HMAS Parkes

HMAS Parkes

Navy photo
History
Name	HMAS Parkes
Owner	Royal Australian navy
Builder	Evans Deakin & Co Ltd, Brisbane
Launched	30 Oct 943
Completed	25 May 1944
In service	25 May 1944
Out of service	17 Dec 1945
Fate	sold for scrap 2 May 1957
General characteristics
Type	Bathurst class
Tonnage	650 tons
Length	186 feet (56.69m)
Beam	31 feet (9.45m)
Depth	8 feet 6 inches (2.59m)
Propulsion	2,000 HP 2 shafts
Speed	15 knots
Capacity	85 crew

Remarks

One of 60 Australian minesweepers constructed during ww2 in Australian shipyards. Following working up trials, HMAS Parkes left for Milne Bay on 3 Jun 1944. For the next three months she escorted convoys between Thursday Island and Darwin with occasional side trips to Papua New Guinea, and was then transferred to Fremantle in late September 1944.

In November she returned to Darwin to provide convoy escorts for ships in the Arafura Sea, especially between Australia and Timor. HMAS Parkes landed the Australian occupying force there after hostilities had ceased, and she was also present for the formal surrender of Timor. Later, she was utilised to help evacuate Dutch ex-POWs to Australia. She continued to ferry supplies to Timor until she was sent to Fremantle, arriving there on 21 Nov 1945 where she was placed in reserve on 17 Dec 1945.

Battle Honours

• Pacific 1941-45
• New Guinea 1942-45

Crew members

• Frank William Richardson 25 May 1944 - 17 December 1945
• Victor Charles Every 10 September 1948 - 1 December 1949
• Kenneth Roy Curtis 9 September 1951 - 20 April 1952