| History | |
|---|---|
| Australia | |
| Name | Paluma |
| Builder | Mat Taylor, Townsville |
| Fate | Burnt to waterline in 1990s |
| History | |
 Australia | |
| Name | HMAS Paluma |
| Acquired | 1941 |
| Commissioned | 1941 |
| Honours and awards |
|
| Fate | Returned to owner |
| General characteristics | |
| Tonnage | 45 Gross Tons |
| Length | 66 ft (20 m) |
| Beam | 14 ft (4.3 m) |
| Draught | 5 ft 6 in (1.68 m) |
| Speed | 11 knots (20 km/h; 13 mph) |
| Armament |
|
HMAS Paluma was a survey vessel that was operated by the Royal Australian Navy during World War II.
The launch Paluma was built by Taylor's Slipway at Townsville, Australia, in 1941. [1]
Paluma was requisitioned for wartime use on 11 September 1941 and purchased on 1 June 1942. [2] The launch was being used as the examination and patrol vessel at Thursday Island when offered to meet a requirement for seaworthy small ships to insert Coastwatchers and gather intelligence for a proposed Allied offensive against Rabaul. [2] [3] [4] The Japanese move from Rabaul on New Guinea forestalled any Allied attack on Rabaul and shifted focus to a counter offensive in New Guinea. [5]
The prewar sea route to the north coast of New Guinea, particularly the Buna area of planned operations, had been closed by the Japanese advance and naval control of open waters leaving only an inshore route described by MacArthur's Chief of Transportation, as "the most dangerous coastline in the world" and essentially uncharted. [6] In October 1942, all the vessels of the US Army Small Ships Section, largely crewed by Australians, had been ordered to Milne Bay to support the operations against Japanese in the Buna area. [7] Those small vessels, in their night runs to Oro Bay, had begun noting channels and marking reefs with oil drums. [8] The small ships could not support the beachhead, being largely supported by air, with heavy equipment and supplies so that a way for large ships had to be found. [9]
Paluma, under the command of Lieutenant Ivan Champion RANVR, was assigned to survey a reliable, large vessel, route from Milne Bay to Oro Bay. [10] In addition to surveys, the vessel was to install lights, land shore parties under Captain J . K. McCarthy for reconnaissance, establish radio stations and pilot ships through discovered channels. [10] By early November Paluma had found a route around Cape Nelson when the hydrographic section in the RAN learned of the local effort and lent assistance with surveys by HMAS Warrego, Stella and Polaris assisting, establishing safe passage for large ships from Milne Bay to Cape Nelson while Paluma worked the route forward to Oro Bay so that by 11 December 1942 the US Army controlled Dutch vessel Karsik was able to deliver tanks to the front. [5] [11] Immediately after Karsik's passage the regular convoys code named Operation Lilliput began operations. [10]
Paluma was awarded the battle honour "New Guinea 1942–43". [12] [13]
After service she was returned to her owners in Townsville. It was used for scheduled trips to Palm Island, and irregular charters. It sat idle in Ross Creek during the 1980s, next to the Flinders Street ferry terminal. The vessel was refitted in 1990 to be used for charters, although it did not pass survey. Paluma burnt to the waterline near Airlie Beach in the 1990s.
The third USS Dale (DD-290) was a Clemson-class destroyer in the United States Navy. She was named for Richard Dale.
HMAS Swan (U74/F74/A427), named for the Swan River, was a Grimsby-class sloop of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) that served during World War II.
The first HMAS Bendigo (J187/B237/A111) was a Bathurst-class minesweeper, a group commonly known as corvettes and including escort and patrol duties along with minesweeping.
The New Guinea campaign of the Pacific War lasted from January 1942 until the end of the war in August 1945. During the initial phase in early 1942, the Empire of Japan invaded the Australian-administered Mandated Territory of New Guinea and the Australian Territory of Papua and overran western New Guinea, which was a part of the Netherlands East Indies. During the second phase, lasting from late 1942 until the Japanese surrender, the Allies—consisting primarily of Australian forces—cleared the Japanese first from Papua, then the Mandate and finally from the Dutch colony.
HMAS Warrego (L73/U73), named for the Warrego River, was a Grimsby-class sloop of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN).
Koninklijke Paketvaart-Maatschappij, better known as KPM, was a Dutch shipping company (1888–1966) in the Netherlands East Indies, now Indonesia. It was the dominant inter-island shipping line in Indonesia during the last half century of the colonial era.
SS 's Jacob Dutch freighter built by Maatschappij Fijenoord, Rotterdam, Netherlands, in 1907, of 2,839 GRT and operated by Koninklijke Paketvaart-Maatschappij (KPM) in the Dutch East Indies trade. The ship, after seeking refuge in Australia during the Japanese invasion of the islands, became part of the Southwest Pacific Area (SWPA) command's permanent local fleet. 's Jacob was sunk off Papua New Guinea on 8 March 1943 during World War II by Japanese air attack.
Operation Lilliput was the name given to a convoy operation directed by G.H.Q. Operations Instructions Number 21 of 20 October 1942 for transportation of troops, weapons, and supplies in a regular transport service between Milne Bay and Oro Bay, New Guinea between 18 December 1942 and June 1943 in order "to cover reinforcement, supply, and development of the Buna-Gona area upon its anticipated capture" by the Australian 7th Division and the United States Army's 32d Division. Within six months, the convoys, escorted by Royal Australian Navy corvettes and largely composed of Dutch KPM merchant ships, had delivered 60,000 tons of supplies and 3,802 troops from Milne Bay to Oro Bay. Corvettes provided the majority of the escort force. Losses during Imperial Japanese air attacks amounted to two merchant ships, 's Jacob and Van Heemskerk, sunk and two badly damaged while several of the corvettes also sustained damage and casualties.
The ANZAC Area, also called the ANZAC Command, was a short-lived naval military command for Allied forces defending the northeast approaches to Australia including the Fiji Islands, New Hebrides, and New Caledonia during the early stages of the Pacific Campaign of World War II. The command was created on 27 January 1942. United States Navy Vice Admiral Herbert Fairfax Leary commanded the force. The force co-existed with the Allied ABDA command which was charged with defending Allied colonial territories in Southeast Asia and the Southwest Pacific from Imperial Japanese aggression.
SS Tasman was a 4,922 gross register tons (GRT) Dutch steamship built by Earle's Shipbuilding and Engineering Company Limited, Hull in 1921 for Koninklijke Paketvaart-Maatschappij (KPM), Batavia. With outbreak of the war in the Pacific and the fall of the Dutch East Indies, Tasman was one of 21 KPM vessels that sought refuge in Australia. These ships became the core of the initial Southwest Pacific Area (SWPA) command's permanent local fleet under U.S. Army control. After general service as a transport, the ship was converted to a hospital ship at Melbourne. The ship, under the Dutch flag and Dutch certification under the Hague Convention, served the remainder of the war as a Dutch hospital ship.
The MV Anshun was a 3,188 GRT motor vessel built by Scotts Shipbuilding and Engineering Company Limited, Greenock in 1930 for The China Navigation Company for the Chinese coastal passenger service.
Operation I-Go was an aerial counter-offensive launched by Imperial Japanese forces against Allied forces during the Solomon Islands and New Guinea Campaigns in the Pacific Theater of World War II. Taking place from 1–16 April 1943, during the operation, Japanese aircraft – primarily from Imperial Japanese Navy units under the command of Admirals Isoroku Yamamoto and Jinichi Kusaka – attacked Allied ships, aircraft, and land installations in the southeast Solomon Islands and New Guinea. The goal of the operation was to halt the Allied offensives in New Guinea and the Solomons and to give Japan time to prepare a new set of defenses in response to recent defeats to the Allies in the Battle of Guadalcanal and in New Guinea at Buna–Gona, Wau, and the Bismarck Sea.
Cape Nelson is a cape on the north coast of Oro Province, Papua New Guinea. The cape was named by Captain John Moresby in 1874 commanding HMS Basilisk after Lord Horatio Nelson.
HMAS Warreen was a survey vessel and general purpose vessel of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). She served twice with the RAN, as HMAS Stella during World War II and as HMAS Warreen from 1952 until 1969.
MS Sea Witch was a United States Maritime Commission type C2 cargo ship, the first of four pre-war hulls, built by Tampa Shipbuilding & Engineering Company, Tampa, Florida and delivered in July 1940. The ship was of the basic C2 design, rather than the more numerous C2-S, C2-S-A1, C2-S-B1 types and four C2-T hulls delivered December 1941 through March 1942. Sea Witch was one of the relatively few C2 types built with diesel engines.
SS Karsik was a German-built cargo steamship. Deutsche Schiff- und Maschinenbau (Deschimag) built her as Soneck for Deutsche Dampfschifffahrts-Gesellschaft "Hansa" in 1938.
SS Japara was a freighter of 3,323 GRT built by Mach. Fabr. & Scheepswerf P. Smit Jr., Rotterdam in 1930 and operated by Koninklijke Paketvaart-Maatschappij (KPM) in the Dutch East Indies trade. The 1930 Japara was operating with the United States Army permanent local fleet of the U.S. Army Forces in Australia (USAFIA) from 1942 until 1945 even while the larger ship, 9,312 GRT MS Japara (1938), was active in Army service oceanwide. Japara of 1930 played an important logistics role in the New Guinea Campaign.
SS Van Heemskerk was a freighter built by N.V. Nederlandsche Scheepsbouw-Maatschappij with engines built by Nederlandsche Fabriek van Werktuigen & Spoorwegmaterieel N.V, both of Amsterdam, Netherlands. The ship of 2,996 GRT was launched 31 August 1909 and delivered 29 October 1909 for operation by Koninklijke Paketvaart-Maatschappij (KPM) in the Dutch East Indies trade.
The Battle of Buna–Gona was part of the New Guinea campaign in the Pacific Theatre during World War II. It followed the conclusion of the Kokoda Track campaign and lasted from 16 November 1942 until 22 January 1943. The battle was conducted by Australian and United States forces against the Japanese beachheads at Buna, Sanananda and Gona. The Allied advance on the Japanese positions at Buna–Gona was made by the 16th and 25th Brigades of the Australian 7th Division and the 126th and 128th Infantry Regiments of the US 32nd Infantry Division. During the course of the battle, a further four infantry brigades, two infantry regiments and an armoured squadron of 19 M3 Stuart tanks were deployed.
MS Van Heutsz was a Dutch diesel powered passenger and cargo vessel of the Koninklijke Paketvaart-Maatschappij (KPM) line operating from Batavia in the Dutch East Indies. The ship, as was sister ship Cremer, was designed for the longer routes of the East Indies inter-island trade extending to Singapore and Hong Kong. The ships had limited cabin accommodation for passengers but large deck passenger capacity. Much of the passenger trade was with Chinese moving between China, Singapore and the East Indies.