HMAS Kapunda (J218/M218), named for the town of Kapunda, South Australia, was one of 60 Bathurst class corvettes

Bathurst class corvette

The Bathurst class corvettes were a class of general purpose vessels produced in Australia during World War II. Originally classified as minesweepers, but widely referred to as corvettes, the Bathurst class vessels fulfilled a broad anti-submarine, anti-mine, and convoy escort role.Sixty Bathurst...

 constructed during World War II, and one of 36 initially manned and commissioned solely by 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).

Construction

Kapunda was laid down by Poole and Steele Ltd at 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 27 August 1941. She was launched on 23 June 1942 by Mary Quirk

Mary Quirk

Mary Lily May Quirk was an Australian politician.Born in Coonamble in New South Wales to farmer Julius Deal and his wife Emma Margaretta White, she was educated at Rozelle before commencing work as a domestic servant. She was later employed as a shop assistant with Grace Brothers, leading to her...

, the Mary Lily May Quirk, then Member for Balmain

Electoral district of Balmain

Balmain is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly of the Australian state of New South Wales in Sydney's Inner West. It includes the suburbs and localities of Annandale, Balmain, Balmain East, Birchgrove, Forest Lodge, Glebe, Glebe Island, Haberfield, Leichhardt, Lilyfield, Rozelle,...

 in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly

New South Wales Legislative Assembly

The Legislative Assembly, or lower house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of New South Wales, an Australian state. The other chamber is the Legislative Council. Both the Assembly and Council sit at Parliament House in the state capital, Sydney...

, and was commissioned into the RAN on 21 October 1942.

Operational history

Kapunda entered service as a convoy escort along the east coast of Australia. Initially operating between Sydney and Brisbane, she was reassigned to the Queensland-New Guinea run in March 1943. Kapunda fired in anger for the first time during March, when eight Japanese bombers and twelve Japanese fighter aircraft attacked a convoy escorted by Kapunda and sister ship . Anti-aircraft fire from the two corvettes drove the aircraft off. On 12 April, a convoy under escort by the corvette was attacked by a formation of 37 Japanese aircraft. Several aircraft were destroyed by combined fire from Kapunda and the merchant ships, but the merchantman MV Gorgon was successfully hit and started to burn. Kapunda manoeuvered alongside the damaged ship and sent firefighting parties aboard, extinguishing the flames and helping Gorgon to proceed to port.

On 1 April 1944, the corvette was redeployed to New Guinea. Kapunda was tasked with convoy escort, anti-submarine patrol, and shore bombardment duties, and remained in the area until October 1944, when she returned to Sydney for refit. After the refit concluded in late November, she returned to her duties in New Guinea, and with the exception of a brief docking in Darwin in June 1945, served in these roles until the end of World War II.

Following the war, Kapunda was used to assist the evacuation of Allied prisoners-of-war from Kuching

Kuching

Kuching , officially the City of Kuching, and formerly the City of Sarawak, is the capital and most populous city of the East Malaysian state of Sarawak. It is the largest city on the island of Borneo, and the fourth largest city in Malaysia....

, and was the venue for the signing of the surrender of Japanese forces in the Kuching area, with Major General Yamamura signing the instrument of surrender onboard. Kapunda returned to Australian waters in November 1945.

The corvette received two 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: "Pacific 1942-45" and "New Guinea 1943-44".

Decommissioning and fate

Kapunda was paid off into reserve on 14 January 1946. She was marked for disposal on 30 December 1960, and was sold on 6 January 1961 to Kinoshita (Australia) Pty Ltd for breaking up as scrap.