HMS KANIMBLA menu Christmas Day 25 December 1940, General Mess

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HMS KANIMBLA menu Christmas Day 25 December 1940, General Mess

Maker Royal Navy

Date1940

Object number00003951

NameMenu

MediumPaper

DimensionsOverall: 153 mm

ClassificationsEphemera

Credit LineANMM Collection

Terms

DescriptionThis Christmas Day wartime menu from HMS KANIMBLA (later HMAS KANIMBLA) includes selections for breakfast, tea, supper, and dinner.HistoryKANIMBLA was a passenger ship requisitioned and converted to an armed merchant cruiser and landing ship infantry during World War II. It was built during the mid-1930s as the passenger liner MV KANIMBLA for McIlwraith McEachern Limited, and serviced Australian waters until 1939. Initially the ship was commissioned in the Royal Navy as HMS KANIMBLA (F95). KANIMBLA saw service in Asian waters, led the raid to capture the Iranian port of Bandar Shahpur in August 1941, and was present during the Japanese submarine attack on Sydney Harbour in 1942. In 1943, the ship was converted into a Landing Ship Infantry, transferred to the Royal Australian Navy, and operated throughout the South-West Pacific until the end of the war. SignificanceShip menus became important souvenirs for passengers travelling aboard. They were often signed by other passengers and usually featured decorative covers and were mementos of elaborate meals served. In this particular menu from the HMS KANIMBLA it serves as a reinder of the war time service many liners undertook and life aboard a troopship at the time.