HMAS ''Kanimbla'' was a passenger ship converted for use as an

armed merchant cruiser An armed merchantman is a merchant ship equipped with guns, usually for defensive purposes, either by design or after the fact. In the days of sail, piracy and privateers, many merchantmen would be routinely armed, especially those engaging in lo ...

and landing ship infantry 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 ...

. Built during the mid-1930s as the passenger liner MV ''Kanimbla'' for

McIlwraith, McEacharn & Co McIlwraith, McEacharn & Co was an Australian shipping company. History McIlwraith, McEacharn & Co (MMC) was founded in 1875 in London by Scottish sea captains, Andrew McIlwraith and Malcolm McEacharn. In 1876 it began operating ships to take Bri ...

, the ship operated in Australian waters until 1939, when she was requisitioned for military service, converted into an

, and commissioned in the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

as HMS ''Kanimbla''. Initially used to board and take control of merchant vessels belonging to Occupied Europe and operating in Asian waters, ''Kanimbla'' led the raid to capture the Iranian port of

Bandar Shahpur Bandar-e Shahpour ( fa, بندر شاهپور) is a city and capital of Bandar-e Shahpour District of Mahshahr County, Khuzestan Province, Iran. As of the 2006 census, its population was 67,078, in 14,681 families. Bandar Shahpour is a port cit ...

in August 1941, and was present during the covert Japanese midget submarine attack on Sydney Harbour in 1942. In 1943, the ship was converted into a Landing Ship Infantry, transferred to 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 ...

, and operated throughout the South West Pacific Theatre until the end of the war. ''Kanimbla'' was decommissioned and returned to her commercial owners in 1950. In 1961, she was sold to the

Pacific Transport Company The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

and renamed ''Oriental Queen''. The ship operated as a liner throughout the Pacific and to Japan until 1973, when she was broken up for scrap.

Construction

The ship was laid down as motor vessel (MV) ''Kanimbla'' for

by Harland & Wolff,

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdo ...

. She was launched on 15 December 1935 and completed in 1936. The ship was named for the

Kanimbla Valley Kanimbla may refer to: *, several ships of Royal Australian Navy *'' Kanimbla'' a Sydney K-class ferry * ''Kanimbla''-class landing platform amphibious * Kanimbla, Queensland, a suburb of the city of Cairns in Australia * Kanimbla Valley, a valley ...

, west of

Blackheath Blackheath may refer to: Places England *Blackheath, London, England ** Blackheath railway station **Hundred of Blackheath, Kent, an ancient hundred in the north west of the county of Kent, England *Blackheath, Surrey, England ** Hundred of Blackh ...

in the Blue Mountains in

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

. A

Sydney Harbour Port Jackson, consisting of the waters of Sydney Harbour, Middle Harbour, North Harbour and the Lane Cove and Parramatta Rivers, is the ria or natural harbour of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The harbour is an inlet of the Tasman Sea (p ...

ferry, launched in 1910 as '' Kanimbla'' gave up her name to the new larger vessel in 1936, and was renamed ''Kurra-Ba''.

Operational history

Pre-war

The ship arrived in Melbourne 12 June 1936 and operated a passenger service between

Cairns Cairns (, ) is a city in Queensland, Australia, on the tropical north east coast of Far North Queensland. The population in June 2019 was 153,952, having grown on average 1.02% annually over the preceding five years. The city is the 5th-most-p ...

and

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 ...

. The ship accommodated 203 first class and 198 cabin class passengers. This passenger service continued until the outbreak of World War II. Kanimbla carried its own broadcast radio station ( call sign 9MI), which broadcast programs to onshore listeners and other ships, as it passed along the coastline. If broadcast on

short wave Shortwave radio is radio transmission using shortwave (SW) radio frequencies. There is no official definition of the band, but the range always includes all of the High frequency, high frequency band (HF), which extends from 3 to 30 MHz (10 ...

, but sometimes its programs were relayed by onshore

medium wave Medium wave (MW) is the part of the medium frequency (MF) radio band used mainly for AM radio broadcasting. The spectrum provides about 120 channels with more limited sound quality than FM stations on the FM broadcast band. During the daytime ...

stations. It was conducted entirely by Eileen Foley. It broadcast between 1936 and 1939.

World War II

Om 5 September 1939, ''Kanimbla'' was requisitioned for military service, and underwent conversion to an

at Garden Island in

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 ...

.Bastock, ''Australia's Ships of War'', p. 216 She was commissioned into the

as HMS ''Kanimbla'', though with a largely Australian crew, on 6 September 1939. The ship was initially assigned the

pennant number In the Royal Navy and other navies of Europe and the Commonwealth of Nations, ships are identified by pennant number (an internationalisation of ''pendant number'', which it was called before 1948). Historically, naval ships flew a flag that iden ...

F23 - and later given the pennant number C78. ''Kanimbla'' was engaged in patrolling the coasts of Asia and boarding vessels of German or occupied Europe origin. On 24 August 1941, ''Kanimbla'' led a raid to capture the Iranian port of

. The ship led seven other vessels, including the gunboat , the corvette , the

naval trawler Naval trawlers are vessels built along the lines of a fishing trawler but fitted out for naval purposes; they were widely used during the First and Second World Wars. Some—known in the Royal Navy as "Admiralty trawlers"— were purpose-built to ...

HMT ''Arthur Cavannagh'', the sloop , an oil rig tugboat, and a dhow. In addition, ''Kanimbla'' carried 300

Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...

troops, including Gurkhas and soldiers from 3rd Battalion,

10th Baluch Regiment The 10th Baluch or Baluch Regiment was a regiment of the British Indian Army from 1922 to 1947. After Partition of India, independence, it was transferred to the Pakistan Army. In 1956, it was amalgamated with the 8th Punjab Regiment, 8th Punja ...

, whose task was to board and capture the German cargo ship ''Hohenfels''. ''Kanimbla'' used her armament in support of the raid, which resulted in the securing of the railhead, and the capture of eight Axis merchantmen, two gunboats, and a

floating dock Floating may refer to: * a type of dental work performed on horse teeth * use of an isolation tank * the guitar-playing technique where chords are sustained rather than scratched * ''Floating'' (play), by Hugh Hughes * Floating (psychological phe ...

were captured as well as the railhead. ''Kanimbla'' was one of several Allied vessels located in

during the covert attack by Japanese midget submarines on the night of 31 May 1942. She arrived back in Sydney on 2 April 1943, was converted to a Landing Ship Infantry (LSI) and commissioned into the

as HMAS ''Kanimbla'' on 1 June 1943. She received the pennant number C78.Bastock, ''Australia's Ships of War'', p. 217 In this configuration, she could carry 1,280 troops, and carried up to 22 LCVPs, plus two Landing Craft Mechanised.Bastock, ''Australia's Ships of War'', p. 215 The ship earned five battle honours for her wartime service: "New Guinea 1944", "Leyte Gulf 1944", "Lingayen Gulf 1945", "Borneo 1945", and "Pacific 1945".

Post-war

''Kanimbla'' paid off at Sydney on 25 March 1949 and was returned to her owners on 13 December 1950 after being converted back by the

Cockatoo Docks & Engineering Company The Cockatoo Docks & Engineering Company was a ship building and maintenance company which operated the Cockatoo Island Dockyard on Cockatoo Island in Sydney, Australia between 1933 and 1992. History The Cockatoo Docks & Engineering Company ...

with the ship subsequently bringing European migrants to Australia and later taking Australian tourists to Japan and other parts of Asia. In 1961, the ship was sold to the

and renamed ''Oriental Queen''. For the next three years, the ship was chartered to transport pilgrims between Indonesia and

Jeddah Jeddah ( ), also spelled Jedda, Jiddah or Jidda ( ; ar, , Jidda, ), is a city in the Hejaz region of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and the country's commercial center. Established in the 6th century BC as a fishing village, Jeddah's pro ...

. In 1964, ''Oriental Queen'' was chartered by a Japanese shipping company and served as a liner on the

Yokohama is the second-largest city in Japan by population and the most populous municipality of Japan. It is the capital city and the most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a 2020 population of 3.8 million. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of To ...

–

Guam Guam (; ch, Guåhan ) is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. It is the westernmost point and territory of the United States (reckoned from the geographic cent ...

route. The vessel was later sold outright to the Japanese charterer. ''Oriental Queen''s career ended in 1973, with the ship's sale to Taiwanese breakers for scrapping.

Legacy

The suburb of Kanimbla in Cairns was named after the ship.

Citations

References

* * * *

External links

Mentioned in dispatches
''

London Gazette London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

'' 6 March 1942
HMS Kanimbla at uboat.net
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kanimbla Amphibious warfare vessels of the Royal Australian Navy World War II Auxiliary cruisers of the Royal Navy Ships built in Belfast 1935 ships Ships built by Harland and Wolff