HMAS Burnie (J198/B238/A112), named for the city of Burnie, Tasmania, was one of 60 Bathurst class corvettes constructed during World War II and one of 20 built for the Admiralty but manned by personnel of and commissioned into the Royal Australian Navy (RAN).
Entering RAN service in April 1941, Burnie saw action during World War II, and was decommissioned on 5 July 1946. The corvette was sold to the Royal Netherlands Navy (RNLN) five days later, was renamed HNLMS Ceram, and remained in service until 1958.
Design and construction
In 1938, the Australian Commonwealth Naval Board (ACNB) identified the need for a general purpose 'local defence vessel' capable of both anti-submarine and mine-warfare duties, while easy to construct and operate. The vessel was initially envisaged as having a displacement of approximately 500 tons, a speed of at least , and a range of The opportunity to build a prototype in the place of a cancelled Bar-class boom defence vessel saw the proposed design increased to a 680-ton vessel, with a top speed, and a range of , armed with a 4-inch gun, equipped with asdic, and able to be fitted with either depth charges or minesweeping equipment depending on the planned operations: although closer in size to a sloop than a local defence vessel, the resulting increased capabilities were accepted due to advantages over British-designed mine warfare and anti-submarine vessels. Construction of the prototype did not go ahead, but the plans were retained. The need for locally built 'all-rounder' vessels at the start of World War II saw the "Australian Minesweepers" (designated as such to hide their anti-submarine capability, but popularly referred to as "corvettes") approved in September 1939, with 60 constructed during the course of the war: 36 ordered by the RAN, 20 (including Burnie) ordered by the British Admiralty but manned and commissioned as RAN vessels, and 4 for the Royal Indian Navy.
Burnie was laid down by Mort's Dock & Engineering Company, Sydney on 4 June 1940. The corvette was launched on 25 October 1940 by Lady King, wife of the Mort's Dock Chairman of Directors, and was commissioned into the RAN on 15 April 1941.
Operational history
Royal Australian Navy
Australia and Singapore
Burnie was initially assigned to the 20th Minesweeping Flotilla, which she joined on 10 May 1941. The ship was then temporarily based at Fremantle, Western Australia as a patrol ship and convoy escort, then was sent to Sydney. In June, Burnie and sister ship HMAS Goulburn were assigned to the Royal Navy's China Force, and sailed to Singapore via the east coast of Australia, arriving on 12 July. There Burnie with HMAS Goulburn, and composed the 21st Minesweeping Flotilla assigned to minesweeping, patrol and escort duties. Burnie was present in Singapore when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor and invaded Malaya.
Collapse of Java
The corvette was involved in a series of actions delaying the Japanese advance through Malaya and the Netherlands East Indies, including anti-submarine patrol, demolition work, troop and civilian evacuation, and anti-aircraft engagements, both individually and in concert with other Allied ships. During this time, she was involved in the evacuation of Sumatra in mid-February 1942, and, with Bendigo, rescued survivors from the Dutch vessel on 28 February from the beach at Java Head. During the final days the ship was flagship for Commodore Collins commanding the China Force. This continued until September 1942, when Burnie was assigned to the British Eastern Fleet for anti-submarine patrol and convoy escort duties in the Indian Ocean.
Along with Goulburn the ship had left Singapore on 25 January assigned to sweep the southern half of Banka Strait arriving in Batavia 30 January and on finding the harbor congested were at Tanjung Priok by 2 February where Burnie and Goulburn began on 5 February a continuous anti-submarine patrol until the Japanese invasion of Java. By 12 February and a flood of ships fleeing the fall of Singapore and Japanese advances the ship was sent to Oosthaven in Sumatra for anti-submarine patrols at that port. On the 17th the ship entered the port with to assist in demolition of facilities covering a bridge to the wharf with her gun while a shore party worked through the night destroying ammunition, rail equipment and placing depth charges under the KPM wharf and a cargo shed as well as pouring sulphuric acid into the working parts and destroying propellers of four trucks of torpedoes before Burnie got underway and completed destruction with gunfire.