HMAS Townsville (J205/M205/A124), named after the city of Townsville, Queensland

Townsville, Queensland

Townsville is a city on the north-eastern coast of Australia, in the state of Queensland. Adjacent to the central section of the Great Barrier Reef, it is in the dry tropics region of Queensland. Townsville is Australia's largest urban centre north of the Sunshine Coast, with a 2006 census...

, 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

Townsville was laid down by Evans Deakin & Co at Brisbane

Brisbane

Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...

, Queensland on 16 November 1940. She was launced on 13 May 1941 by Mrs. P. E. McNeil, wife of the Third Member of the Naval Board, and commissioned into th RAN on 19 December 1941.

Operational history

Townsville entered active service in February 1942, escorting convoys between Darwin and Thursday Island. She was present in Darwin Harbour when the Japanese aircraft bombed the area on 19 February 1942, but was not damaged. Townsville remained in Darwin until July 1942, when she was sent to Sydney to begin escort duties off the east coast of Australia. The ship remained until May 1944, and despite being in the heaviest period of Japanese naval activity in Australian waters

Axis naval activity in Australian waters

Although Australia was remote from the main battlefronts, there was considerable Axis naval activity in Australian waters during the Second World War. A total of 54 German and Japanese warships and submarines entered Australian waters between 1940 and 1945 and attacked ships, ports and other targets...

, only one ship was lost from a Townsville convoy; the iron ore transport Iron Knight was torpedoed by Japanese submarine I-21

Japanese submarine I-21

was a Japanese Type B1 submarine which saw service during World War II in the Imperial Japanese Navy. She displaced 1,950 tons and had a speed of . I-21 was the most successful Japanese submarine to operate in Australian waters, participating in the attack on Sydney Harbour in 1942 and sinking...

 on 8 February 1943.

In May 1944, Townsville began a five-month tour of escort and patrol duties in New Guinea

New Guinea

New Guinea is the world's second largest island, after Greenland, covering a land area of 786,000 km2. Located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, it lies geographically to the east of the Malay Archipelago, with which it is sometimes included as part of a greater Indo-Australian Archipelago...

, returned briefly to Australian waters for minesweeping work in November 1944, was reassigned to New Guinea at the end of the month, and remained in the area of Morotai

Morotai

Morotai Island Regency is a regency of North Maluku province, Indonesia, located on Morotai Island. The population was 54,876 in 2007.-History:...

 and Biak

Biak

Biak features a tropical rainforest climate with nearly identical temperatures throughout the course of the year. The average annual temperature in the city is 27 degrees celsius, which is also generally the average temperature of each day in Biak...

 until June 1945. Townsville was then sent to Melbourne for refitting, and was in dock when World War II ended.

The corvette received three 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: "Darwin 1942", "Pacific 1942-45", and "New Guinea 1944".

Following the war, Townsville was engaged in minesweeping and patrol duties in Australian and New Britain

New Britain

New Britain, or Niu Briten, is the largest island in the Bismarck Archipelago of Papua New Guinea. It is separated from the island of New Guinea by the Dampier and Vitiaz Straits and from New Ireland by St. George's Channel...

waters, before being decommissioned into reserve in Fremantle on 5 August 1946.