HMAS GAWLER J188

Namesake: Town of Gawler SA

Builder: Broken Hill Pty Co Ltd

Laid down: 24 January 1941

Launched: 4 October 1941

Commissioned: 14 August 1942

Decommissioned: 5 April 1946

Motto:

"Serve With Pride"

Battle honours:

Pacific 1942

Indian Ocean 1942–45

Sicily 1943

Fate: Transferred to the Turkish Navy

Name: Ayvalik

Acquired: 5 April 1946

Commissioned: 1946

Decommissioned: 1963

Fate: Withdrawn from service

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, 2,000 hp

Speed: 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph)

at 1,750 hp

Complement: 85

Armament: 1 × 12-pounder gun

(later replaced

by 1 × 4-inch gun)

3 × 20 mm Oerlikons

(later increased to 5,

then reduced back to 3)

1 × 40 mm Bofors

(installed later)

Machine guns

Depth charges chutes

and throwers

Extract from Corvette Magazine

A very unusual convoy

Convoys from Bombay to Aden were routine for HMAS Gawler. An unusual convoy included the Persian Gulf, a call at Muscat, then en route to Aden a visit to the Island of Masira where drums of fuel were delivered from a freighter to the RAF base.

One voyage found the Gawler in Karachi, where the electric trams stopped if a cow decided to take a rest on the line in the city. At the time the Asdic team all sported beards and four of us were shopping one day when an Indian soldier approached and asked if we were Muslims. His next question, when we said no, was to ask why David Alexander’s beard was red. (After a pilgrimage to Mecca male Muslims dye their beards with henna). Little did we know what we were to experience in following days.

Down at the wharves were a motley collection of merchant ships and we noted that crowds of people were gathering near them. Later they boarded the ships and escorted by Gawler and other Corvettes we set sail for the Red Sea escorting pilgrims to Mecca!

The speed of the convoy was dictated by the slowest vessel. At night some passengers sleeping on deck would light a fire for warmth, other below would open a porthole. The sea was dead flat – most movements by day being the flying fish. The sky was clear and the smoke from the coal burners could be seen for miles.

One day when the Commodore of the convoy sent a signal “Revelations chapter 19 v 3”, there was a great activity looking for bibles to read: then once more they shouted “the smoke goes up from her for ever and ever”. No suitable biblical reply was found.

The conditions were ideal for a submarine, but fortunately the convoy reached the Red Sea and the pilgrims proceeded to Mecca. You will understand that we questioned why in the middle of a war the Navy was escorting pilgrims. One explanation was that if the rich Indian princes were informed, they could well write out a cheque to pay for a squadron of bombers.

Jim Nicholson OAM DSM ex Ipswich & Gawler

Extract from Corvette Magazine July 1990

HMAS Gawler Association at Cobram Vic
Charles F. ex Gawler, Mildura, Castlemaine and Ballarat tells all about Anzac Day

The attendance of forty included twenty-one crew members, one "Cairns", one "Pom", widows Bett N and Mary N and various minders. Norm R and son Graham came especially from New Zealand.
Everything went without a hitch until the day after Anzac Day!

"Thence to Foster's and a camp oven bush tucker feed. A "few" more refreshments and a somewhat similar meal in the evening, the end result of which will be a new (or old) generation of damper-makers. The dental profession will be rejoicing!!
Thursday 26th. An all-day cruise on the River Murray in a self-crewed houseboat. Teddy oggies for luncheon - liquids flowing abundantly - and so came about an epic in the annals of River Murray navigation - homeward bound she ran aground on a hidden sandbar.

The day was drawing to a close and there she was, stuck hard and fast and being driven further on by three knots currents. So those intrepid sailors with stiff upper lip and still the spirit of yore, rose gallantly to the task of getting her off. "Gawler" never did realise she nurtured so many budding admirals. Everything in Pusser's Manual was tried, engine manoeuvring, weight (human ballast) transference etc., all.

The day drew further to a close - came the order "volunteers overboard" and so the intrepid, decrepit, the aged and infirm, took to the near waist-deep water and with the strength they didn't know they possessed, pushed her fishtail-wise, fore then aft. Some movement, but not forward progress - a call for more volunteers. This time the minders came forward and stripped to the admiring gaze of all, the purpose of the operation was temporarily forgotten. However, duty called and with minds attuned to visions of yesteryear's fading prowess, the matelots once more applied themselves to the task of fishtailing.

Meanwhile, those on board congregated at the most advantageous point and to the cheer squad call of "jum, jump, jump" stated doing just that - some clanked, some squeaked, even a walking stick added its thumps. The vibrations penetrated through the hull to the sand below and so, grain by grain, they moved and with the fishtailing the the current, a path was gouged.

Then she cleared and took off in the current trailing the half-frozen outboard detachment clinging to whatever they could. After all had been ignominiously hauled aboard, a resounding cheer awoke echoes over the waters and through the bush. So down river to Cobram she triumphantly sailed and came alongside in a manner never surpassed by the "Gawler" in her hey-day.

A request for twenty-eight days survivor's leave was summarily refused."

RANCA NSW

HMAS GAWLER J188