{{Use Australian English|date=April 2018}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2018}} {{Infobox ship |section1={{Infobox ship/image |image=StateLibQld 1 126219 Coolebar (ship).jpg |image_caption=''Coolebar'' in civilian service }}
|section2={{Infobox ship/career |hide_header= |country= |flag= |name=*{{flagicon|Australia|civil}} ''Coolebar'' *{{flagicon|New Zealand|civil}} ''Himatangi'' *{{flagicon|Australia|naval-1913}} ''HMAS Coolebar'' *{{flagicon|Australia|civil}}''East River'' |namesake= |owner=*North Coast Steam Navigation Company (1911-1929, 1936-1945) * Himatangi Shipping Co Ltd (Holm & Co) (1930) *Anchor Shipping and Foundry Company (1931-1936) *Royal Australian Navy (1945-1946) *A.J. Ellerker and Company (1946–47) *Fu Chan (1948-1949) |builder=Ardrossan Dry Dock and Shipbuilding Co Ltd, Ardrossan, Scotland |laid_down= |launched= 21 October 1911 |completed= |in_service=1911 |out_of_service=September 1949 |struck= |registry= |identification= |fate=Sank in 1949 |notes= }}
|section3={{Infobox ship/career |country=Australia |flag={{Shipboxflag|Australia|naval-1913}} |name= HMAS Coolebar |namesake= |owner= |builder= |laid_down= |launched= |sponsor= |christened= |completed= |acquired= |commissioned=18 December 1939 |decommissioned=18 February 1943 }}
|section4={{Infobox ship/career |hide_header=yes |recommissioned=1 July 1943 |decommissioned=1 June 1945 |reclassified=Stores carrier (1943) |motto= |nickname= |honours=*'''Battle honours:''' *Darwin 1942-43 |fate=Returned to civilian service |notes= |badge= }}
|section5={{Infobox ship/characteristics |type=Steamer/Auxiliary minesweeper |displacement=*479 tons |length={{convert|150|ft|3|in|m|2|abbr=on}} o/a |beam={{convert|30|ft|m|2|abbr=on}} |draught={{convert|8|ft|4|in|m|2|abbr=on}} |propulsion= |speed={{convert|8|kn}} |troops= |complement=4 officers and 17 ratings |sensors= |armament=*1 x 12-pdr QF gun *2 x Oerlikon 20mm AA guns *1 x Vickers machine gun<ref name=SPC>{{cite web |url=https://seapower.navy.gov.au/history/units/hmas-coolebar |title=HMAS Coolebar |access-date=18 October 2025 |publisher=Sea Power Centre – Royal Australian Navy}}</ref><ref name=clyde>{{cite web |url=https://www.clydeships.co.uk/view.php?ref=943 |title=Coolebar |access-date=18 October 2025 |publisher=Cylde Ships}}</ref> |notes= }} }} '''HMAS ''Coolebar'' (J25)''', was a merchant steamer launched in 1911, that was requisitioned and commissioned as an auxiliary minesweeper and stores carrier during World War II by the Royal Australian Navy.
==Construction and pre-war service== ''Coolebar'' was built in 1911 in Ardrossan, Scotland by the Ardrossan Dry Dock and Shipbuilding company for the Australian North Coast Steam Navigation Company. Initially working as a steamer in Australian waters, the ship was sold to the Himatangi Shipping Company in Wellington, New Zealand in 1930, where she was renamed ''Himitangi'', before being on-sold to the Anchor Shipping and Foundry Company in Napier, where she continued to serve until 1936.<ref name=SPC/><ref name=clyde/>
Returning to Australian waters and ownership with the North Coast Navigation Company, she was renamed ''Coolebar'' and continued in civilian usage until the outbreak of World War 2, when she was requisitioned by the Royal Australian Navy on 20 October 1939.<ref name=SPC/><ref name=clyde/>
==War service== With the outbreak of World War 2, a need for minesweepers by the Royal Australian Navy, led to the requisition of over 30 civilian vessels,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://navyhistory.au/ran-minesweepers-and-minehunters/ |title=RAN Minesweepers and Minehunters |access-date=18 October 2025 |publisher=Naval Historical Society of Australia}}</ref> with ''Coolebar'' commissioned as HMAS ''Coolebar'' on 18 December 1939, under the command of Lieutenant Commander Peter M MacIntosh, RANR(S). Based out of Sydney, she largely served with Minesweeping Group 50, until she was paid-off on 18 February 1943.<ref name=SPC/>
The January 1943 loss of HMAS ''Patricia Cam'' in the Wessel Islands,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.dva.gov.au/news/latest-stories/sinking-hmas-patricia-cam-remembered|title=Sinking of HMAS Patricia Cam remembered |access-date=18 October 2025 |publisher=Department of Veterans Affairs}}</ref> led to a need for ''Coolebar'' to be recommissioned, and on 1 July 1943 she was brought back to naval service. Reclassified as a stores carrier under the command of Lieutenant Kenneth O Shatwell, RANVR, she sailed for Darwin, arriving in August.<ref name=SPC/>
While in Darwin, she served as a tender vessel to the shore base HMAS Melville, and assisted HMAML 814 during preparations for the ill-fated Operation Bulldozer.<ref name=SPC/> A clandestine attempt to land Services Reconnaissance Department and Z Special Unit forces into Japanese occupied Timor.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://seapower.navy.gov.au/history/units/ml-814 |title=ML 814 |access-date=18 October 2025 |publisher=Sea Power Centre – Royal Australian Navy}}</ref> Her service in Darwin saw her awarded the Battle Honour "Darwin 1942-43" following a review of Australian Battle Honours in 2010.<ref>{{cite web |title=DARWIN 1942–43 |url=http://www.navy.gov.au/history/battle-honours/darwin-1942%E2%80%9343 |publisher=Royal Australian Navy |accessdate=18 August 2025|archive-date=28 August 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140828080336/http://www.navy.gov.au/history/battle-honours/darwin-1942%E2%80%9343|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=DARWIN 1942–43 |url=http://www.navy.gov.au/Navy_Marks_109th_Birthday_With_Historic_Changes_To_Battle_Honours |publisher=Royal Australian Navy |accessdate=18 August 2025|archive-date=3 March 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100303210137/http://www.navy.gov.au/Navy_Marks_109th_Birthday_With_Historic_Changes_To_Battle_Honours|url-status=dead}}</ref>
During 1944 and 1945 she ferried supplies between Darwin and Sydney, until being paid-off at war's end on 1 June 1945.<ref name=SPC/>
==Post war service== After being decommissioned, she was sold to a local firm, before being sold to a Chinese company in 1948 who renamed her ''East River''. The following year while at her moorings in Newcastle awaiting scrapping, she sank before being eventually raised and removed in 1958.<ref name=SPC/><ref name=clyde/>
==References== {{reflist}}
Category:1911 ships