HMAS Whyalla

 museum  Add category

HMAS Whyalla (J153/B252) was a Bathurst class corvette named for the city of Whyalla, South Australia. She was built by Broken Hill Pty Ltd (BHP) at their Whyalla ship yard. Laid down on 24 July 1940 and commissioned on 8 January 1942 by Lieutenant Leslie N. Morison, Whyalla was the first ship built by the BHP shipyard in Whyalla.

Operational history
In 1942 she worked supporting convoys off the south eastern Australian Coast, and was in Sydney Harbour during the Japanese midget submarine attack of 31 May 1942.[1] From late 1942 and through 1943 she opearated off the coast of Papua New Guinea doing survey work and came under attack from the air, but sustained no damage. In June 1943 she was brought back to Australia for a major refit.

She joined British Pacific Fleet in 1944. After the end of the war she worked in Australian waters removing mine fields.


Fate
She was paid off at Brisbane on 16 May 1946 and sold to the Victorian Public Works Department. In 1984 she was purchased by Whyalla City Council and made part of a new Maritime Museum, making her one of only two surviving Bathurst class corvettes.