HMA Ship Histories
HMAS ECHUCA
Statistics
| Type | Australian Minesweeper (Bathurst Class) |
|---|---|
| Displacement | 650 tons (standard) |
| Length | 186 feet |
| Beam | 31 feet |
| Draught | 8 feet 6 inches |
| Builder | Melbourne Harbour Trust, Williamstown |
| Laid Down | 22 February 1941 |
| Launched | 17 January 1942, by Lady Royle, wife of the First Naval Member |
| Machinery | Triple expansion, 2 shafts |
| Horsepower | 2,000 IHP |
| Speed | 15 knots |
| Armament | 1 x 4-inch gun 3 x Oerlikons Machine guns Depth charge chutes and throwers |
| Complement | 85 |
HMAS ECHUCA was one of sixty Australian Minesweepers (commonly known as corvettes) built during World War II in Australian shipyards as part of the Commonwealth Government’s wartime shipbuilding programme. Twenty were built on Admiralty order but manned and commissioned by the Royal Australian Navy. Thirty-six were built for the Royal Australian Navy and four for the Royal Indian Navy.
ECHUCA commissioned at Melbourne on 7 September 1942 under the command of Lieutenant Commander Ronald A. Nettlefold RANR.
ECHUCA served as an escort and anti-submarine patrol vessel on the east coast of Australia and in the New Guinea area from October 1942 to August 1944, during which period she steamed 59,000 miles.
In August 1944 she proceeded to Darwin where she passed to the operational control of the United States 7th Fleet Survey Group, Task Group 70.5. ECHUCA operated on survey duties in northern Australian waters until October 1945, when she proceeded from Darwin to Brisbane to replace minesweeping gear prior to joining the 20th Minesweeping Flotilla to take part in the RAN post war minesweeping programme. Following brief sweeping operations in Australian waters ECHUCA proceeded with the Flotilla to New Britain and the Solomon Islands.
In August 1946 ECHUCA returned to Australia for paying off into the Reserve Fleet at Sydney. She returned to service in January 1947 for further minesweeping duty with the 20th Minesweeping Flotilla and until October 1947 was engaged in mine clearance on the Barrier Reef, Queensland.
In November 1947 ECHUCA towed her sister ship HMAS INVERELL from Brisbane to Sydney. She paid off into Reserve at Fremantle on 29 June 1948. In April – May 1952 the ship proceeded to Melbourne where she was transferred to the Royal New Zealand Navy, having steamed some 123,000 miles as a unit of the RAN.
After serving in the Royal New Zealand Navy until 1967, ECHUCA was sold for scrap to Pacific Scrap Ltd, of Auckland, New Zealand.
Further Reading
- The Corvettes: Forgotten Ships of the Royal Australian Navy by Iris Nesdale
Published by the Author, October, 1982. - Corvettes - Little Ships for Big Men by Frank B. Walker
published by Kingfisher Press, NSW, 1996.
