HMAS Warramunga (I44/D123) was a 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.

Description

Warramunga was one of three destroyers built for the RAN during World War II. The ship had a displacement of 2,031 tons, a length of overall and between perpendiculars, a beam of , and a mean draught of . Propulsion machinery consisted of three drum boilers feeding Parsons impulse-reaction turbines, which supplied to the two propeller shafts. The destroyer had a maximum speed of .

She was nicknamed "Little Mo", assigned in the Korean War when she was the escort destroyer to (1944–1992).

The ship's badge includes a First Nations male about to throw a boomerang, upon a yellow desert hill, into a blue sky. Beneath is the motto "Courage in difficulties". and

  • Commander James Ramsay (1916–1986) from January 1952, taking charge for her second Korean War tour.

Construction and career

Warramunga was laid down by Cockatoo Docks and Engineering Company at its Cockatoo Island Dockyard on 10 February 1940.

thumb|left|Warramunga in 1944.

At the start of 1944, Warramunga helped cover the Landing at Saidor, before leaving Task Force 74 for refits in Sydney. After rejoining the task fore at the start of February, Warramunga participated in amphibious landings in the Admiralties, at Tanamera Bay, Wakde-Sarmi, and Biak. The destroyer earned five battle honours for her wartime service: "Pacific 1943–45", "New Guinea 1943–44", "Leyte Gulf 1944", "Lingayen Gulf 1945", and "Borneo 1945". After the end of World War II, Warramunga assisted in the repatriation of prisoners-of-war, and served four tours of duty with the British Commonwealth Occupation Force. On 28 January 1949, the Warramunga rescued 35 survivors from the Taiping, including the 2 people from the cargo ship Chienyuan. Other passengers were rescued by the fishermen from the Zhoushan Islands. Some survivors were unnamed. One survivor died shortly after being rescued.

The ship was considered the "luckiest damned destroyer afloat" given her war contacts, but little sustained damage.)

Korean War

thumb| refuels Warramunga during the [[Korean War on 27 June 1951.]]

On 6 August 1950, Warramunga sailed to join United Nations forces involved in the Korean War. Most of the ship's first tour consisted of patrols and shore bombardments. going to the aid of two US minesweepers, for which Commodore Ramsay awarded the Distinguished Service Cross and the US Officer of the Legion of Merit.

Post-war

Warramunga returned to duty in February 1955, and remained in Australian waters until May 1955, when she sailed to the Far East for exercises with the Royal Navy and Royal New Zealand Navy. In 1958, she operated again with the Strategic Reserve. to at least 2002, there was an Ex-HMAS Warramunga Association, for former crew. By 2021, it may have renamed as the HMAS Warramunga Veterans' Association.

Warramunga Avenue, East Tamworth, New South Wales was named by the area's well-known businessman Bruce Morison Treloar (1926–2014) who served aboard the ship as an ordinary seaman then able seaman in World War II after he joined the navy in late-1944. He also named Arunta Place after the who performed duties alongside the Warramunga,