HMAS Barcoo (K375/F375/A245) was a River-class frigate of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). One of twelve frigates constructed in Australia during World War II, Barcoo, was laid down by Cockatoo Docks and Engineering Company, Ltd. at the Cockatoo Island Dockyard in 1942, and commissioned into the RAN in early 1944.
HMAS Burdekin (K376) was a River-class frigate that served the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) from 1944 to 1946. She was named for the Burdekin River in Queensland and was one of twelve River-class frigates built for the RAN during World War II.
HMPNGS Lakekamu is Balikpapan-class landing craft heavy (LCH) operated by the Maritime Operations Element of the Papua New Guinea Defence Force (PNGDF). The vessel was one of eight built for the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) in the 1970s, and was commissioned into the RAN as HMAS Labuan in March 1973. Labuan was decommissioned in November 2014. She was transferred to the PNGDF for use as a training ship and was commissioned as HMPNGS Lakekamu in December 2014.
HMAS Hobart was a modified Leander-class light cruiser which served in the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) during World War II. Originally constructed for the Royal Navy as HMS Apollo, the ship entered service in 1936, and was sold to Australia two years later. During the war, Hobart was involved in the evacuation of British Somaliland in 1940, fought at the Battle of the Coral Sea and supported the amphibious landings at Guadalcanal and Tulagi in 1942. She was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine in 1943, then returned to service in 1945 and supported the landings at Tarakan, Wewak, Brunei, and Balikpapan. Hobart was placed in reserve in 1947, but plans to modernise her and return her to service as an aircraft carrier escort, training ship, or guided missile ship were not followed through. The cruiser was sold for scrapping in 1962.
HMAS Warramunga (I44/D123) was a Tribal-class destroyer of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). Built during World War II, the destroyer entered service in late 1942. She was initially assigned to convoy escort duties, but was assigned to the joint Australian-American Task Force 74 in 1943, and was involved in supporting numerous amphibious landings through the South-east Asian region until the end of the war. From 1950 and 1952, Warramunga fought in the Korean War, then was converted into an anti-submarine destroyer. Returning to service in 1954, the destroyer was one of the first RAN ships to operate with the Far East Strategic Reserve, and undertook two tours with the organisation before she was decommissioned in 1959 and sold for ship breaking in 1963.
The Balikpapan class is a ship class of eight heavy landing craft. All eight were originally laid down by Walkers Limited for the Australian Army in the early 1970s. A reorganisation of watercraft responsibilities in the Australian military meant the landing craft were to be operated by the Royal Australian Navy (RAN), with seven commissioned directly into RAN service during 1973 and 1974, and lead ship Balikpapan transferred from the army to the navy. During the leadup to the independence of Papua New Guinea in 1975, two of the vessels were transferred to the new Papua New Guinea Defence Force (PNGDF).
The Borneo campaign of 1945 was the last major Allied campaign in the South West Pacific Area during World War II to liberate the-Japanese held British Borneo and Dutch Borneo. In a series of amphibious assaults between 1 May and 21 July, the Australian I Corps, under Lieutenant General Leslie Morshead, attacked Imperial Japanese forces occupying the island. Allied naval and air forces, centred on the U.S. 7th Fleet under Admiral Thomas Kinkaid, the Australian First Tactical Air Force and the U.S. Thirteenth Air Force also played important roles in the campaign. They were resisted by Imperial Japanese Navy and Army forces in southern and eastern Borneo, under Vice-Admiral Michiaki Kamada, and in the north west by the Thirty-Seventh Army, led by Lieutenant-General Masao Baba.
HMAS Manoora was a passenger liner that served in the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) during World War II. She was built in Scotland in 1935 for the Cairns to Fremantle coastal passenger run for the Adelaide Steamship Company. She was requisitioned by the RAN for naval service in 1939. Manoora was initially converted into an armed merchant cruiser (AMC), operating primarily in Australian, New Guinea, and Pacific waters, with deployments to Singapore and the Bay of Bengal.
Two ships of the Royal Australian Navy have been named HMAS Tarakan after the town of Tarakan in Borneo and the Allied recapture of this town in 1945.
HMAS Tarakan (L3017) was a Mark III Tank Landing Ship, or LST(3), that served in the Royal Navy (RN) during 1945 and 1946 and Royal Australian Navy (RAN) from 1946 until 1954.
USS LST-993 was an LST-542-class tank landing ship in the United States Navy. Like many of her class, she was not named and is properly referred to by her hull designation.
USS Dunn County (LST-742) was an LST-542-class tank landing ship built for the United States Navy during World War II. Named after counties in North Dakota and Wisconsin, she was the only U.S. Naval vessel to bear the name.
HMAS Hawkesbury (K363/F363) was a River-class frigate of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). Hawkesbury saw action during World War II. She entered service with the RAN in mid-1944 and was decommissioned in 1955.
USS LST-562 was a United States Navy LST-542-class tank landing ship in commission from 1944 to 1946.
BRP Ivatan (AT-298) is a Balikpapan-class heavy landing craft operated by the Philippine Navy. One of eight vessels built by Walkers Limited for the Royal Australian Navy (RAN), the ship was commissioned into Australian service in 1973 as HMAS Brunei. During her RAN career, Brunei visited Lord Howe Island, was deployed post-Cyclone Tracy as part of Operation Navy Help Darwin, performed coastal surveys of northern Australia and Papua New Guinea, and served as part of the INTERFET peacekeeping taskforce.
BRP Batak (AT-299) is a Balikpapan-class heavy landing craft operated by the Philippine Navy. One of eight vessels built by Walkers Limited for the Royal Australian Navy (RAN), the ship was commissioned into Australian service in 1973 as HMAS Tarakan. During her RAN career, Tarakan was deployed post-Cyclone Tracy as part of Operation Navy Help Darwin, undertook various surveying operations, was placed in reserve between 1985 and 1988, relocated an overpopulation of Tridacna gigas clams, was part of the INTERFET peacekeeping taskforce, and participated in a Pacific Partnership humanitarian deployment.
USS LST-466 was a United States Navy LST-1-class tank landing ship used in the Asiatic-Pacific Theater during World War II. As with many of her class, the ship was never named. Instead, she was referred to by her hull designation.
USS LST-924 was an LST-542-class tank landing ship in the United States Navy. Like many of her class, she was not named and is properly referred to by her hull designation.
