HMAS Jervis Bay (GT 203)
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HMAS ''Jervis Bay'' (GT 203) was a
roll-on/roll-off Roll-on/roll-off (RORO or ro-ro) ships are cargo ships designed to carry wheeled cargo, such as cars, motorcycles, trucks, semi-trailer trucks, buses, trailers, and railroad cars, that are driven on and off the ship on their own wheels or using ...
passenger and vehicle ferry operated 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) between 1977 and 1994. The ship was built by the
State Dockyard The State Dockyard was a ship building and maintenance facility operated by the Government of New South Wales in Carrington, Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia between 1942 and 1987. History In 1942, the State Dockyard opened on the site of ...
between 1967 and 1969 for service with the
Australian National Line Australian National Line (ANL) was a coastal shipping line established in by the Government of Australia in 1956. It was sold in 1998 by the Howard government to CMA CGM. History Australian National Line was formed on 1 October 1956 as the ...
, under the name MV ''Australian Trader''. Initially operating on the
Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
to Devonport run, ''Australian Trader'' was reassigned to the Sydney to Tasmania run in 1972. Passenger service on that run ended in 1976, and at the start of 1977, the vessel was purchased by the RAN for use as a training vessel and troop transport, and was renamed HMAS ''Jervis Bay''. After decommissioning in 1994, the vessel was sold to Voyager Marine, and renamed MS ''Agios Andreas''. After modifications to increase her passenger and vehicle capacity, ''Agios Andreas'' commenced ferry services between Greece and Turkey in 1995. In 2003, she was sold to Marwan Shipping and Trading, renamed MS ''Ajman Leader'', and began operations in the Persian Gulf. The ship was renamed MS ''Ajman City'' in 2004, but was sold for
scrapping Scrap consists of recyclable materials, usually metals, left over from product manufacturing and consumption, such as parts of vehicles, building supplies, and surplus materials. Unlike waste, scrap has monetary value, especially recovered me ...
later that year.


Design and construction

The vessel was built as ''Australian Trader'' for the
Australian National Line Australian National Line (ANL) was a coastal shipping line established in by the Government of Australia in 1956. It was sold in 1998 by the Howard government to CMA CGM. History Australian National Line was formed on 1 October 1956 as the ...
by the
State Dockyard The State Dockyard was a ship building and maintenance facility operated by the Government of New South Wales in Carrington, Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia between 1942 and 1987. History In 1942, the State Dockyard opened on the site of ...
in
Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...
.Gillett, ''Australian and New Zealand Warships since 1946'', p. 110 The vessel had a displacement of at standard load and at full load, a value and a value. The vessel was in length overall, with a beam of , and a draught of . ''Australian Trader'' was propelled by two 16PC2 Atlantique 2V400
Pielstick SEMT Pielstick was a French company that designed and built large diesel engines. Its full name was (Company of Thermal Machines Studies). Founded in 1948, SEMT was bought by MAN Diesel in 2006 During its existence as an independent compa ...
diesels, which supplied to the vessel's two propeller shafts, and allowed her to reach . The ship was also fitted with a
Voith The Voith Group is a German manufacturer of machines for the pulp and paper industry, technical equipment for hydropower plants and drive and braking systems. The family-owned company, which operates worldwide and has its headquarters in Heid ...
- Schneider
bow thruster Manoeuvering thruster (bow thruster or stern thruster) is a transversal propulsion device built into, or mounted to, either the bow or stern, of a ship or boat to make it more manoeuvrable. Bow thrusters make docking easier, since they allow th ...
.Plowman, ''Ferry to Tasmania'', p. 120 In her initial configuration, the ship could carry 190 passengers: 140 in single- or double-berth cabins, the rest in aircraft-style reclining chairs. 110 cars could be carried in covered parking, with room for an additional 15 in peak conditions, split between the cargo hold and the
orlop deck The orlop is the lowest deck in a ship (except for very old ships). It is the deck or part of a deck where the cables are stowed, usually below the water line. According to the ''Oxford English Dictionary'', the word descends from Dutch Dut ...
. Larger vehicles (such as
semi-trailer A semi-trailer is a trailer without a front axle. In the United States, the term is also used to refer to the combination of a truck and a semi-trailer; a tractor-trailer. A large proportion of a semi-trailer's weight is supported by a trac ...
s) or specially designed shipping containers could be stored on the open aft deck. A stern door allowed for the embarking and disembarking of vehicles. Public amenities onboard included an observation lounge, smoke room and bar, tavern, and a cafeteria (which initially sold only breakfast). ''Australian Trader'' was laid down on 18 August 1967, launched on 17 February 1969, and completed on 17 June 1969.Gillett, ''Australian and New Zealand Warships since 1946'', p. 111Sharped (ed.), ''Jane's Fighting Ships 1992–93'', p. 30


Operational history


Australian National Line

On entering service, ''Australian Trader'' was assigned to Bass Strait crossings between
Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
and Devonport; the ship departed from Melbourne on her maiden voyage on 24 June 1969, then commenced paid services on 29 June. In April 1972, the ferry was returned to the dockyard for modifications, prior to entering service on the Sydney to Hobart and Sydney to Bell Bay/
Burnie Burnie is a port city on the north-west coast of Tasmania, Australia. When founded in 1827, it was named Emu Bay, being renamed after William Burnie, a director of the Van Diemen's Land Company, in the early 1840s. , Burnie had an urban popu ...
routes. Because of the longer run, more crew needed to be accommodated; this was achieved by extending the superstructure and converting some of the passenger cabins to crew use, in turn reducing the passenger complement to 172. ''Australian Trader'' fared poorly on the run: the service was dogged by bad reviews of the ship's design and amenities, while
maritime union Maritime Union (french: Union des Maritimes) is a proposed political union of the three Maritime provinces of Canada – New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island – to form a single new province.training ship A training ship is a ship used to train students as sailors. The term is mostly used to describe ships employed by navies to train future officers. Essentially there are two types: those used for training at sea and old hulks used to house class ...
and
troop transport A troopship (also troop ship or troop transport or trooper) is a ship used to carry soldiers, either in peacetime or wartime. Troopships were often drafted from commercial shipping fleets, and were unable land troops directly on shore, typicall ...
. The ship was sold to the RAN on 28 January 1977 for $5.7 million, and began $720,000 worth of modifications for naval service, which included the installation of a new navigation bridge and the refitting of some passenger cabins into classrooms. The vessel was commissioned into the RAN as HMAS ''Jervis Bay'' on 25 August. Modification was not completed until January 1978. ''Jervis Bay'' replaced the destroyer in the training role, with ''Duchess'' decommissioning in October 1977. ''Jervis Bay''s primary role was to facilitate the seamanship and navigation training of officer cadets, with logistic transport of
Australian Army The Australian Army is the principal land warfare force of Australia, a part of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force. The Army is commanded by the Chief of Army (CA), wh ...
soldiers and equipment seen as a back-up capability. In RAN service, the ship's company consisted of 14 officers and 163 sailors, with up to 76 trainees embarked at any time. The ship did not carry any fitted weapons, and relied on small arms for defence. The vessel's first training cruise occurred in February 1978. In December 1980, trials to mate ''Jervis Bay'' with the landing craft were successfully performed in Sydney Harbour. In 1987, the deckhouse was removed, and the ship's aft deck was strengthened to allow a single Sea King or similar helicopter; more extensive plans to allow the embarkation of a flight of six helicopters were shelved. In December 1992, ''Jervis Bay'' was deployed via
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to
Mogadishu Mogadishu (, also ; so, Muqdisho or ; ar, مقديشو ; it, Mogadiscio ), locally known as Xamar or Hamar, is the capital and most populous city of Somalia. The city has served as an important port connecting traders across the Indian Oc ...
in support of 1RAR and the US-led
Operation Restore Hope The Unified Task Force (UNITAF) was a United States-led, United Nations-sanctioned multinational force which operated in Somalia from 5 December 1992 until 4 May 1993. A United States initiative (code-named Operation Restore Hope), U ...
. ''Jervis Bay'' paid off on 18 April 1994.Straczek, ''The Royal Australian Navy''


Post-military service

The ship was put up for sale in October 1994.Plowman, ''Ferry to Tasmania'', p. 128 On 23 December, she was sold to Liberian company Voyager Marine, renamed to MS ''Agios Andreas'', and registered to
Kingstown, Saint Vincent Kingstown is the capital, chief port, and main commercial centre of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. With a population of 12,909 (2012), Kingstown is the most populous settlement in the country. It is the island's agricultural industry centre ...
. The ship sailed from Sydney on 14 January 1995; the voyage to Greece was made using the port engine only, as the starboard engine had been disassembled with the ship was to receive new engines in Greece. Once in Greece, ''Agios Andreas'' underwent major modifications including the installation of new engines from the ships to be scrapped, fire damaged Ionian Express, extension of the superstructure along the length of the hull; this and other modifications resulted in a passenger capacity increase to 1,120 (316 in cabins), vehicle capacity to grow to 300 cars, and the ship's gross tonnage to become . On completion, the ship began ferry services between Greece and Turkey, under the operation of Greek company Med Link Lines. In November 2003, the ship was sold to Marwan Shipping and Trading of Comoros, renamed MS ''Ajman Leader'', and began operations in the
Persian Gulf The Persian Gulf ( fa, خلیج فارس, translit=xalij-e fârs, lit=Gulf of Fars, ), sometimes called the ( ar, اَلْخَلِيْجُ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Khalīj al-ˁArabī), is a mediterranean sea in Western Asia. The bod ...
out of
Dubai Dubai (, ; ar, دبي, translit=Dubayy, , ) is the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, the most populated of the 7 emirates of the United Arab Emirates.The Government and Politics of ...
. In February 2004, ownership was transferred to Marwan Shipping and Trading of
Sharjah Sharjah (; ar, ٱلشَّارقَة ', Gulf Arabic: ''aš-Šārja'') is the third-most populous city in the United Arab Emirates, after Dubai and Abu Dhabi, forming part of the Dubai-Sharjah-Ajman metropolitan area. Sharjah is the capital ...
,
United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia ( The Middle East). It is located at t ...
, and the vessel was renamed MS ''Ajman City''. In September 2004, ''Ajam City'' was sold to
shipbreakers ''Shipbreakers'' is a 2004 documentary film. A co-production of the National Film Board of Canada with Storyline Entertainment directed by Michael Kot, the film explores the practice of ship breaking decommissioned vessels in Alang, India. Aw ...
, and was taken to
Alang Alang is a census town in Bhavnagar district in the Indian state of Gujarat. Because it is home to the Alang Ship Breaking Yard, Alang beaches are considered the world's largest ship graveyard. Demographics As of the 2001 Indian census, Al ...
, India, for scrapping.


Citations


References

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External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jervis Bay Training ships of the Royal Australian Navy Troop ships of the Royal Australian Navy Bass Strait ferries 1969 ships