HMAS Geraldton
From Our Contribution
 | |
| History | |
|---|---|
| Name | HMAS Geraldton |
| Owner | British Admiralty |
| Builder | Poole and Steel, Ltd, Sydney |
| Launched | 16 Aug 1941 |
| Completed | 6 Apr 1942 |
| Out of service | 14 Jun 1946 |
| Fate | Deleted from the Turkish Naval List in 1975. |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Minesweeper (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 |
| Speed | 15 knots |
| Capacity | 85 crew |
Remarks
One of the 60 minesweepers (corvettes) built in Australia during WW2, Geraldton was one of the twenty built on Admiralty order but crewed and commissioned by the Australian Navy. Laid down on 20 Nov 1940 she was commissioned on 6 Apr 1942 and initially tasked with patrol duties off the east coast.
However, in July 1942 she was sent west, and was to become a part of the British Eastern Fleet, with her first task to escort a tanker to the secret Addu Atoll in the northern Indian Ocean. Convoy escort work to and from the Persian Gulf followed with convoys consisting up to 27 ships.
In May 1943 HMAS Geraldton was transferred to the Mediterranean where she participated in the Allied invasion of Sicily and continued to escort convoys in the Mediterranean until October 1943 when she returned to the northern Indian Ocean. In early 1945 she returned to Australia for gunnery modifications completed in Melbourne and then a refit in Fremantle. She was back on duty off the Australian coast in June 1945, and escorted ships to Manus Island, and Leyte Gulf in the Philippines.
At the conclusion of hostilities she was sent to Hong Kong to participate in the Japanese surrender there, and for a sort time afterwards was engaged in anti-piracy patrols in Hong Kong waters. In October 1945 HMAS Geraldton returned to Brisbane and from there made an all ports tour of southern Australia until she reached Fremantle on 17 Jan 1946, remaining there until she sailed to Singapore in May 1946. She paid off in Colombo (Ceylon) on 14 Jun 1946 and was transferred to the Turkish Navy on 24 Aug 1946. Her new name was Antalya until 1963 and then Ayvalik until 1975.
Battle Honours
- Indian Ocean 1941-45
- Pacific 1941-45
- Sicily 1943
Crew members
- Victor Wallace Fowler 18 Jul 1942 ‒ 23 Jul 1943
- Dougal Sleith 19 - 26 Nov 1943; 9 Mar - 29 Jun 1944; 17 Jul 1944 - 4 Mar 1945; 22 Jun - 3 Dec 1945
- Arthur Edward Pries 15 Dec 1945- 25 Jan 1946