HMAS Kanimbla was a passenger ship converted for use as an armed merchant cruiser and landing ship infantry during World War II. Built during the mid-1930s as the passenger liner MV Kanimbla for McIlwraith, McEacharn & Company, the ship operated in Australian waters until 1939, when she was requisitioned for military service, converted into an armed merchant cruiser, and commissioned in the Royal Navy as HMS Kanimbla.

Initially used to board and take control of merchant vessels belonging to Occupied Europe and operating in Asian waters, Kanimbla led the raid to capture the Iranian port of Bandar Shahpur in August 1941, and was present during the covert Japanese midget submarine attack on Sydney Harbour in 1942. In 1943, the ship was converted into a Landing Ship Infantry, transferred to the Royal Australian Navy, and operated throughout the South West Pacific Theatre until the end of the war.

Kanimbla was decommissioned and returned to her commercial owners in 1950. In 1961, she was sold to the Pacific Transport Company and renamed Oriental Queen. The ship operated as a liner throughout the Pacific and to Japan until 1973, when she was broken up for scrap.

Construction

thumb|MV Kanimbla Mc Ilwraith Mc Eacharn's Line

The ship was laid down as motor vessel (MV) Kanimbla for McIlwraith, McEacharn & Company by Harland & Wolff, Belfast.

The ship was named for the Kanimbla Valley, west of Blackheath in the Blue Mountains in New South Wales.

World War II

Om 5 September 1939, Kanimbla was requisitioned for military service, and underwent conversion to an armed merchant cruiser at Garden Island in Sydney. She was commissioned into the Royal Navy as HMS Kanimbla, though with a largely Australian crew, on 6 September 1939.

On the night of 31 May 1942, Kanimbla was one of several Allied vessels located in Sydney Harbour, during the covert attack by Japanese midget submarines .

She arrived back in Sydney on 2 April 1943, was converted to a Landing Ship Infantry (LSI) and commissioned into the Royal Australian Navy as HMAS Kanimbla on 1 June 1943. She received the pennant number C78. In this configuration, she could carry 1,280 troops, and carried up to 22 LCVPs, plus two Landing Craft Mechanised.

The ship earned five battle honours for her wartime service: "New Guinea 1944", "Leyte Gulf 1944", "Lingayen Gulf 1945", "Borneo 1945", and "Pacific 1945".

Post-war

Kanimbla paid off at Sydney on 25 March 1949 and was returned to her owners on 13 December 1950 after being converted back by the Cockatoo Docks & Engineering Company with the ship subsequently bringing European migrants to Australia and later taking Australian tourists to Japan and other parts of Asia. In 1961, the ship was sold to the Pacific Transport Company and renamed Oriental Queen. In 1958 a container ship named kanimbla was launched by Bulkships.

Citations

References

  • Mentioned in dispatches London Gazette 6 March 1942
  • HMS Kanimbla at uboat.net