HMAS Goolgwai

Last updated

History
Name
  • Almeria
  • Goolgwai [1]
OwnerRed Funnel Fisheries Ltd (1928–1939)
BuilderCollingwood Shipbuilding Company, Kingston Shipyards, Kingston, Ontario
Laid down1918
Launched1918
Acquired1928
Fate1939 requisitioned by Navy
Naval Ensign of the United Kingdom.svgRoyal Australian Navy
NameHMAS Goolgwai
Commissioned6 October 1939
Decommissioned1945
OwnerRed Funnel Trawler Pty Ltd
FateRan aground, Malabar, 1955
General characteristics
Tonnage273 gross register tonnage [2]
Length125.7 ft (38 m) [2]
Beam23.5 ft (7 m) [2]
Depth12.7 ft (4 m) [2]
Armament

HMAS Goolgwai was an auxiliary minesweeper operated by the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) during World War II. She was launched in 1919 by Collingwood Shipbuilding Company at Collingwood, Ontario, Canada as Almeria. The ship operated in Australian waters from 1928, and was requisitioned by the RAN on 3 September 1939. She was returned to her owners in 1945 [3] before being wrecked near Malabar, Sydney, on 29 May 1955.

Contents

Operational history

Commissioned by the Admiralty near the end of World War I, she was laid down at the Kingston Shipyards in 1918 and completed by the Collingwood Shipbuilding Company, where she was launched in 1918. [4]

Goolgwai was purchased by the Red Funnell Trawler Pty Ltd and sailed from Fleetwood, England to Sydney, Australia in 1928. [2] On 3 September 1939, Goolgwai was requisitioned by the RAN for use as an auxiliary and commissioned on 6 October 1939.

During the war, Goolgwai was based initially in Sydney with Minesweeping Group 50 and operated along the New South Wales coastline before later operating in the Cape York/Thursday Island region. She was returned to her owners in November 1945.[ citation needed ]

On 29 May 1955, Goolgwai was wrecked after hitting rocks near Malabar, Sydney. [5] [6]

Citations

  1. ↑ "Details of the Ship". Plimsoll ShipData. Retrieved 8 August 2010.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 "Lloyds Register" (PDF). Plimsoll ShipData.
  3. ↑ "H.M.A.S. Adelaide Paying Off". The Age . No. 28, 253. Victoria, Australia. 10 November 1945. p. 2 – via National Library of Australia.
  4. ↑ "S.T. Almeria FD117". The Bosun’s Watch.
  5. ↑ "View Shipwreck – Goolgwai". Australian National Shipwreck Database. Aust Govt.
  6. ↑ "Owners Abandon Trawler". The Canberra Times . Vol. 29, no. 8, 550. 31 May 1955. p. 1 – via National Library of Australia.
    "Grounded trawler is doomed". The Argus . 31 May 1955. p. 3 – via National Library of Australia.
    "S.T. Almeria FD117". The Bosun's Watch. with pictures

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References

33°58′25″S151°15′30″E / 33.973517°S 151.258230°E / -33.973517; 151.258230


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