HMAS Bowen

History
Australia
Namesake: Town of Bowen, Queensland
Builder: Walkers Limited
Laid down: 9 February 1942
Launched: 11 June 1942
Commissioned: 9 November 1942
Decommissioned: 17 January 1946
Honours and
awards:
Fate: Scrapped
General characteristics
Class and type: Bathurst class corvette
Displacement: 650 tons (standard), 1,025 tons (full war load)
Length: 186 ft (57 m)
Beam: 31 ft (9.4 m)
Draught: 8.5 ft (2.6 m)
Propulsion: triple expansion engine, 2 shafts
Speed: 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph) at 1,750 hp
Complement: 85
Armament: 1 × 4-inch gun, 3 × Oerlikons, Machine guns, Depth charges chutes and throwers

HMAS Bowen (J285/M285), named for the town of Bowen, Queensland, was a Bathurst class corvette of the Royal Australian Navy.

Design and construction

In 1938, the Australian Commonwealth Naval Board (ACNB) identified the need for a general purpose 'local defence vessel' capable of both anti-submarine and mine-warfare duties, while easy to construct and operate.[3][4] The vessel was initially envisaged as having a displacement of approximately 500 tons, a speed of at least 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph), and a range of 2,000 nautical miles (3,700 km; 2,300 mi)[5] The opportunity to build a prototype in the place of a cancelled Bar-class boom defence vessel saw the proposed design increased to a 680-ton vessel, with a 15.5 knots (28.7 km/h; 17.8 mph) top speed, and a range of 2,850 nautical miles (5,280 km; 3,280 mi), armed with a 4-inch gun, equipped with asdic, and able to fitted with either depth charges or minesweeping equipment depending on the planned operations: although closer in size to a sloop than a local defence vessel, the resulting increased capabilities were accepted due to advantages over British-designed mine warfare and anti-submarine vessels.[3][6] Construction of the prototype HMAS Kangaroo did not go ahead, but the plans were retained.[7] The need for locally built 'all-rounder' vessels at the start of World War II saw the "Australian Minesweepers" (designated as such to hide their anti-submarine capability, but popularly referred to as "corvettes") approved in September 1939, with 60 constructed during the course of the war: 36 (including Bowen) ordered by the RAN, 20 ordered by the British Admiralty but manned and commissioned as RAN vessels, and 4 for the Royal Indian Navy.[3][8][9][10][11]

Bowen was laid down by Walkers Limited at Maryborough, Queensland on 9 February 1942, launched on 11 June 1942 by Mrs. Crittal and commissioned on 9 November 1942.[11]

Operational history

The corvette operated in the South West Pacific area during World War II, and earned the battle honours "Pacific 1942–45" and "New Guinea 1943–44" for her service.[1][2]

Fate

Bowen paid off on 17 January 1946 and was sold for scrap to the Hong Kong Rolling Mills on 18 May 1956.[11]

Citations

  1. 1 2 "Navy Marks 109th Birthday With Historic Changes To Battle Honours". Royal Australian Navy. 1 March 2010. Archived from the original on 13 June 2011. Retrieved 23 December 2012.
  2. 1 2 "Royal Australian Navy Ship/Unit Battle Honours" (PDF). Royal Australian Navy. 1 March 2010. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 June 2011. Retrieved 23 December 2012.
  3. 1 2 3 Stevens, The Australian Corvettes, p. 1
  4. ↑ Stevens, A Critical Vulnerability, p. 103
  5. ↑ Stevens, A Critical Vulnerability, pp. 103–4
  6. ↑ Stevens, A Critical Vulnerability, pp. 103–5
  7. ↑ Stevens, A Critical Vulnerability, p. 104
  8. ↑ Stevens, A Critical Vulnerability, pp. 105, 148
  9. ↑ Donohue, From Empire Defence to the Long Haul, p. 29
  10. ↑ Stevens et al., The Royal Australian Navy, p. 108
  11. 1 2 3 "HMAS Bowen". Royal Australian Navy. Retrieved 7 April 2015.

References

Books
Journal and news articles
Wikimedia Commons has media related to J283 Bowen (ship, 1942).



This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 9/1/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.