# HMAS Coolebar

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> Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMAS_Coolebar
> Source revision: 1330106517
> License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)

{{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](/source/North_Coast_Steam_Navigation_Company) (1911-1929, 1936-1945)
        * [Himatangi Shipping Co Ltd (Holm & Co)](/source/Holm_%26_Co) (1930)
        *[Anchor Shipping and Foundry Company](/source/Anchor_Shipping_and_Foundry_Company) (1931-1936)
        *[Royal Australian Navy](/source/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](/source/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](/source/Japanese_air_raids_on_Australia) 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](/source/Length_overall)
 |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](/source/QF_12-pounder_12_cwt_naval_gun)
           *2 x [Oerlikon 20mm AA guns](/source/Oerlikon_20_mm_cannon)
           *1 x [Vickers machine gun](/source/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](/source/Royal_Australian_Navy).

==Construction and pre-war service==
''Coolebar'' was built in 1911 in [Ardrossan](/source/Ardrossan), Scotland by the Ardrossan Dry Dock and Shipbuilding company for the Australian [North Coast Steam Navigation Company](/source/North_Coast_Steam_Navigation_Company). Initially working as a [steamer](/source/Screw_steamer) in Australian waters, the ship was sold to the [Himatangi Shipping Company](/source/Holm_%26_Co) in [Wellington](/source/Wellington), New Zealand in 1930, where she was renamed ''Himitangi'', before being on-sold to the [Anchor Shipping and Foundry Company](/source/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](/source/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](/source/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''](/source/HMAS_Patricia_Cam) in the [Wessel Islands](/source/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](/source/Darwin%2C_Northern_Territory), arriving in August.<ref name=SPC/>

While in Darwin, she served as a tender vessel to the shore base [HMAS Melville](/source/HMAS_Melville_(naval_base)), and assisted HMAML 814 during preparations for the ill-fated [Operation Bulldozer](/source/Operation_Cobra_(Timor)).<ref name=SPC/> A clandestine attempt to land [Services Reconnaissance Department](/source/Services_Reconnaissance_Department) and [Z Special Unit](/source/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](/source/Battle_honours_of_the_Royal_Australian_Navy) "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](/source/Newcastle_(New_South_Wales)) awaiting scrapping, she sank before being eventually raised and removed in 1958.<ref name=SPC/><ref name=clyde/>

==References==
{{reflist}}

Category:1911 ships

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [HMAS Coolebar](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMAS_Coolebar) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMAS_Coolebar?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.