MOUNT STEWART
Date1921-1976
Object numberANMS1472[020]
NamePostcard
MediumPaper
DimensionsOverall: 87 × 137 mm
ClassificationsPosters and postcards
Credit LineAustralian National Maritime Museum Collection Gift from Anne Marie Ingham and Becky Ingham-Broomfield
Collections
Northam's other command, HMAS Westralia, began life as a steamer constructed by Scottish shipbuilder Harland and Wolff in 1929. It was acquired by the RAN and converted into an armed merchant cruiser in November 1939. Westralia's time as an armed merchant cruiser was spent escorting convoys from Australia and New Zealand to various locales throughout the Indian and Pacific Oceans. During one of these missions in December 1941, the ship was the scene of the largest mutiny in RAN history, when 104 crewmen were arrested and charged for failing to report for duty. On 31 May of the following year, Westralia was in Sydney Harbour when three Japanese midget submarines entered and attacked naval vessels, resulting in the loss of the depot ship HMAS Kuttabul and 21 of its crewmen. In early 1943, Westralia was converted into a Landing Ship, Infantry (LSI) and spent the remainder of the war transporting units of the U.S. Army and Marine Corps throughout the Pacific theatre. Northam's command of Westralia commenced during this time (June 1945) and continued until the end of the conflict. Following the cessation of hostilities, Westralia was used to repatriate Australian troops. While being fitted for a return to civilian service, it was taken into the merchant navy service and operated as a transport between Sydney and Kure, Japan for the British Commonwealth Occupying Force. After a year-long deployment as a troop carrier in the Mediterranean, it returned to civilian service in 1950. Westralia was ultimately sold for scrap and broken up in 1961.
HMAS Doomba was buit for the British Royal Navy towards the end of the First World War and launched as the Hunt-class minesweeper HMS Wexford in 1919. After only two years of naval service, HMS Wexford was decommissioned and sold to the Doomba Shipping Company in Queensland, who renamed the vessel and converted it into a passenger ship. Doomba operated in waters around Brisbane until 1939, when it was requisitioned by the RAN and converted into an auxiliary minesweeper and anti-submarine vessel. Northam commenced service aboard HMAS Doomba the following year, and remained with the vessel until May 1941. Doomba was present during the Japanese midget submarine attack on Sydney in the early morning hours of 1 June 1942, and reportedly spotted one of the attacking vessels near Robertsons Point. Ten days later, it rescued the crew of a Panamanian freighter torpedoed by a Japanese submarine off the New South Wales coast. Doomba remained in RAN service until 1946, when it was sold and converted into a linseed oil lighter and renamed Meggol. In December 1976, it was scuttled off Dee Why, New South Wales.
Finally, HMAS Warrego (II) was a Grimsby-class sloop built at Cockatoo Island dockyard in 1939-40. It served primarily as a convoy escort, and it was during this period (August-December 1941) that Northam served aboard the vessel. In January 1942 Warrego was briefly assigned to the short-lived American-British-Dutch-Australian (ABDA) Command. It was present in Darwin Harbour during the Japanese air raid on 19 February 1942, and despite having a working party over the side, was able to get underway and contribute anti-aircraft fire to Darwin's defence. It later escorted its damaged sister-ship HMAS Swan through Clarence Strait and assumed anti-submarine patrols at the entrance to Darwin Harbour. Warrego escorted troopships during the Allied campaign in New Guinea, and finished the conflict as a participant in the Allied invasion of Lingayen Gulf in the Philippines, and landing of Australian troops in Borneo in 1945. It spent most of its post-war service conducting surveys in Australian waters and was decommissioned in 1963. In 1965, Warrego was sold for scrap and broken up at Rozelle the following year.
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