HMAS Anaconda
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2023}}
{{Use Australian English|date=April 2018}}
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{{Infobox ship image |Ship image= |Ship caption= }} {{Infobox ship career |Hide header= |Ship country= |Ship flag={{shipboxflag|Australia|naval-1913}} |Ship name=Anaconda |Ship namesake=Anaconda snake |Ship yard number = |Ship builder =Australian Ship Building Annexe, Tasmania |Ship laid down= |Ship launched=4 October 1944 |Ship completed= |Ship in service=23 May 1945 |Ship out of service=3 November 1945 |Ship struck= |Ship registry= |Ship fate= |Ship notes= }} {{Infobox ship characteristics |Hide header= |Header caption= |Ship class= |Ship type= |Ship displacement= |Ship length={{convert|125|ft|m|abbr=on}} |Ship beam={{convert|24|ft|m|abbr=on}} |Ship draught= |Ship depth={{convert|12.6|ft|m|abbr=on}} |Ship power=2 × Lister Blackstone diesel engines and 1 × Crossley auxiliary diesel engine |Ship propulsion= |Ship speed= |Ship range= |Ship endurance= |Ship armament=*1 × 40 mm Bofors gun |Ship notes= }} |
HMAS Anaconda was an auxiliary vessel operated by the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) during the Second World War. The {{convert|125|ft|abbr=on}} wooden hulled ship was constructed at Glenorchy, Tasmania as one of 32 motor vessels originally intended for the Department of Commerce, but later allocated to the Australian Army.{{cite web|url=https://www.navy.gov.au/hmas-woomera|title=HMAS Woomera|website=Royal Australian Navy|access-date=19 February 2024}} Launched on 4 October 1944 as Australian Army AV 1369 Lagunta, she was subsequently transferred to the RAN and commissioned on 23 May 1945, assigned to the Services Reconnaissance Department under the command of Lieutenant Charles Haultain.{{cite web|url=https://navyhistory.au/23-may-1945/|title=Australian Naval History on 23 May 1945|website=Naval Historical Society of Australia|publisher=Naval Historical Review|access-date=18 February 2024}} The ship briefly served a workshop and headquarters function in support of clandestine operations in waters around Borneo and the Moluccas during the last days of the conflict.{{cite web|url=https://www.gunplot.net/zforce/srd2.html|title=SRD Mother Ships|website=Gun Plot.net|accessdate=18 February 2024}}
Operational history
Anaconda commissioned into the RAN on completion of acceptance trials overseen by the Army Inspection Branch. On 24 May 1945, the Premier of Tasmania Sir Robert Cosgrove inspected the ship, which remained alongside in Hobart until 29 May before proceeding to Williamstown, Victoria and then Garden Island in Sydney Harbour.{{cite web|url=https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C1420428?image=11|title=AAWM78 32/1 - May-September 1945|website=Reports of Proceedings, HMA Ships and Establishments|publisher=Australian War Memorial|access-date=19 February 2024}} In Sydney, the ship's armament of three 20mm Hispano cannons were replaced with two .50 calibre Browning machine guns and a single 40 mm Bofors gun. Anaconda spent much of June and July in Sydney due to reliability issues with her engines, compounded by a shortage of spare parts. By 14 August, the ship was operating in waters off Papua New Guinea, calling on the port of Finschhafen and later proceeding to Morotai in the Dutch East Indies in support of Services Reconnaissance Department operations. In late September, Anaconda landed Australian troops and supplies at Ambon Island as part of an occupation force. For many of her crew, this was the first contact they had with the Japanese, coming after the formal surrender on 2 September.
Decommissioning and fate
Anaconda was paid off on 3 November 1945 and transferred to the Australian Army in early 1946. She was towed from Borneo to Sydney and was sold in November 1946 for conversion into a fishing vessel.{{cite web |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article18002521 |title=The Sydney Morning Herald, Wednesday 13 November 1946, p.16.|last1= |first1= |last2= |first2= |date= |publisher= |accessdate=24 July 2011}}
References
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Category:Auxiliary ships of the Royal Australian Navy
Category:Ships built in Tasmania
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