HMAS ''Glenelg'' (J236/M236), named for the city of

Glenelg, South Australia Glenelg is a beach-side suburb of the South Australian capital of Adelaide. Located on the shore of Holdfast Bay in Gulf St Vincent, it has become a tourist destination due to its beach and many attractions, home to several hotels and dozens of ...

, was one of 60 constructed during World War II, and one of 36 initially manned and commissioned solely by 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).

Design and construction

In 1938, the

Australian Commonwealth Naval Board The Australian Commonwealth Naval Board was the governing authority over the Royal Australian Navy from its inception and through World Wars I and II. The board was established on 1 March 1911 and consisted of civilian members of the Australian ...

(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. 1Stevens, ''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 Sonar (sound navigation and ranging or sonic navigation and ranging) is a technique that uses sound propagation (usually underwater, as in submarine navigation) to navigate, measure distances (ranging), communicate with or detect objects on or ...

, and able to 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 Minesweeping is the practice of the removal of explosive naval mines, usually by a specially designed ship called a minesweeper using various measures to either capture or detonate the mines, but sometimes also with an aircraft made for that ...

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 (including ''Glenelg'') ordered by the RAN, 20 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 The Royal Indian Navy (RIN) was the naval force of British India and the Dominion of India. Along with the Presidency armies, later the Indian Army, and from 1932 the Royal Indian Air Force, it was one of the Armed Forces of British India. Fr ...

.Stevens, ''A Critical Vulnerability'', pp. 105, 148Donohue, ''From Empire Defence to the Long Haul'', p. 29Stevens et al., ''The Royal Australian Navy'', p. 108 ''Glenelg'' was laid down by the

Cockatoo Island Dockyard The Cockatoo Island Dockyard was a major dockyard in Sydney, Australia, based on Cockatoo Island. The dockyard was established in 1857 to maintain Royal Navy warships. It later built and repaired military and battle ships, and played a key role ...

at Sydney, New South Wales on 2 March 1942. She was launched on 25 September 1942 by the wife of Doctor H.V. Evatt, then Minister for External Affairs, and was commissioned into the RAN on 16 November 1942.

Operational history

''Glenelg'' began her career as a convoy escort along the east coast of Australia, initially from Queensland to New Guinea before being assigned to the Sydney to Queensland leg in May 1943. In December, the corvette began a refit. On completion, she was assigned to New Guinea waters as an anti-submarine patrol and convoy escort ship for the duration of 1944; during this time the ship sailed and was active for over 10,000 hours. On 20 October 1944, the corvette was called to assist an American patrol under heavy mortar fire near

Maffin Bay Maffin Bay, known as Teluk Maffin in Indonesian, is a small bay in the Pacific Ocean on the Northern coast of New Guinea. It is in Papua, Indonesia, below the Foja Mountains near Wakde, about 125 miles west of Jayapura. Maffin Bay was a landing s ...

in Dutch New Guinea. ''Glenelg''’s whaler was deployed to help move the American wounded; although swampled, the boat was dragged ashore by her crew, with seating and flooring boards used as improvised stretchers to move the wounded to the American-controlled bank of the Woske River. ''Glenelg'', under the guidance of two US Army personnel standing on the beach, fired 31 rounds from her main gun at the Japanese attackers, and was later praised by the patrol's senior officer as the decisive factor in allowing the patrol to withdraw with all wounded, leaving five dead behind. The corvette arrived in Australia at the start of 1945 for a two-month refit in Melbourne, before returning to Manus Island and spending the remainder of the war as a convoy escort. After the end of World War II, ''Glenelg'' was involved in the reoccupation of Ambon during September, before departing for Fremantle on 1 November, visiting her namesake city en route. The corvette earned two

battle honour A battle honour is an award of a right by a government or sovereign to a military unit to emblazon the name of a battle or operation on its flags ("colours"), uniforms or other accessories where ornamentation is possible. In European military t ...

s for her wartime service: "Pacific 1942–45" and "New Guinea 1943–44".

Decommissioning and fate

''Glenelg'' was paid off into reserve in Fremantle on 14 January 1946. She was sold to the Hong Kong Rolling Mills on 2 May 1957 for breaking up as scrap.

Citations

References

;Books * * * ;Journal and news articles *

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Glenelg Bathurst-class corvettes of the Royal Australian Navy Ships built in New South Wales 1942 ships World War II corvettes of Australia