The British Pacific and East Indies Fleets

The forgotten fleets that fought the Japanese in the Pacific and Indian Oceans


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Fleet Minesweeper


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Pennant No. J183 / B239

 

Battle Honours


PACIFIC 1942-45
INDIAN OCEAN 1942-45
SICILY 1943
OKINAWA 1945
 

 

 

 

Specifications

Bathurst-class corvette

Builder: Walkers Ltd. Maryborough, Queensland, Australia

Displacement: 733 tons

Length: 186 ft

Beam: 31 ft

Draught: 8 ft 6 in

Propulsion: triple expansion engine, 2 shafts. 2,000 hp

Speed: 15 Knots

rmament: 1 12 Ponder, later1 × QF 4 inch Mk XIX gun, 3 × Oerlikon 20 mm cannons (later 4), 1 × Bofors 40 mm gun (installed later), 2 x.303 Vickers machine guns, 40 Depth charges (4 throwers and 2 chutes)  Crew complement: 85

 

Commanding Officers

T/Lt. Edward MacMillan, RANR(S) 20 Apr 1942
T/Lt. Frank Willshaw Roberts, RANR(S) 16 Dec 1943
T/Lt. Norman Grant Weber, RANR(S) 19 Jun 1944
Lt. Christopher Mervyn Callow, RANVR 06 Aug 1945 - 10 Sep 1945

 

 

 

 

Related items

None

 

 

 

 

Reminiscences


None
 

 

 

 

Gallery


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H.M.A.S. CAIRNS

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Early history

A Bathurst-class corvette ordered from Walkers Ltd, Maryborough, Queensland, her keel was laid down on March 31st 1941. The ship was launched on October 7th 1941 by Mrs Weber, wife of the Works Manager, Walkers Ltd. She was commissioned as H.M.A.S. CAIRNS on May 11th 1942, the first RAN warship to carry the name of the North Queensland city. Her first commanding officer was Lieutenant Edward MacMillan, RANR(S)1.

Once operational CAIRNS was briefly employed as a patrol ship and convoy escort covering 5 convoys on passage between Newcastle NSW and Melbourne; the first round trip was with convoy CO.13 sailing from Newcastle on July 26th, the return convoy OC.13 arriving back at Newcastle on August 1st. On August 9th she made the same round trip with convoy CO.17 and OC.17 arriving back at Newcastle on August 16th. On arrival at Melbourne with CO.20 on August 23rd she was ordered to Fremantle, Western Australia.

Allocated to the Eastern Fleet

In October she was allocated for service with the Eastern Fleet. CAIRNS and sister ships IPSWICH and MARYBOROUGH sailed from Fremantle on October 16th; CAIRNS and IPSWICH were bound for Kilindini, Kenya, MARYBOROUGH for Colombo, Ceylon. On November 14th CAIRNS joined the East Africa Patrol Flotilla at Kilindini, and, in company with her sister ship WOLLONGONG covered the first day of passage for the outbound Aden convoy KA.4.

She spent the next four months carrying out local anti-submarine patrols in the areas of the Seychelles and Diego Suarez before being nominated, along with CESSNOCK, GERALDTON, GAWLER, IPSWICH, LISMORE, MARYBOROUGH, and WOLLONGONG for temporary service in the Mediterranean.

Service in the Mediterranean

On May 26th these eight RAN minesweepers were formed into two Flotillas: the 21st Minesweeping Flotilla (GAWLER, IPSWICH, LISMORE and MARYBOROUGH) based at Alexandria and the 22nd Minesweeping Flotilla (CAIRNS, CESSNOCK, GERALDTON and WOLLONGONG) based at Port Said, both were to operate in the Eastern Mediterranean.

CAIRNS with CESSNOCK and WOLLONGONG covered the arrival of the Gibraltar to Port Said Convoy KMS.15, as it approached Port Said during June 13/14th. The ships of both Flotillas were now allocated to escort group X for Operation Husky the upcoming invasion of Sicily. 21 M/S Flotilla sailed with assault convoy MWS36 from Benghazi arriving off Bank East Beachhead on July 10th. The 22 M/S Flotilla sailed with follow up convoy MWS37 from Alexandria on July 6th, arriving off the beachhead on the 13th. After being released from the escort CAIRNS, CESSNOCK, GERALDTON and WOLLONGONG were tasked with patrolling off the beach.

On release from Huskey operations the 22 M/S Flotilla resumed convoy escort duties, CAIRNS with GERALDTON and WOLLONGONG covering the out-bound convoy GUS.11 from Alexandria starting on July 30 until August 8th. Between August 12th to the 23rd CAIRNS with CESSNOCK and GERALDTON covered the in-bound Port Said convoy UGS.13. From August 30th CAIRNS and CESSNOCK covered UGS.14 inbound to Port Said and the outbound GUS.14 from Alexandria, remaining with them until September 8th. CAIRNS in company with CESSNOCK, MARYBOROUGH and WOLLONGONG were to cover one last Mediterranean convoy starting on September 19th, escorting the inbound UGS.16; the convoy split on the 23rd, 10 vessels with MARYBOROUGH proceeded into Alexandria while CAIRNS, CESSNOCK, and WOLLONGONG with 20 vessels entered Port Said.

Eastern Fleet service resumed

On release from duties in the Mediterranean the eight RAN minesweepers returned to the Eastern Fleet; CAIRNS resumed convoy escort duties on October 9th 1943 sailing from Aden in company with CESSNOCK, GERALDTON, TAMWORTH and WOLLONGONG covering the passage of combined convoys AB.16 for Bombay and AP.48 for Bandar abbas. The convoys split on the 13th, CAIRNS, CESSNOCK and TAMWORTH proceeded with AP.48, arriving Bandar abbas on the 16th and GERALDTON and WOLLONGONG with AB.16 for Bombay arriving on the 17th. CAIRNS was to escort one more Bandar abbas convoy, AP.54, sailing from Aden on November 26th, arriving on December 4th.

By the end of December 1943 CAIRNS had been reallocated to Bombay for escort duties covering convoys from Bombay to Colombo. In company with LAUNCESTON she escorted BM.80 sailing from Bombay on the 29th, arriving Colombo on January 3rd. She made her second run in company with WOLLONGONG covering BM.86 sailing from Bombay on February 16th arriving Colombo on the 21st. CAIRNS made a third run on March 20th with convoy BM.90 arriving Colombo on the 24th. She made her last run on April 14th as the only escort vessel for BM.92A arriving at Colombo on the 20th. Her employment after the end of April 1944 is unclear, it is presumed she, and her sister RAN minesweepers resumed anti-submarine patrol work. She is known to have participated in an anti-submarine exercise with the Dutch submarine HNMS K XI and Indian Minesweeper HMIS Baroda off Varsova, near Bombay on October 20th.

Allocated to the British Pacific Fleet

On January 26th 1945 seven RAN Bathurst class minesweepers (CAIRNS, CESSNOCK, GAWLER, GERALDTON, IPSWICH, TAMWORTH and WOLLONGONG) sailed for Australia to join the British Pacific Fleet (BPF).

In mid-March CAIRNS, CESSNOCK, IPSWICH, TAMWORTH and WOLLONGONG sailed from Australia for the intermediate base at Manus, the Admiralty Islands to rendezvous with other elements of the Fleet Train. They arrived at Seeadler Harbour on March 27th. On the 29th, now in company with MARYBOROUGH, they sailed for Leyte, the Philippines escorting ATLAS, BROWN RANGER, CITY OF DIEPPE, FORT EDMONTON, HERON, KHETI, PACHECO, and STAGPOOL, to the Fleet Train Anchorage at San Pedro bay, arriving there on April 6th. On arrival CAIRNS, CESSNOCK, TAMWORTH and WOLLONGONG were assigned to Fleet Train Task Unit 112.1.2 for escort duties covering vessels of the Logistic Support Group to, and returning from the fleet replenishment areas.

In May CAIRNS participated in the fifth replenishment period for Operation ICEBERG One; she escorted the Armament Supply ship ROBERT MAERSK from San Pedro bay to replenishment area COOTIE One, arriving on station at 0600 on the morning of May 19th. The Logistic Support group was already on station to begin the second day of replenishment with the BPF Carrier Force which was preparing for its sixth and final round of strikes against the Sakashima Islands during the first phase of Operation ICEBERG. The transfer of bombs from the ROBERT MAERSK s, fuel and stores from the other auxiliaries continued throughout the day until 1800 when BENDIGO and CAIRNS were detached with R.F.A. Oilers SAN AMBROSIO, SAN ADOLPHO and CEDARDALE to proceed to Manus. The group arrived at Manus on May 27th, BENDIGO and CAIRNS sailed again the following day, CAIRNS proceeding to Fremantle for a refit.

Post War history

HMAS CAIRNS was in dockyard hands when the Japanese surrender was announced, on completion of her refit she was allocated to the21st M/S Flotilla at Hong Kong. She called at Manus on September 25th, sailing again following day. At Hong Kong she assisted in clearing mines in Chinese waters, a task that continued until December. On release from the M/S Flotilla she returned to Australia in December 1945; HMAS CAIRNS was one of eight Bathurst Class minesweepers earmarked for transfer to the Royal Netherlands Navy2 and was paid off at Brisbane on January 17th 1946 and was renamed HLMNS AMBON the same day.

 

Notes:

1 RANR(S) = Royal Australian Navy Reserve (Seagoing)
2 RAN Bathurst Class minesweepers transferred to the Royal Netherlands NavyBURNIE - Jul 46 (HLMNS CERAM), CAIRNS - Feb 46 (HLMNS AMBON), IPSWICH - Jul 46 (HLMNS MORATAI), KALGOORLIE - Aug 46 (HLMNS TERNATE), LISMORE - Jul 46 (HLMNS BATJAN), TAMWORTH - Apr 46(HLMNS TIDORE), TOOWOOMBA – Jun 46 (HLMNS BOEROE), and WOLLONGONG – Feb 46 (HLMNS BANDA)

Last modified: 23 February 2023

 


Primary information sources

Additional sources:
 

LEVANT COMMAND War Diary September to November 1943 On-line at www.naval-history.net accessed 30 Jan 2020
EASTERN FLEET -War Diary January to October 1945 on-line at www.naval-history.netaccessed 30 Jan 2020

 



 

 

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