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HMAS BUNBURY J241

Namesake:                   City of Bunbury, WA

Builder:                        Evans Deakin & Co

Laid down:                  1 November 1941

Launched:                   16 May 1942

Commissioned:           3 January 1943

Decommissioned:      26 August 1946

 

Honours and awards:   

  

                  Pacific 1943–45

                 New Guinea 1943–44

 

Fate:      Sold for scrap in 1961

Displacement:    650 tons (standard),                                            1,025 tons (full war load

Length:                186 ft (57 m)

Beam:                  31 ft (9.4 m)

Draught:              8.5 ft (2.6 m)

Propulsion:         triple expansion engine,

                             2 shafts

Speed:                  15 knots 

                             (28 km/h;17 mph)

                              at 1750 hp

Complement:      85

Armament:          1 × 4-inch gun,                                                           3 × Oerlikons,        

                              Machine guns                          

                              Depth charges  chutes            

                              and throwers

BUNBURY 1 copy.jpg

Extract from Corvette Magazine

 

BUNBURY AND SUB COLLIDE AT SEA

 

Just after midnight on December 18, 1944 the minesweeper Sunbury collided with the British submarine, Sea Rover.

 

The accident occurred while both vessels were manoeuvring in the darkness waiting for each other. Both had arrived early at the rendezvous position about 60 nautical miles north west of Rottnest. The Bunbury came from Fremantle and Sea Rover from Indonesia.

 

The Launceston left from Fremantle to escort both ships back to port. It returned with them at 5.40am. Sea Rover was slipped the same day and had damaged bow plates removed. The Sunbury had considerable damage with two holes in her starboard bow.

 

Luckily, the mess room had been cleared minutes before the collision and there was no loss of life.

 

She was slipped on December 27 and was back in the water on January 12, ready for anti-submarine patrols off Fremantle.

​

Source: RAN Corvette in Fremantle Bruce Farrington

Extract from Corvette Magazine

HMAS BUNBURY

 

It is always great to hear from Stan Yates past President of the Victorian Corvette Association.

 

We have now received a "Sunbury" newsletter from him, in which he quotes a paragraph from Frank Walker's book: Corvettes - Little Ships for Big Men" which should make all sailors during WWII proud of their service.

 

''I want  to give future generations some  idea of what their fathers and grandfathers achieved in Corvettes.

 

I want them to know what it was like to live for years like sardines in ships that could be blown out of the water by pretty well any enemy ship that they met.

 

I want them to know how, even in the blackest days of war, these sailors never flinched.

 

I want them to know that these balding, stooping, wrinkled old men they see today were once the bright-eyed teenagers who turned into men overnight in Corvettes.

 

I want them to understand why sometimes, a sound, or a smell, or a voice will spark a memory that will bring an embarrassed watering of the eyes of   these old salts...."

 End of quote.

Extract from Corvette Magazine

 

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

We received the following letter with photos from Derek Parkes ex Bunbury

 

"I thought the enclosed photos may be of interest to someone.  They are some of the Bunbury crew October 1944 when the ship paid a visit to the Port of Bunbury where we spent a memorable weekend.  The people of Bunbury really made us welcome."

 

 

HMAS BUNBURY berthed at Bunbury wharf

October 1944.

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