HMAS Gunbar

HMAS Gunbar (GN) was an auxiliary minesweeper operated by the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) during World War II.

Gunbar
History
Australia
Name
  • Gunbar (1911-1946)
  • West River (1946-1950)
OwnerNorth Coast Steam Navigation Company
Port of registrySydney
BuilderArdrossan Drydock & Shipbuilding Company, Glasgow
Yard number243
Launched9 December 1911
CompletedFebruary 1912
Identification
FateScrapped in 1950
History
Australia
NameHMAS Gunbar
Acquired30 September 1940
In service18 December 1940
Out of service3 December 1945
FateSold in 1946
General characteristics
Tonnage480 gross register ton
Length150 ft (46 m)
Beam30 ft (9.1 m)
Depth8.7 ft (2.7 m)
PropulsionTwin screw
Speed10 knots
Complement4 officers and 23 ratings (RAN)
Armament
  • 1 × 12 pounder 12 cwt QF
  • 1 (quad) .5 inch Vickers MG
  • 2 Depth Charge chutes (RAN)

Gunbar was built by Ardrossan Drydock & Shipbuilding Company, Glasgow for the North Coast Steam Navigation Company and launched on 9 December 1911.[1][2] She was sold in 1926 to the Gunbar Shipping Company> Gunbar was sold back to the North Coast Steam Navigation Company in 1929, before being sold again in the same year to Richardson & Company. She was sold again in 1935 to Smith & Ellis.[3]

She was requisitioned by the RAN on 30 September 1940 and commissioned as HMAS Gunbar on 18 December 1940 for minesweeping duties during World War II. Gunbar was strafed and damaged during the Japanese air raid on Darwin on 19 February 1942, with one man killed.[4] She was converted to a boom-gate vessel and served at Port Kembla and Sydney. She was paid off on 3 December 1945.[5]

Bought by the RAN in 1946, she was sold to A.J. Ellerker and Company the same year. She was renamed West River and was in the process of being sold, however her sale fell through in 1950.[3]

Fate

West River was scrapped in Sydney in 1950.[3]

Notes

  1. "SS Gunbar". Clydebuiltships. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 21 August 2012.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  2. "Lloyd's Register 1940-41" (PDF). plimsollshipdata. Retrieved 21 August 2012.
  3. "North Coast Steam Navigation Company". Flotilla Australia. Archived from the original on 5 March 2012. Retrieved 21 August 2012.
  4. "Northern Territory Library | Roll of Honour : SHEPHERD, Herbert John (Jack)". Archived from the original on 22 December 2015. Retrieved 18 December 2015.
  5. "HMAS Gunbar". Royal Australian Navy. Archived from the original on 4 November 2012. Retrieved 21 August 2012.


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