition, rail equipment and placing depth charges under the KPM wharf and a cargo shed as well as pouring sulphuric acid into the working parts and destroying propellers of four trucks of torpedoes before ''Burnie'' got underway and completed destruction with gunfire.
On the morning of 19 February the ship arrived at Tanjung Priok where her commanding officer, Lieutenant Commander T. Christy, RANR(S), reported to Commodore Collins and received orders to take temporary command of and, with a party of Royal Air Force personnel return in ''Ballarat'' to Oosthaven for salvage of air force material. With that mission accomplished Christy returned in ''Ballarat'' on 21 February, the date when the American-British-Dutch-Australian Command
The American-British-Dutch-Australian (ABDA) Command, or ABDACOM, was a short-lived, supreme command for all Allied forces in South East Asia in early 1942, during the Pacific War in World War II. The command consists of the forces of Australia ...
had cabled Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 Winston Churchill in the Second World War, dur ...
that further efforts to hold Java and the purpose of the command itself were useless. Withdrawal from Java began and on 22 February ''Ballarat'', ''Bendigo'', ''Burnie'' and ''Maryborough'' replaced coal burning ships in the Sunda Strait Auxiliary Patrol established by Collins to prevent Japanese landings on Java from Sumatra with night crossings in small craft.
By the 27th all British ships were ordered withdrawn from the Sunda Strait area and all the ships of 21st Minesweeping Flotilla were short of fuel with the flotilla commander ordering withdrawal to Tjilatjap
Cilacap Regency ( jv, ꦏꦨꦸꦥꦠꦺꦤ꧀ꦕꦶꦭꦕꦥ꧀, also spelt: Chilachap, old spelling: Tjilatjap, Sundanese language, Sundanese: ) is a Regencies of Indonesia, regency () in the southwestern part of Central Java province in Indon ...
for fueling on 28 February but ''Bendigo'' and ''Burnie'' were detached to rescue a party seen signaling from Java Head. On reaching the site ''Bendigo'' picked up fifteen and ''Burnie'' twenty-nine people that were survivors of the Dutch ship ''Boero'' that had been torpedoed several days earlier. Meanwhile, the flotilla had been ordered to return to Sunda Strait but the two ships with survivors were ordered on to Tjilatjap.
On 1 March, with the two ships and survivors approaching Tjilatjap the withdrawal from Batavia was ordered and all British ships were to gather at Tjilatjap for evacuation. By the time the two corvettes arrived on the afternoon of 1 March Japanese forces were already south of the port and ''Bendigo'' broadcast a message from Commodore Collins that all ships with enough fuel to avoid that port should proceed directly to Fremantle
Fremantle () () is a port city in Western Australia, located at the mouth of the Swan River in the metropolitan area of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth. The Western Australian vernacular diminutive for ...
or Colombo
Colombo ( ; si, කොළඹ, translit=Koḷam̆ba, ; ta, கொழும்பு, translit=Koḻumpu, ) is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. According to the Brookings Institution, Colombo me ...
. During the evening Collins arrived from Batavia and boarded ''Burnie''. Evacuees were loaded on all ships available in the port and at 8 p.m. on 2 March ''Burnie'' departed flying Collins' flag and reaching Fremantle on 8 March after narrowly escaping Admiral Kondō's cruisers that sunk , the first of the British ships that left Tjilatjap, , and .
Eastern Fleet
''Burnie'' remained with the Eastern Fleet until December 1944, when she and the other Admiralty-controlled Australian corvettes were ordered to Sydney, formed up as a Minesweeping Flotilla, and attached to the British Pacific Fleet.[ The corvette was primarily used as a patrol ship and convoy escort in the waters of New Guinea, the Admiralty Islands, and the Philippines.][
After World War II ended in August 1945, ''Burnie'' was ordered to Hong Kong, where she was involved in mine clearance operations.][ By November, she had returned to Australian waters, and during December 1945 and January 1946 was involved in several public relations activities, including a visit to her namesake town and a cruise for children in Port Phillip Bay.][ The corvette's wartime service was recognised with three battle honours: "Pacific 1942–45", "Indian Ocean 1942–44", and "Okinawa 1945".]
Royal Netherlands Navy service
Following the end of World War II, all of the Admiralty-operated ''Bathurst'' class corvettes were earmarked for disposal. ''Burnie'', along with sister ships ''Ipswich'' and ''Toowoomba'', were slated for transfer to the Royal Netherlands Navy
The Royal Netherlands Navy ( nl, Koninklijke Marine, links=no) is the naval force of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
During the 17th century, the navy of the Dutch Republic (1581–1795) was one of the most powerful naval forces in the world an ...
(RNLN).[ The three corvettes departed Brisbane on 4 June 1946, arriving in Ceylon a month and a day later.][ The three ships were paid off from RAN service and commissioned into the RNLN; ''Burnie'' being renamed HNLMS ''Ceram''
''Ceram'' remained in service with the RNLN until 1958, when she was removed from the active service list.][
]
Footnotes
Citations
References
;Books
*
*
*
*
;Journal and news articles
*
;Websites
*
External links
AWM photo 306791
"Oosthaven, Sumatra, Netherlands East Indies. 1942-02-17. View from the bridge of HMAS Burnie, berthed alongside the Oosthaven port facilities which were destroyed to deny their use by the Japanese."
The loss of HMAS Yarra, 4 March 1942
Australian War Memorial
{{DEFAULTSORT:Burnie
Bathurst-class corvettes of the Royal Australian Navy
Ships built in New South Wales
1940 ships
World War II corvettes of Australia