H.M.A.S. WollongongPrint Page

The monument commemorates H.M.A.S. Wollongong, a Bathurst Class Corvette which served in World War Two.

H.M.A.S. Wollongong (J172), was named for the city of Wollongong, and was one of 60 Bathurst class corvettes constructed during World War Two and one of 20 built for the Admiralty but manned by personnel of and commissioned into the Royal Australian Navy (RAN).

After entering active service, H.M.A.S. Wollongong was deployed as a convoy escort in Australian waters. On 11 January 1942, she was sent to Singapore.The corvette was involved in patrols and the evacuation of Allied personnel from Malaya, Java, and Sumatra, and was the last Australian ship to leave Singapore before it was surrendered to the Japanese on 15 February . 

She operated in the Indian Ocean, Persian Gulf, Arabian Sea, and Mediterranean as a convoy escort and patrol vessel, and twice entered the Atlantic Ocean to meet Mediterranean-bound convoys. In September 1943, while in the Mediterranean, H.M.A.S. Wollongong was called on to shell the beached German submarine U-617, and was awarded partial credit for the submarine's destruction.The ship received six battle honours for her wartime service. After the end of the war, H.M.A.S. Wollongong was marked for transfer to the Royal Netherlands Navy (RNN). She was decommissioned in Sydney on 11 February 1946.

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