HMAS Barcoo
River-class frigate of the Royal Australian Navy / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Dear Wikiwand AI, let's keep it short by simply answering these key questions:
Can you list the top facts and stats about HMAS Barcoo?
Summarize this article for a 10 year old
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 (named after the Barcoo River), was laid down by Cockatoo Docks & Engineering Company, Sydney in 1942, and commissioned in early 1944.
HMAS Barcoo in 1944 | |
History | |
---|---|
Australia | |
Namesake | Barcoo River |
Builder | Cockatoo Docks & Engineering Company, Sydney |
Laid down | 21 October 1942 |
Launched | 26 August 1943 |
Commissioned | 17 January 1944 |
Decommissioned | 21 February 1964 |
Motto | "We Clear the Way"[1] |
Honours and awards |
|
Fate | Sold for scrap on 15 February 1972 to N.W. Kennedy Ltd., Vancouver. Scrapped in Taiwan. |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | River-class frigate |
Displacement |
|
Length | 301.3 feet (91.85 m) |
Beam | 36.7 feet (11.18 m) |
Draught | 12.0 feet (3.66 m) |
Propulsion | 2 × Admiralty 3-drum boilers, reciprocating vertical triple expansion engines, 5,500 horsepower (4,100 kW), 2 shafts |
Speed | 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph) |
Range | 5,180 nautical miles (9,593 km) at 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph) |
Complement | 140 |
Armament |
|
Most of the ship's wartime service was spent in New Guinea waters; with primary duties including patrol, convoy escort, troop transport, along with the shelling of Japanese positions. In April 1945, Barcoo was attached to the Borneo campaign. She was the command ship for a landing craft division at the Tarakan landings in May, and directly supported the North Borneo landings in June, before being assigned to general escort and fire support roles.
After World War II, Barcoo was converted into a survey ship. In 1948, the ship spent over a week aground on West Beach, South Australia after bring driven ashore by a storm. Barcoo spent the rest of her career surveying the waters of Australia and New Guinea, except for periods of deactivation from 1949 to 1951, and from 1956 to 1959. She was decommissioned for the final time in 1964, and sold for scrapping.