HMAS Burdekin
 | |
| Type | River Class Frigate |
|---|---|
| Laid down | 17 January 1942 |
| Launched | 30 June 1943 by Miss K. Collings, daughter of the Minister for the Interior and Leader of the Government in the Senate |
| Builder | Walkers Ltd |
| Commissioned | 27 June 1944 |
| Displacement | 1,489 tons (standard) 2,120 tons (full load) |
| Length | 301 feet 4 inches |
| Beam | 36 feet 2 inches |
| Draught | 12 feet3.658 m 365.76 cm 0.00366 km 0.00227 mi 144 in |
| Armament |
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| Main Machinery |
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| Horsepower | 5,500 IHP |
| Speed | 20 knots10.289 m/s 37.04 km/h 0.0103 km/s 2,025.372 ft/min 33.756 ft/s |
| Complement | 140 |
HMAS BURDEKIN was ordered as part of Australia’s shipbuilding program during the Second World War. Twelve of these Australian built frigates were to enter service with the Royal Australian Navy. A further ten were ordered but cancelled as the war drew to a close.
Eight, HMA Ships BARCOO, BARWON, BURDEKIN, DIAMANTINA, GASCOYNE, HAWKESBURY, LACHLAN and MACQUARIE, were built to the British River Class design and Australia likewise named its frigates after Australian rivers. A further four, HMA Ships CONDAMINE, CULGOA, MURCHISON and SHOALHAVEN, were also named after Australian rivers but were built to the design of the Royal Navy’s Bay Class Frigates. These latter ships were generally known as Modified River Class Frigates although they are sometimes referred to as Bay Class.
BURDEKIN commissioned at Brisbane on 27 June 1944 under the command of Lieutenant Commander Thomas S. Marchington RNR.
Arriving in New Guinea waters in mid October 1944, BURDEKIN was one of the many ships of the Royal Australian Navy which put in months of hard work escorting valuable convoys, performing anti-submarine patrols and generally made it possible for the enormous tonnage of Allied shipping to arrive safely in the forward areas to support the Allied advance.
On 19 November 1944 BURDEKIN bombarded the northern tip of the Halmaheras and was engaged continuously in escort duties between New Guinea and the Philippines after the American invasion of these islands.
In May 1945 BURDEKIN operated in support of the Australian amphibious landing at Tarakan in Borneo, and carried out surveillance operations in the Borneo and Celebes areas. Following escort duties to Morotai, she returned to Sydney for refit.
With the cessation of hostilities in August 1945, BURDEKIN was one of a number of ships that made an unsuccessful attempt to contact Japanese forces on the island of Ambon. Shortly afterwards, on 8 September 1945, the surrender of Dutch Borneo by the Japanese was accepted on board BURDEKIN by Major General E.J. Milford, General Officer Commanding 7th Australian Division, from Vice Admiral Mitchishi Kamada.
In company with her sister ship HMAS GASCOYNE, BURDEKIN supported occupation operations in Borneo and Macassar, as well as evacuating prisoners of war.
BURDEKIN returned to Sydney on 5 January 1946. She sailed from Sydney for Melbourne on 20 March 1946, arriving two days later. BURDEKIN paid off into Reserve at Melbourne on 18 April 1946 and was laid up at Corio Bay, Geelong. In 1956 she was towed to Sydney.
Declared for disposal on 9 November 1960, BURDEKIN was eventually sold on 21 September 1961 to the Tolo Mining and Smelting Co Ltd of Hong Kong, together with HMA Ships CONDAMINE, HAWKESBURY and RESERVE, for an overall amount of £53,000 sterling. The purchase by Tolo was financed by the Mitsubishi Co of Japan, through its Australian agent, H.C. Sleigh. BURDEKIN was released to Mitsubishi to be broken up for scrap in Japan. RESERVE, formerly an RAN tug, left Sydney for Japan late in December 1961, towing BURDEKIN and CONDAMINE.
