HMAS Lithgow (J206)

HMAS Lithgow at Milne Bay, Papua during 1943
History
Australia
Namesake:	City of Lithgow, New South Wales
Builder:	Mort's Dock & Engineering Co in Sydney
Laid down:	19 August 1940
Launched:	21 December 1940
Commissioned:	14 June 1941
Decommissioned:	8 June 1948
Honours and awards:	Battle honours: Darwin 1942 Pacific 1941–45 New Guinea 1942–44
Fate:	Sold for scrap in 1956
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:	10 ft (3.0 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

HMAS Lithgow (J206/M206), named for the city of Lithgow, New South Wales, Australia was one of 60 Bathurst-class corvettes constructed during World War II, and one of 36 initially manned and commissioned solely by the Royal Australian Navy (RAN).^[1]

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.^[2][3] 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)^[4] 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.^[2][5] Construction of the prototype HMAS Kangaroo did not go ahead, but the plans were retained.^[6] 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 Lithgow) ordered by the RAN, 20 ordered by the British Admiralty but manned and commissioned as RAN vessels, and 4 for the Royal Indian Navy.^{[2][7][8][9][1]}

Lithgow was laid down by Morts Dock & Engineering Co at Mort's Dock in Balmain, New South Wales on 19 August 1940.^[1] She was launched on 21 December 1940, and commissioned into the RAN on 14 June 1941.^[1]

Operational history

Lithgow, in company with USS Edsall, HMAS Katoomba, and HMAS Deloraine, sank the enemy Japanese submarine I-124 off Darwin, the first enemy submarine sunk in Australian waters, on 20 January 1942.^[1]

In May 1943, Lithgow was one of several ships to search for survivors following the torpedoing of AHS Centaur, with no success.^[10]

The corvette received three battle honours for her wartime service: "Darwin 1942", "Pacific 1941–45", and "New Guinea 1942–44".^[11][12]

Fate

Lithgow paid off to reserve on 8 June 1948 and was sold for scrap to the Hong Kong Delta Shipping Company on 8 August 1956.^[1]

Citations

1. "HMAS Lithgow". Sea Power Centre Australia. Retrieved 15 September 2008.
2. Stevens, The Australian Corvettes, p. 1
3. Stevens, A Critical Vulnerability, p. 103
4. Stevens, A Critical Vulnerability, pp. 103–4
5. Stevens, A Critical Vulnerability, pp. 103–5
6. Stevens, A Critical Vulnerability, p. 104
7. Stevens, A Critical Vulnerability, pp. 105, 148
8. Donohue, From Empire Defence to the Long Haul, p. 29
9. Stevens et al., The Royal Australian Navy, p. 108
10. Smith, A.E. (May 1992) [1991]. Three Minutes of Time – the torpedoing of the Australian Hospital Ship Centaur (Second Printing ed.). Miami, QLD: Tasman Press. ISBN 0-646-07631-0.
11. "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.
12. "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.

References

Books

• Donohue, Hector (October 1996). From Empire Defence to the Long Haul: post-war defence policy and its impact on naval force structure planning 1945–1955. Papers in Australian Maritime Affairs. No. 1. Canberra: Sea Power Centre. ISBN 0-642-25907-0. ISSN 1327-5658. OCLC 36817771.
• Stevens, David (2005). A Critical Vulnerability: the impact of the submarine threat on Australia's maritime defense 1915–1954. Papers in Australian Maritime Affairs. No. 15. Canberra: Sea Power Centre Australia. ISBN 0-642-29625-1. ISSN 1327-5658. OCLC 62548623.
• Stevens, David; Sears, Jason; Goldrick, James; Cooper, Alastair; Jones, Peter; Spurling, Kathryn, (2001). Stevens, David, ed. The Royal Australian Navy. The Australian Centenary History of Defence (vol III). South Melbourne, VIC: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-554116-2. OCLC 50418095.

Journal and news articles

• Stevens, David (May 2010). "The Australian Corvettes" (PDF). Hindsight (Semaphore) (Sea Power Centre – Australia) 2010 (05). Retrieved 13 August 2010.

External links