HMAS Lithgow (J206)

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HMAS Lithgow (J206/M206), named for the city of Lithgow, New South Wales, Australia was one of 60 Bathurst-class corvettes constructed during World War II, and one of 36 initially manned and commissioned solely 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 Lithgow) 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/>

Lithgow was laid down by Morts Dock & Engineering Co at Mort's Dock in Balmain, New South Wales on 19 August 1940.<ref name=SPC/> She was launched on 21 December 1940, and commissioned into the RAN on 14 June 1941.<ref name=SPC/>

Operational history

Lithgow, in company with Template:USS, Template:HMAS, and Template:HMAS, sank the enemy Japanese submarine I-124 off Darwin, the first enemy submarine sunk in Australian waters, on 20 January 1942.<ref name=SPC/>

In May 1943, Lithgow was one of several ships to search for survivors following the torpedoing of AHS Centaur, with no success.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

The corvette received three battle honours for her wartime service: "Darwin 1942", "Pacific 1941–45", and "New Guinea 1942–44".<ref name=newhonours>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=honourslist>Template:Cite web</ref>

Fate

Lithgow paid off to reserve on 8 June 1948 and was sold for scrap to the Hong Kong Delta Shipping Company on 8 August 1956.<ref name=SPC/>

References

Books

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Journal and news articles

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