HMAS Geranium

Template:Infobox ship imageTemplate:Infobox ship careerTemplate:Infobox ship careerTemplate:Infobox ship characteristics

HMAS Geranium (formerly HMS Geranium) was an Template:Sclass sloop built in Scotland and launched in 1915. The ship was operated by the Royal Navy as a minesweeper from 1915 until 1919, when she was transferred to the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) for use as a survey ship between 1919 and 1927. The ship was decommissioned in 1927 and scrapped during 1932, with the remains scuttled in 1935.

Design and construction

Template:Main Geranium was one of 56 Arabis-class sloops built for the Royal Navy during World War I.<ref name=FrameBaker114/> The sloops-of-war were intended for minesweeping duties in European waters.<ref name=FrameBaker114/>

Geranium had a displacement of 1,250 tons.<ref name=FrameBaker114/> She was Template:Convert in length overall, had a beam of Template:Convert, and a maximum draught of Template:Convert.<ref name=Bastock90>Bastock, Australia's Ships of War, p. 90</ref> The propulsion system consisted of a four-cylinder triple expansion engine, connected to a single propeller shaft.<ref name=Bastock90/> Maximum speed was Template:Convert, and the ship could achieve a range of Template:Convert at Template:Convert.<ref name=Bastock90/> Up to 250 tons of coal could be carried.<ref>Frame & Baker, Mutiny!, p. 115</ref>

Geranium was laid down for the Royal Navy by the Greenock & Grangemouth Dockyard Company, Greenock, Scotland, in August 1915 and launched on 8 November 1915.<ref name=Bastock91>Bastock, Australia's Ships of War, p. 91</ref> She was delivered to the Royal Navy on 18 March 1916.<ref name="sweptp366">Dorling 1935, p. 366</ref>

Operational history

Geranium joined the Mediterranean Fleet after commissioning, being based at Malta.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>

After World War I, Geranium and two sister ships (Template:HMAS and Template:HMAS) were sent to Australia to clear mines deployed by the German auxiliary cruiser Template:SMS.<ref name=FrameBaker114>Frame & Baker, Mutiny!, p. 114</ref> Despite hard work in rough seas, the ships only found one mine.<ref name=FrameBaker114/>

Geranium and the other two ships were transferred to the Royal Australian Navy on 18 October 1919.<ref name=FrameBaker114/> The ships' minesweeper design made them suitable for handling survey equipment,<ref name=FrameBaker114/> and Geranium entered RAN service as the navy's first survey ship.<ref name=Bastock92>Bastock, Australia's Ships of War, p. 92</ref> The ship was poorly designed for survey duties in tropical Australian waters: she was designed for the North Sea climate, and was required to carry a ship's company of 113, 36 more than the intended ship's company of 77.<ref name=FrameBaker114/> In 1923, the sloop ran aground on an uncharted reef off Vanderlin Island in the Gulf of Carpentaria.<ref>Frame & Baker, Mutiny!, pp. 118-9</ref> The ship's company were able to refloat the ship and patch the damage, and after repairs in Sydney, the ship resumed northern survey operations.<ref name=FrameBaker119>Frame & Baker, Mutiny!, p. 119</ref> In October, Geranium rescued the civilian steamship Montoro after she struck Young Reef.<ref name=FrameBaker119/>

In early 1924, the ship ran aground again in the MacArthur River.<ref name=FrameBaker119/> The ship was refloated and repaired.<ref name=FrameBaker119/> Later that year, Geranium was fitted to carry a Fairey IIID seaplane: the first RAN survey vessel to carry an aircraft.<ref name=FrameBaker120>Frame & Baker, Mutiny!, p. 120</ref> In May 1927, the survey ship assisted the steamship Tasman, which had hit a reef off Clarke Island.<ref name=FrameBaker120/>

Decommissioning and fate

Geranium paid off in 1927.<ref name=Bastock92/> The ship was broken up for scrap at Cockatoo Island Dockyard during 1932, and the stripped hulk was sunk as a target in the Tasman Sea outside Sydney Heads on 24 April 1935.<ref name=FrameBaker120/><ref>Gray, Randal, ed., Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1985, Template:ISBN, p. 95.</ref>

References

• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book