HMAS Parkes
From Our Contribution
 | |
| 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