HMAS Echuca
Template:Use Australian English Template:Use dmy dates
Template:Infobox ship imageTemplate:Infobox ship careerTemplate:Infobox ship careerTemplate:Infobox ship careerTemplate:Infobox ship characteristicsHMAS Echuca (J252/M252), named for the town of Echuca, Victoria, was one of 60 Template:Sclasss constructed during World War II, and one of 36 initially manned and commissioned by 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 (including Echuca) ordered by the RAN, 20 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/>
Echuca was laid down by HMA Naval Dockyard at Williamstown, Victoria on 22 February 1941.<ref name=SPC/> She was launched on 17 January 1942 by Lady Royle, wife of First Naval Member Sir Guy Royle, and commissioned into the RAN on 7 September 1942.<ref name=SPC/>
Operational history
World War II
Echuca’s initial role was as an anti-submarine patrol and convoy escort vessel along the eastern Australia coast and in New Guinea waters.<ref name=SPC/> She stayed in this role from October 1942 until August 1944, when she was ordered to Darwin and attached to the United States Seventh Fleet's Survey Group.<ref name=SPC/> She performed survey duties until the end of World War II, when she was refitted with minesweeping gear in Brisbane and assigned to the 20th Minesweeping Flotilla.<ref name=SPC/> The Flotilla was responsible for clearing minefields set up in the waters of Australia, New Guinea, New Britain, and the Solomon Islands.<ref name=SPC/>
Echuca received the battle honours "Pacific 1942–44" and "New Guinea 1943–44" for her wartime service.<ref name=newhonours>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=honourslist>Template:Cite web</ref>
Echuca was paid off into Reserve in August 1946, but recommissioned in January 1947 for mine clearance work in the Great Barrier Reef.<ref name=SPC/> The corvette performed this duty until August 1947, and in November 1947 towed the decommissioned corvette Template:HMAS to Sydney.<ref name=SPC/> Echuca was decommissioned again in Fremantle on 29 June 1948. At the end of April 1952, the corvette was sailed to Melbourne.<ref name=SPC/>
RNZN service
On 5 March 1952, Echuca and three other Bathurst-class corvettes (HMA Ships Inverell, Template:HMAS, and Template:HMAS) were transferred to the Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> She was commissioned into the RNZN in May 1952, and received the prefix HMNZS.<ref name=Gillett140>Template:Cite book</ref>
The corvette remained in service with the RNZN until 1967, although from 1953 she was classified as being in reserve.<ref name=SPC/><ref name=Gillett140/> She was sold to Pacific Scrap Limited of Auckland for scrapping<ref name=SPC/> on 11 April 1967.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>