HMAS Lachlan (K364)

HMAS Lachlan shortly after the end of World War II
History
Australia
Name:	Lachlan
Namesake:	Lachlan River
Builder:	Morts Dock and Engineering Company
Laid down:	22 March 1943
Launched:	25 March 1944
Commissioned:	14 February 1945
Decommissioned:	5 October 1949
Fate:	Transferred to RNZN
New Zealand
Name:	Lachlan
Decommissioned:	February 1975
Fate:	"refit Barge" until late 1980s then sold to the Chilean Navy to continue as such
General characteristics
Class and type:	River-class frigate

HMAS Lachlan (K364/F364) (later HMNZS Lachlan (F364)) was a River-class frigate that served the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) from 1945 to 1949.

Lachlan was laid down by Morts Dock and Engineering Company at Balmain, New South Wales on 22 March 1943 and launched on 25 March 1944 by Sarah McNamara Scullin, wife of former Australian Prime Minister James Scullin. The ship was named for the Lachlan River in New South Wales, and commissioned into the RAN on 14 February 1945.

During 1945, Lachlan was used during the opening of the Captain Cook Graving Dock; her bow was used to cut the ribbon across the drydock's mouth.^[1]

Lachlan paid off on 5 October 1949. She was transferred to the Royal New Zealand Navy, renamed HMNZS Lachlan, and served as a survey and Antarctic supply vessel until February 1975. She was used as a "Refit Barge" with many workshops onboard until the late 1980s when she was sold to Chile to continue work as floating workshops for ships being refitted

References

1. Frame, Tom (2004). No Pleasure Cruise: the story of the Royal Australian Navy. Crows Nest, NSW: Allen & Unwin. p. 194. ISBN 1-74114-233-4. OCLC 55980812.