HMAS Broome (J191)

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HMAS Broome (J191), named for the town of Broome, Western Australia, was one of 60 Bathurst-class corvettes constructed during World War II and one of 20 built for the Admiralty but manned by personnel of and commissioned into the Royal Australian Navy (RAN).<ref name=SPC>Template:Cite web</ref>

Design and construction

Template:Main 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.<ref name=Hindsight1>Stevens, The Australian Corvettes, p. 1</ref><ref name=StevensACV103>Stevens, A Critical Vulnerability, p. 103</ref> The vessel was initially envisaged as having a displacement of approximately 500 tons, a speed of at least Template:Convert, and a range of Template:Convert<ref name=StevensACV103.4>Stevens, A Critical Vulnerability, pp. 103–4</ref> 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 Template:Convert top speed, and a range of Template:Convert, 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.<ref name=Hindsight1/><ref>Stevens, A Critical Vulnerability, pp. 103–5</ref> Construction of the prototype Template:HMAS did not go ahead, but the plans were retained.<ref name=StevensACV104>Stevens, A Critical Vulnerability, p. 104</ref> 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 ordered by the RAN, 20 (including Broome) ordered by the British Admiralty but manned and commissioned as RAN vessels, and 4 for the Royal Indian Navy.<ref name=Hindsight1/><ref>Stevens, A Critical Vulnerability, pp. 105, 148</ref><ref name=Donohue29>Donohue, From Empire Defence to the Long Haul, p. 29</ref><ref name=Stevens108>Stevens et al., The Royal Australian Navy, p. 108</ref><ref name=SPC/>

Template:Stack Broome was laid down by Evans Deakin and Company at Brisbane on 3 May 1941, launched on 6 October 1941 by Mrs. M. J. McKew, wife of the shipyard's works manager, and commissioned on 29 July 1942.<ref name=SPC/>

Operational history

The corvette operated during World War II, and was awarded the battle honours "Pacific 1942-45" and "New Guinea 1942-44" for her service.<ref name=newhonours/><ref name=honourslist/>

HMAS Broome paid off on 24 August 1946, was sold to the Turkish Navy and renamed Alanya.<ref name=SPC/> The vessel left Turkish service in 1975.<ref name=SPC/> The ship's bell was recovered before the sale, and returned to Broome.<ref name=SPC/> It was presented to the Broome Road Board in June 1952, who then passed the bell on to Broome State School in November.<ref name=SPC/> The bell later ended up at the town's Returned and Services League club.<ref name=SPC/>

References

Books

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