HMAS Gascoyne (K354/F354/A276) was a River class frigate

River class frigate

The River class frigate was a class of 151 frigates launched between 1941 and 1944 for use as anti-submarine convoy escorts in the North Atlantic....

 that served in the Royal Australian Navy

Royal Australian Navy

The Royal Australian Navy is the naval branch of the Australian Defence Force. Following the Federation of Australia in 1901, the ships and resources of the separate colonial navies were integrated into a national force: the Commonwealth Naval Forces...

 (RAN). Laid down in 1942 and commissioned in 1943, the frigate served during World War II, before being placed in reserve in 1946. Reactivated in 1959, Gascoyne was reclassified as a survey and research ship, a role she fulfilled until she was decommissioned again in 1966, and sold for scrap in 1972

Construction

Gascoyne was laid down by Morts Dock and Engineering Company in Balmain, New South Wales

Balmain, New South Wales

Balmain is a suburb in the inner-west of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Balmain is located slightly west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the Municipality of Leichhardt....

 on 3 July 1942. She was launched on 20 February 1943 by Lady Wakehurst, wife of the Governor of New South Wales, and commissioned into the RAN on 18 November 1943. The ship was named after the Gascoyne River

Gascoyne River

At 760 km, the Gascoyne River is the longest river in Western Australia.The river rises below Wilgoona Hill in the Robinson Ranges west of the Gibson Desert and it flows into Shark Bay and the Indian Ocean at Carnarvon....

.

Operational history

Gascoyne was present in Tokyo Bay

Tokyo Bay

is a bay in the southern Kantō region of Japan. Its old name was .-Geography:Tokyo Bay is surrounded by the Bōsō Peninsula to the east and the Miura Peninsula to the west. In a narrow sense, Tokyo Bay is the area north of the straight line formed by the on the Miura Peninsula on one end and on...

 on Victory over Japan Day

Victory over Japan Day

Victory over Japan Day is a name chosen for the day on which the Surrender of Japan occurred, effectively ending World War II, and subsequent anniversaries of that event...

 (2 September 1945), when the Japanese Instrument of Surrender

Japanese Instrument of Surrender

The Japanese Instrument of Surrender was the written agreement that enabled the Surrender of Japan, marking the end of World War II. It was signed by representatives from the Empire of Japan, the United States of America, the Republic of China, the United Kingdom, the Union of Soviet Socialist...

 was signed.

The frigate received five battle honour

Battle honour

A battle honour is an award of a right by a government or sovereign to a military unit to emblazon the name of a battle or operation on its flags , uniforms or other accessories where ornamentation is possible....

s for her wartime service: "New Guinea 1944", "Leyte Gulf 1944", "Lingayen Gulf 1945", "Borneo 1945", and "Pacific 1945".

Gascoyne paid off into reserve on 12 April 1946, but recommissioned at Sydney on 8 June 1959 for survey and oceanographic research duty. She was equipped with a deep water mechanical bathythermograph

Bathythermograph

The bathythermograph, or BT, is a small torpedo-shaped device that holds a temperature sensor and a transducer to detect changes in water temperature versus depth. Lowered into the water from an underway ship, the BT records pressure and temperature changes as it is dropped through the water...

 instrument.

Decommissioning and fate

Gascoyne paid off again on 1 February 1966, and was sold for scrap to the Fujita Salvage Company Limited of Osaka in Japan on 15 February 1972. The bathythermograph was transferred to . Gascoyne left Melbourne under tow for Japan on 6 July 1972.