HMAS Kinchela

{{Short description|Auxiliary ship of the Royal Australian Navy}}

{{Use Australian English|date=April 2016}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2016}}

{{infobox ship begin}} {{infobox ship image | Ship image=File:HMAS Kinchela in 1944.JPG | Ship caption=HMAS Kinchela on the Brisbane River in 1944 }} {{infobox ship career | Hide header = | Ship name = *Tamban (1914–1915) Kinchela (1915–??) | Ship owner = *Macleay River Co-operative Steamship Company (1914–1922) North Coast Steam Navigation Company (1922–1936) | Ship operator = | Ship country = Australia | Ship flag = | Ship registry = | Ship route = | Ship ordered = | Ship builder = Morrison & Sinclair, Balmain | Ship original cost = | Ship yard number = | Ship way number = | Ship laid down = | Ship launched = 1914 | Ship completed = 1915 | Ship christened = | Ship acquired = | Ship maiden voyage = | Ship in service = | Ship out of service = | Ship identification = | Ship fate = | Ship notes = }} {{Infobox ship career |Ship country=Australia |Ship flag={{shipboxflag|Australia|naval}} |Ship name=HMAS Kinchela |Ship homeport= |Ship acquired=28 August 1942 |Ship in service= |Ship commissioned= |Ship decommissioned= |Ship out of service= |Ship fate=Sold in July 1946 |Ship notes= }} {{infobox ship characteristics | Hide header = | Header caption = | Ship type = | Ship construction = | Ship tonnage = *{{GRT|369}} – Cargo vessel {{GRT|209}} – Boom vessel {{GRT|111}} – Lighter | Ship displacement = | Ship length = {{convert|145|ft}} | Ship beam = {{convert|31|ft}} | Ship height = | Ship draught = {{convert|11|ft}} | Ship draft = | Ship hold depth = | Ship decks = | Ship deck clearance = | Ship sail plan = | Ship power = Two compound engines built by Mort's Dock & Engineering Company, Balmain | Ship propulsion = Twin screw | Ship speed = 10 knots (max) | Ship crew = | Ship armament = | Ship notes = }}

HMAS Kinchela (Z96) was an auxiliary boom gate vessel of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). She was built in 1914 as a cargo vessel for the Macleay River Co-operative Steamship Company.

Built by Morrison & Sinclair, Balmain, as Tamban, for the Macleay River Co-operative Steamship Company, she was launched in 1914. Her compound engines were installed by Wildridge a Sinclair, Balmain. She was operated on the Milsons Point run.{{cite web|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article15537190 |title=A New Steamer| publisher=Sydney Morning Herald|date=23 February 1915 |page=8 |accessdate=26 July 2012}} She was renamed Kinchela in October 1915. She collided with a lighter at Darling Harbour on 25 June 1918.{{cite web|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article15790886 |title=Collision in Darling Harbour| publisher=Sydney Morning Herald|date=26 June 1918 |page=12 |accessdate=26 July 2012}}

She was sold in 1922 to the North Coast Steam Navigation Company. She collided with Newcastle in Newcastle Harbour on 22 August 1922.{{cite web|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article16020425 |title=Steamers Collide | publisher=Sydney Morning Herald|date=23 August 1922 |page=14 |accessdate=26 July 2012}} She ran aground on the spit at Port Macquarie, New South Wales in March 1933.{{cite web|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article16961436 |title=Steamer Kinchea, Aground On Spit|publisher=Sydney Morning Herald |date=4 March 1933 |page=14 |accessdate=26 July 2012}} She was hulked in 1936 and her machinery was removed. Part of her machinery was fitted in Nambucca. Her hull was requisitioned by the RAN on 28 August 1942 and she was converted into an auxiliary boom gate vessel for use in the Brisbane River at Fort Lytton.{{Cite web|url = http://www.ozatwar.com/ran/ran9.htm|title = RAN Station 9 Pinkenba, (also known as Myrtletown) Indicator Loop Station and Photo-electric Beam|website = www.ozatwar.com|access-date = 16 April 2016|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160327102006/http://ozatwar.com/ran/ran9.htm|archive-date = 27 March 2016|url-status = live}} She was paid off for disposal in 1945 and while being towed to Sydney she almost sank.{{cite web|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article68947992 |title=10 Hour Fight To Save Ship|publisher=The Advocate (Tasmania)|date=5 November 1945 |page=2 |accessdate=26 July 2012}} She was sold in July 1946.