HMAS ''Goulburn'' (J167/B243/A117), named for the city of
Goulburn, New South Wales
Goulburn ( ) is a regional city in the Southern Tablelands of the Australian state of New South Wales, approximately south-west of Sydney, and north-east of Canberra. It was proclaimed as Australia's first inland city through letters patent ...
, was one of 60
''Bathurst''-class corvettes constructed during World War II, and one of 20 ordered by the British Admiralty but subsequently 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. 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 saw the proposed design increased to a 680-ton vessel, with a top speed, and a range of , armed with a
4 inch Mk XIX 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 ...
, and able to fitted with either
depth charges 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 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 ''Goulburn'') ordered by the British Admiralty 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.
F ...
.[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][
At 743 tons standard displacement, ''Goulburn'' exceeded the designed standard displacement of the ''Bathurst'' class ships by 93 tons.][
''Goulburn'' 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 ...
in Sydney, New South Wales on 10 July 1940.[ She was launched on 16 November 1940 by the wife of Rear Admiral ]John Gregory Crace
Vice Admiral Sir John Gregory Crace (6 February 1887 – 11 May 1968) was an Australian who came to prominence as an officer of the Royal Navy (RN). He commanded the Australian-United States Support Force, Task Force 44, at the Battle of the C ...
, the commander of the Australian Squadron, and was commissioned on 28 February 1941.[
]
Operational history
After entering active service, ''Goulburn'' was assigned to minesweeping duties along the east and south-east coasts of Australia, and was one of several ships attempting to locate mines deployed by the German auxiliary cruiser ''Pinguin'' and the auxiliary minelayer ''Passat''.[ Although operating in this role from 23 April to 31 May 1941, the corvette located only a single mine.][
On 16 June, ''Goulburn'' and sister ship ''Burnie'' were assigned to the China Station and sailed to Singapore.][ The corvettes operated as convoy escorts, minesweepers, and anti-submarine patrol ships until January 1942.][ ''Goulburn'' was then deployed to ]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 ...
and used as a minesweeper and convoy escort throughout the Sunda Islands.[ On 27 February, the corvette passed the ]ABDA
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 Austra ...
cruiser force shortly before the beginning of the Battle of the Java Sea
The Battle of the Java Sea ( id, Pertempuran Laut Jawa, ja, スラバヤ沖海戦, Surabaya oki kaisen, Surabaya open-sea battle, Javanese : ꦥꦼꦫꦁꦱꦼꦒꦫꦗꦮ, romanized: ''Perang Segara Jawa'') was a decisive naval battle o ...
.[ Although removed from the main battle area, ''Goulburn'' was attacked by three waves of three Japanese dive bombers, but was undamaged.][ On 29 February, ''Goulburn'' departed for Australia, arriving in Fremantle on 9 March with only seven tons of fuel remaining.][ The corvette was assigned to convoy escort runs along the Queensland coast until the end of 1943, then entered a three-month refit.][
After refitting, ''Goulburn'' was deployed to New Guinea waters as an escort and patrol vessel.][ During June 1944, the corvette supported landings at Dugumu Bay and Sogari Island.][ On 25 September, native scouts and a US Army Intelligence officer were embarked to be transported to the Malpia Islands.][ The native scouts were landed on 27 September to assess Japanese troop strength throughout the island group.][ After the scouts failed to rendezvous with the ship two days later, and following a failed search attempt by six sailors and the US officer, it was assumed that the scouts had been captured.][ This was confirmed when American ]PT boats
A PT boat (short for patrol torpedo boat) was a motor torpedo boat used by the United States Navy in World War II. It was small, fast, and inexpensive to build, valued for its maneuverability and speed but hampered at the beginning of the wa ...
attempted to land troops on the island a few days later, meeting heavy Japanese resistance.[ Before leaving the area, ''Goulburn'' shelled a village on ]Pegun Island
Mapia Atoll ( Indonesian: ''Kepulauan Mapia''), historically known as the Freewill Islands or San David, is an atoll in the Pacific Ocean. It is located in Papua province of Indonesia, approximately 290 kilometers north of the city of Manokwa ...
believed to hold Japanese troops.[ At the start of October, the corvette was tasked with retrieving another native scout group. After several failed attempts to locate the scouts, they were retrieved from Mois Aoeri Island.][ While returning to the ship, the shore party was able to capture three Japanese soldiers attempting to escape in a canoe.][ After observing numerous Japanese personnel on shore, and receiving conformation that several hundred Japanese were based on the island, ''Goulburn'' opened fire on the main camp.][ After these operations, the corvette returned to convoy escort duties until December 1944, then returned to Australia.][
Goulburn spent the first part of 1945 operating in Australian waters, before returning to New Guinea in May.][ She spent a month on escort and minesweeping duties, before sailing to Darwin and escorting a floating dry dock to Milne Bay.][ The corvette remained in New Guinea waters until the end of the war on 15 August.][ On 30 August, ''Goulburn'' and two sister ships escorted a convoy to Hong Kong, arriving on 21 September.][ The corvette was involved in minesweeping operations throughout Chinese waters, before returning to Sydney in December 1945.][
The ship received 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 1942–44" and "New Guinea 1942–44".
Decommissioning and fate
''Goulburn'' was paid off on 27 September 1946.[ She was sold to Pacific Enterprise Incorporated on 13 October 1947, and after several re-sales, ended up in the possession of the Ta Hing Company of Hong Kong in December 1950.][ However, a Commonwealth Statutory Order prevented the ship from leaving Australian waters, and she was sold again to John Manners & Co of Sydney in 1953.][ The corvette was broken up for scrapping at ]Iron Cove
Iron Cove is a bay on the Parramatta River, in the inner-west of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is approximately due west of Sydney's central business district. It is surrounded by the suburbs of Birchgrove, Balmai ...
in 1953.
Citations
References
;Books
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Goulburn
Bathurst-class corvettes of the Royal Australian Navy
Ships built in New South Wales
1940 ships
World War II corvettes of Australia