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 Mavie (later HMAS Mavie) and other luggers resting in harbour during the 1939 storm season | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Name: | Mavie |
| Launched: | 1903 |
| Acquired: | 12 December 1941 |
| Commissioned: | 31 December 1941 |
| Honors and awards: |
|
| Fate: | Sunk 19 February 1942; scrapped 1959–1960 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Patrol boat |
| Displacement: | 19 tons |
| Length: | 38 ft 6 in (11.73 m) |
| Beam: | 11 ft 11 in (3.63 m) |
| Complement: | 4 |
HMAS Mavie was a 19-ton auxiliary patrol boat operated by the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) during World War II.
An auxiliary force is an organized group supplementing but not directly incorporated in a regular military or police entity. It may comprise either civilian volunteers undertaking support functions or additional personnel directly performing military or police duties, usually on a part-time basis.
The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) is the naval branch of the Australian Defence Force. Following the Federation of Australia in 1901, the ships and resources of the separate colonial navies were integrated into a national force, called the Commonwealth Naval Forces. Originally intended for local defence, the navy was granted the title of 'Royal Australian Navy' in 1911, and became increasingly responsible for defence of the region.
The wooden lugger Mavie was built at Fremantle, Western Australia in 1903. It was 38 feet 6 inches (11.73 m) long, with a beam of 11 feet 11 inches (3.63 m).
On 12 December 1941, Mavie was seized from its Japanese owner, Jiro Muramats, as he was a citizen of a country at war with Australia. It was requisitioned by the RAN, and was renamed and commissioned for service at Darwin as the channel patrol boat HMAS Mavie, on 31 December 1941.
Jiro Muramats was a pearler who lived in Western Australia's remote town of Cossack.
Darwin is the capital city of the Northern Territory of Australia, situated on the Timor Sea. It is the largest city in the sparsely populated Northern Territory, with a population of 145,916. It is the smallest, wettest and most northerly of the Australian capital cities, and acts as the Top End's regional centre.
Mavie was attacked by Japanese aircraft in the air raids on Darwin on 19 February 1942, near the Stokes Hill Wharf in Darwin Harbour. Mavie was sunk by a near miss, although the crew of four survived. Mavie was salvaged in 1959–60 when the Fujita Salvage Company salvaged the cargo ship Neptuna, which had also been sunk in the raid.
The Bombing of Darwin, also known as the Battle of Darwin, on 19 February 1942 was the largest single attack ever mounted by a foreign power on Australia. On that day, 242 Japanese aircraft, in two separate raids, attacked the town, ships in Darwin's harbour and the town's two airfields in an attempt to prevent the Allies from using them as bases to contest the invasion of Timor and Java during World War II.
Stokes Hill Wharf is the main wharf for the city of Darwin in the Northern Territory of Australia and is named after Stokes Hill, which it sits beside. The hill itself was named after the previous commander of the Beagle, Captain Pringle Stokes, by the current commander of the Beagle, John Clements Wickham in 1839.
The Fujita salvage operation was a two-year marine salvage operation of World War 2 shipwrecks in Darwin Harbour in the Northern Territory of Australia from 1959 to 1961.
Following a reorganisation of the RAN battle honours system, Mavie's service and loss was retroactively recognised with the honour "Darwin 1942". [1] [2]
A battle honour is an award of a right by a government or sovereign to a military unit to emblazon the name of a battle or operation on its flags ("colours"), uniforms or other accessories where ornamentation is possible.
