Description
Title: HMAS Barcoo – The Story of a Ship & Her Ship’s Company
Author: McAuslan, Robert
Condition: Very Good
Edition: 1st Edition
Publication Date: 1995
ISBN: 0646254685
Cover: Soft Cover without Dust Jacket – 104 pages
Comments: The detailed history of HMAS Barcoo.
Now a scarce and highly desirable Royal Australian Navy ship history book.
HMAS Barcoo (K375/F375/A245) was a River class frigate that served the Royal Australian Navy from 1944-1964.
She was named for the Barcoo River in Queensland and was one of twelve River class frigates built for the RAN during World War II.
Barcoo was laid down by the Cockatoo Docks and Engineering Company, Ltd., Sydney on 21 October 1942, and launched on 26 August of the following year by the wife of Richard Keane, the Minister for Trade and Customs. Barcoo was commissioned at Sydney on 17 January 1944.
After several weeks of working up, Barcoo was tasked to New Guinea in March 1944 for convoy escort duty. That year, the ship also participated in the bombardments of Japanese Army positions in eastern New Guinea, rescued two downed American P-47 Thunderbolt pilots, and conducted convoy escort and patrol duties in the waters around New Guinea. The frigate’s last hostile action occurred on 3 August 1945, during a bombardment of the village of Soengaipaten in Borneo.
Barcoo received the three battle honours for her wartime service: “Pacific 1944-45”, “New Guinea 1944”, and “Borneo 1945”.
In August 1946, Barcoo was refitted as a survey vessel. During her remaining career, she carried the pennant numbers F375 and A245 at various times.
On 11 April 1948, she ran aground at Glenelg North, along Adelaide’s coastline during a violent storm, but was refloated shortly afterwards without damage.
She logged approximately 54,000 nautical miles (100,000 km) on survey duty, before being retired from service in 1949. She was reactivated for survey duties from 1952-1956 and from 1959-1964.
Includes single loose leaf errata.
