HMAS Bathurst (I)
HMAS
Bathurst
(I)
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HMAS Bathurst (I) was the first 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 (including Bathurst) 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.
HMAS Bathurst (I) was laid down at Cockatoo Docks and Engineering Co Ltd, Sydney, NSW on 10 February 1940. She was the first RAN warship to carry the name of the regional city in the central tablelands of NSW, located 200 kilometres north west of Sydney. She was launched on 1 August 1940 by Mrs Doyle, wife of the Engineer Manager, Garden Island Dockyard.
Laying the keel of the first Australian Corvette, HMAS Bathurst, at Cockatoo Island Dockyard.
HMAS Bathurst (I) takes to the water for the first time at Cockatoo Island Dockyard on 1 August 1940.
HMAS Bathurst (I) undergoing sea trials prior to commisioning. Note the Red Ensign flying from her mainmast indicating that she is still in the hands of the builders and yet to be handed over to the RAN.
HMAS Bathurst (I) commissioned at Sydney on 6 December 1940 under the command of Lieutenant Commander AV Bunyan RANR(S).
Bathurst began her career in January 1941 as a unit of the 21st Minesweeping Flotilla (RAN), operating on the east Australian coast. In March 1941 she left Australian waters for Malaya, where she operated as a patrol vessel based on Singapore until 26 May 1941.
On 3 June 1941 she arrived at Colombo and there joined the Eastern Fleet for escort and patrol duties. At the close of June, Bathurst entered the Red Sea, spending a month in those waters before docking at Alexandria on 4 August 1941.
Left: Image of HMAS Bathurst (I) at sea. Right: Informal portrait of Able Seaman Walter Ernest Anderson at the helm of Bathurst. AB Anderson enlisted in the RAN in January 1914 and was aboard HMAS Sydney during her battle with the German light cruiser SMS Emden on 9 September 1914. He survived the First World War and re-enlisted in the RAN in 1940 serving aboard HMAS Bathurst (I) before his discharge in January 1942. The ship's wheel of HMAS Bathurst (I) is held at the Australian War Memorial. (AWM P11597.001)
On 25 August 1941 Bathurst returned to Aden, and then began a period of three and a half months on patrol in the Gulf of Tajura (French Somaliland), with the mission of preventing dhow traffic and blockade maintenance of the African coast. On 18 October 1941 she captured the French launch Heron, and dhows on 5 September and 14 November 1941.
Red Sea patrols ended on 16 December when Bathurst proceeded to Colombo, arriving on 29 December. Throughout 1942 she was based on Colombo for escort and patrol duties in the Indian Ocean, Persian Gulf and Arabian Sea. On 18 October 1942 Lieutenant Commander Bunyan was relieved by Lieutenant Commander C MacDonald RANR(S), after almost two years in command. At this stage of her career Bathurst had steamed 70,000 miles and escorted more than 1,000,000 tons of shipping without loss.
Christmas Day was an important celebration for ships deployed on far-flung operations away from family and friends.
HMAS Bathurst (I)'s main mast proudly flying the Australian National Flag and multiple White Wnsigns.
Convoys between Bombay, the Persian Gulf and Aden kept Bathurst almost constantly at sea during the period of January to August 1943. Interspersed with anti-submarine patrols she escorted 28 convoys safely across the Arabian Sea.
In September 1943, with 102,000 miles steaming behind her, she began refitting at Colombo. Convoy escort duty between Colombo and Bombay resumed in November, and the year closed with Bathurst at sea en route for Calcutta.
Escort duty between Colombo to Bombay continued into 1944. At Bombay on 14 April Bathurst played a worthy role in the rescue and salvage work that followed the explosion of the munition ships Fort Strikine and Jalapadma. Fifteen ships were gutted by the resulting fires and large numbers of the local population killed and injured.
On 7 August 1944 Bathurst reached Colombo after escorting her last Indian Ocean convoy. Three weeks later, on 29 August, she sailed for Australia, ending almost 3½ years Indian Ocean-Red Sea service. On 20 September 1944 she entered Fremantle harbour.
Australian coastal anti-submarine patrols kept Bathurst in home waters until April 1945 when she proceeded to New Guinea waters. At this stage of the Pacific War, with the Philippines in American hands, there remained only routine patrols for her until the end of hostilities in August 1945.
The war ended, Bathurst proceeded to the Far East as a unit of the 21st Minesweeping Flotilla (eleven Australian minesweepers) attached to the British Pacific Fleet. Based on Hong Kong the Flotilla carried out sweeping operations on the Chinese coast until mid-November 1945.
On 9 December 1945 HMAS Bathurst (I) returned to Sydney, bringing her seagoing career to an end. She had steamed 160,165 miles. On 27 September 1946 she was placed in Reserve for disposal. HMAS Bathurst (I) was sold on 21 June 1948 to T Carr and Co of Sydney as scrap.
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This cine film has been placed online as part of the Sea Power Centre - Australia’s ongoing archival digitisation program.
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.
- ‘The Australian Centenary History of Defence Volume III, The Royal Australian Navy’ edited by David Stevens, Oxford University Press, South Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 2001.
HMAS Bathurst (I) lent its name to a versatile class of ships that soon became known as 'maids of all work'. Their design was simple and they could be constructed in a relatively short period of time.
