HMAS Kapunda
Class |
Bathurst Class |
---|---|
Type |
Australian Minesweeper |
Pennant |
J218 |
Builder |
Poole & Steel Ltd, Sydney |
Laid Down |
27 August 1941 |
Launched |
23 June 1942 |
Launched by |
Mary Lily May Quirk, member for Balmain in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly |
Commissioned |
21 October 1942 |
Decommissioned |
14 January 1946 |
Dimensions & Displacement | |
Displacement | 768 tons |
Length | 186 feet |
Beam | 31 feet |
Draught | 8 feet 6 inches |
Performance | |
Speed | 15.5 knots |
Complement | |
Crew | 77 |
Propulsion | |
Machinery | Triple expansion, 2 shafts |
Horsepower | 1800 |
Armament | |
Guns | 1 x 4-inch HA/LA gun |
Other Armament |
|
Awards | |
Battle Honours |

HMAS Kapunda 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 (including Kapunda) were built for the Royal Australian Navy and four for the Royal Indian Navy.
Kapunda commissioned at Sydney on 21 October 1942 under the command of Lieutenant Commander DA Menlove DSO RANR(S).
Kapunda began operational duty as a convoy escort vessel on the east coast of Australia, between Sydney and Brisbane. Until January 1943 the enemy were not active, but in that month Japanese submarines began their second sortie into Australian waters. Attacks on coastal shipping followed and eleven ships were lost before the enemy finally abandoned their attempt to halt the flow of supplies to forward areas.