Swinger Bay, is a bay on the north west shore of Milne Bay, in

Milne Bay Province Milne Bay is a province of Papua New Guinea. Its capital is Alotau. The province covers 14,345 km² of land and 252,990 km² of sea, within the province there are more than 600 islands, about 160 of which are inhabited. The province has ...

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...

. Named by

John Moresby Rear Admiral John Moresby (15 March 1830 – 12 July 1922) was a British naval officer who explored the coast of New Guinea and was the first European to discover the site of Port Moresby. Life and career Moresby was born in Allerford, Somerset ...

after HMS ''Swinger''. It is also known as ''Stringer Bay''."Stringer" is the "approved" U.S. name with "Swinger" the "variant in the official National Geospatial Intelligence Agenc
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results. U.S. military records and histories of the war period use "Stringer" instead of "Swinger" for the bay. Swinger Bay, and the city on the bay

Alotau Alotau is the capital of Milne Bay Province, in the south-east of Papua New Guinea. It is located on the northern shore of Milne Bay. The town is located within Alotau Urban LLG. Alotau is also the annual forum for Australian and Papua New Guine ...

, was selected as a site for an amphibious training centre in 1943 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 opposing ...

, which relocated from

HMAS Assault HMAS ''Assault'' is a former Royal Australian Navy (RAN) naval base, training centre that was in use during World War II, located at Nelson Bay, New South Wales, Nelson Bay in the Mid North Coast region of New South Wales, Australia. Formation ...

, Port Stephens, Australia. Construction started in late 1943 by a detachment of the 91st Naval Construction Battalion ( Seabees), whose main element had arrived 21 October 1943 from

Port Hueneme, California Port Hueneme ( ; Chumash: ''Wene Me'') is a small beach city in Ventura County, California, surrounded by the city of Oxnard and the Santa Barbara Channel. Both the Port of Hueneme and Naval Base Ventura County lie within the city limits. P ...

in . The detachment built facilities, on a site noted as being high and relatively dry, for about 800 men and 30 officers that included storage, shops, housing, roads, water and electrical systems and a jetty to water of depth. The 91st was relieved by

105th Naval Construction Battalion 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

in January 1944. The amphibious training centre consisted of housing for 1,500 men in

quonset hut A Quonset hut is a lightweight prefabricated structure of corrugated galvanized steel having a semi cylindrical cross-section. The design was developed in the United States, based on the Nissen hut introduced by the British during World War ...

s and developed of waterfront for training purposes. Rabi Camp (also spelled Rabe), part of HMAS Ladava, was attacked by Japan in 1942 in the

Battle of Milne Bay The Battle of Milne Bay (25 August – 7 September 1942), also known as Operation RE or the Battle of Rabi (ラビの戦い) by the Japanese, was a battle of the Pacific campaign of World War II. Japanese marines, known as ''Kaigun Tokub ...

. Rabi Camp was on the north shore in Swinger Bay at . The

Gama River The Gama River is a river located in Milne Bay Province of Papua New Guinea. Gama River flows into the Swinger Bay of Milne Bay. Water was used during World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII o ...

flows into Swinger Bay. In March 1945, the amphibious training centre closed and relocated to

Subic Bay Subic Bay is a bay on the west coast of the island of Luzon in the Philippines, about northwest of Manila Bay. An extension of the South China Sea, its shores were formerly the site of a major United States Navy facility, U.S. Naval Base Sub ...

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

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Bays of Papua New Guinea Geography of Milne Bay Province {{MilneBayProvince-geo-stub