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HMAS Geraldton

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HMAS Geraldton
HMAS Geraldton.jpg
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 19411-45
  • Sicily 1943

Crew members