HMAS Koolonga
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2017}}
{{Use Australian English|date=April 2018}}
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{{Infobox ship image |Ship image=Iron Monarch pre-1937.jpg |Ship caption=Iron Monarch (formerly HMAS Koolonga) }} {{Infobox ship career |Hide header= |Ship country= |Ship flag= |Ship name=*Koolonga (1914, 1915-1917)
|Ship namesake= |Ship owner=McIlwraith, McEacharn Line Pty Ltd, Melbourne (1914, 1915-1917) |Ship builder=Sunderland Shipbuilding Company, South Dock Sunderland. |Ship operator= |Ship laid down= |Ship launched=12 November 1913 |Ship completed= |Ship in service= |Ship out of service= |Ship struck= |Ship registry= |Ship identification= |Ship fate= |Ship notes= }} {{Infobox ship career |Hide header=title |Ship country=Australia (RAN) |Ship flag={{shipboxflag|Australia|naval-1913}} |Ship name=Koolonga |Ship namesake= |Ship owner= |Ship operator= |Ship acquired=1914 |Ship commissioned= |Ship decommissioned=1915 |Ship struck= |Ship registry= |Ship identification= |Ship fate= |Ship notes= }} {{Infobox ship characteristics |Hide header= |Header caption= |Ship class= |Ship type= |Ship tonnage=*4,260 gross register tons,
|Ship length={{convert|364|ft|m|abbr=on}} |Ship beam={{convert|50.7|ft|m|abbr=on}} |Ship height= |Ship draught={{convert|26.0|ft|m|abbr=on}} |Ship depth= |Ship power=344 nominal horsepower |Ship propulsion=Single screw, Held triple expansion three cylinder engine |Ship engine builder=North Eastern Marine Engineering Company, Sunderland |Ship speed= |Ship range= |Ship endurance= |Ship complement= |Ship armament= |Ship armour= |Ship notes= }} |
HMAS Koolonga was a 4,260 gross register tons cargo ship built by Sunderland Shipbuilding Company, South Dock Sunderland, England, in 1914 and bought by McIlwraith, McEacharn Line Pty Ltd, Melbourne and named SS Koolonga. She was requisitioned by the Royal Australian Navy on 6 August 1914, as a collier and supply ship. She was returned to her owners in late 1915. She was sold in 1937 to Madrigal & Company, Philippines and renamed Paz. She was sunk during the Second World War at Manila Bay in December 1941 and was later salvaged by the Imperial Japanese and renamed Hatsu Maru. While at anchor in Manila Bay, Philippines on 13 November 1944, she was attacked by United States Navy carrier aircraft and was sunk.
RAN Service
Koolonga was requisitioned by the Royal Australian Navy on 6 August 1914, as a collier and supply ship, and commissioned as HMAS Koolonga. She participated during the Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force occupation of German New Guinea until May 1915 when she was later returned to her owners. She was awarded the battle honour Rabaul 1914.
Australian coastal service
After being returned, she was employed on cargo trades from Whyalla, South Australia, to Newcastle, New South Wales.{{cite web |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article41433078 |title=Australian Coaster Sold |work=The West Australian, Friday 24 September 1937, p.19. |access-date=9 August 2011}}
She was sold in October 1917 through Scott Fell & Company, Newcastle to BHP Shipping and renamed Iron Monarch, before being sold again in 1920 to Interstate Steamships Ltd. Her tasks included transporting iron ore to the steel works at Port Kembla and coal to South Australia for the use of the Commonwealth Railway. On 18 April 1921, she ran aground at Port Pirie, South Australia;{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=Casualty reports |date=19 April 1921 |page=17 |issue=42698 |column=G }} she was refloated on 21 April.{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=Casualty reports |date=22 April 1921 |page=18 |issue=42701 |column=G }} She ran aground on Curlew Island near the head of Spencer's Gulf on 18 February 1930,{{cite web |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article41433078 |title=Aground - Iron Monarch - In Spencers Gulf|work=The West Australian, Friday 24 September 1937, p.19. |date=24 September 1937 |access-date=9 August 2011}} once at Port Kembla, New South Wales, and at Cape Three Point, Broken Bay on 23 October 1937. Iron Monarch was seriously damaged on the Stockton breakwater at Newcastle on 26 November 1934 requiring repairs at Cockatoo Island Dockyard, Sydney, which cost £8,985.
In 1937, Iron Monarch sank a 28ft cutter in Port Lincoln harbour when it was drawn into her propeller. The cutter Sylvia had been returning from a picnic on nearby Grantham Island and approached the vessel while it was moving astern. She was sold later that year to Madrigal & Company, Philippines and renamed Paz.
Fate
She was attacked by Japanese bombers and sunk on 26 December 1941 at Manila Bay during the Second World War.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=K6D1DAAAQBAJ&dq=paz&pg=PA29-IA55|first=Robert J. |last=Cressman|authorlink=|title=The Official Chronology of the U.S. Navy in World War II|pages= |publisher=|date=15 October 2016|isbn=9781682471548}}{{cite web |url=http://www.naval-history.net/xDKWW2-4201-41JAN01.htm |title=Naval Events, January 1942, Part 1 of 2, Thursday 1st – Wednesday 14th |publisher=Naval History |access-date=25 December 2011}}{{Cite web|first=Gengoro S. |last=Toda |author-link= |title=初丸の船歴 (Hatsu Maru - Ship History) |website=Imperial Japanese Navy -Tokusetsu Kansen|date= |url=http://www.tokusetsukansen.jpn.org/J/A501/AIC_7536.htm|language=Japanese|accessdate=February 12, 2023}} The wreck was salvaged, raised by the Imperial Japanese, and renamed Hatsu Maru. She served as an Imperial Japanese Army transport. On 13 November 1944, she was sunk after being bombed by United States Navy carrier based aircraft in Manila Bay, Philippines.
Citations
{{Reflist}}
References
- Wilson, Michael; Royal Australian Navy 21st Century Warships, Naval auxiliaries 1911 to 1999 including Defence Maritime Services, Profile No. 4 - Revised Edition, Topmill Pty Ltd, Marrickville. {{ISBN|978-1-876270-72-8}}
{{1921 shipwrecks}}
{{1930 shipwrecks}}
{{1934 shipwrecks}}
{{1937 shipwrecks}}
{{November 1944 shipwrecks}}
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Category:Ships built on the River Wear
Category:Cargo ships of the Royal Australian Navy
Category:Maritime incidents in 1921
Category:Maritime incidents in 1930
Category:Maritime incidents in 1934
Category:Maritime incidents in 1937
Category:Ships sunk by US aircraft
Category:Maritime incidents in November 1944
Category:Colliers of the Royal Australian Navy