{{Use Australian English|date=March 2018}} {{Use dmy dates|date=March 2018}} {{Infobox ship |section1={{Infobox ship/image |image=HMAS Echuca by Allan Green SLV H91.108 2700.jpeg |image_caption= }}
|section2={{Infobox ship/career |country=Australia |flag={{shipboxflag|Australia|naval-1913}} |namesake=Town of Echuca, Victoria |builder=HMA Naval Dockyard |laid_down=22 February 1941 |launched=17 January 1942 |commissioned=7 September 1942 |decommissioned=August 1946 }}
|section3={{Infobox ship/career |hide_header=Yes |recommissioned=January 1947 |decommissioned=28 June 1948 |motto= |nickname= |honours=*'''Battle honours:''' *Pacific 1944–44 *New Guinea 1943–44 |fate=Transferred to RNZN |notes= |badge= }}
|section4={{Infobox ship/career |hide_header=title |country=New Zealand |flag={{shipboxflag|New Zealand|naval-1941}} |acquired=5 March 1952 |commissioned=May 1952 |decommissioned=April 1953 into reserve{{citation needed|date=July 2015}} |motto= |nickname= |honours= |fate=Sold for scrap 11 April 1967 |notes= |badge= }}
|section5={{Infobox ship/characteristics |class={{sclass|Bathurst|corvette}} |displacement=*650 tons standard *1,025 tons full load |length={{convert|186|ft|m|abbr=on}} |beam={{convert|31|ft|m|abbr=on}} |draught={{convert|8.5|ft|m|abbr=on}} |propulsion=triple expansion engine, 2 shafts, 2,000 ihp |speed={{convert|15|kn}} at 1,750 hp |complement=85 |sensors= |armament=*1 × 4 inch Mk XIX gun *3 × 20 mm Oerlikons *Machine guns *Depth charges chutes and throwers |notes= }} }} '''HMAS ''Echuca'' (J252/M252)''', named for the town of Echuca, Victoria, was one of 60 {{sclass|Bathurst|corvette}}s constructed during World War II, and one of 36 initially manned and commissioned by the Royal Australian Navy (RAN).<ref name=SPC>{{cite web |url=http://www.navy.gov.au/hmas-echuca |title=HMAS Echuca |access-date=27 September 2008 |work=HMA Ship Histories |publisher=Sea Power Centre – Royal Australian Navy}}</ref>
==Design and construction== {{main|Bathurst-class corvette}} In 1938, the Australian Commonwealth Naval Board (ACNB) identified the need for a general purpose 'local defence vessel' capable of both anti-submarine and mine-warfare duties, while easy to construct and operate.<ref name=Hindsight1>Stevens, ''The Australian Corvettes'', p. 1</ref><ref name=StevensACV103>Stevens, ''A Critical Vulnerability'', p. 103</ref> The vessel was initially envisaged as having a displacement of approximately 500 tons, a speed of at least {{convert|10|kn|lk=in}}, and a range of {{convert|2000|nmi|lk=in}}<ref name=StevensACV103.4>Stevens, ''A Critical Vulnerability'', pp. 103–4</ref> The opportunity to build a prototype in the place of a cancelled Bar-class boom defence vessel saw the proposed design increased to a 680-ton vessel, with a {{convert|15.5|kn}} top speed, and a range of {{convert|2850|nmi}}, armed with a 4-inch gun, equipped with asdic, and able to fitted with either depth charges or minesweeping equipment depending on the planned operations: although closer in size to a sloop than a local defence vessel, the resulting increased capabilities were accepted due to advantages over British-designed mine warfare and anti-submarine vessels.<ref name=Hindsight1/><ref>Stevens, ''A Critical Vulnerability'', pp. 103–5</ref> Construction of the prototype {{HMAS|Kangaroo}} did not go ahead, but the plans were retained.<ref name=StevensACV104>Stevens, ''A Critical Vulnerability'', p. 104</ref> The need for locally built 'all-rounder' vessels at the start of World War II saw the "Australian Minesweepers" (designated as such to hide their anti-submarine capability, but popularly referred to as "corvettes") approved in September 1939, with 60 constructed during the course of the war: 36 (including ''Echuca'') ordered by the RAN, 20 ordered by the British Admiralty but manned and commissioned as RAN vessels, and 4 for the Royal Indian Navy.<ref name=Hindsight1/><ref>Stevens, ''A Critical Vulnerability'', pp. 105, 148</ref><ref name=Donohue29>Donohue, ''From Empire Defence to the Long Haul'', p. 29</ref><ref name=Stevens108>Stevens et al., ''The Royal Australian Navy'', p. 108</ref><ref name=SPC/>
''Echuca'' was laid down by HMA Naval Dockyard at Williamstown, Victoria on 22 February 1941.<ref name=SPC/> She was launched on 17 January 1942 by Lady Royle, wife of First Naval Member Sir Guy Royle, and commissioned into the RAN on 7 September 1942.<ref name=SPC/>
==Operational history==
===World War II=== ''Echuca''’s initial role was as an anti-submarine patrol and convoy escort vessel along the eastern Australia coast and in New Guinea waters.<ref name=SPC/> She stayed in this role from October 1942 until August 1944, when she was ordered to Darwin and attached to the United States Seventh Fleet's Survey Group.<ref name=SPC/> She performed survey duties until the end of World War II, when she was refitted with minesweeping gear in Brisbane and assigned to the 20th Minesweeping Flotilla.<ref name=SPC/> The Flotilla was responsible for clearing minefields set up in the waters of Australia, New Guinea, New Britain, and the Solomon Islands.<ref name=SPC/>
''Echuca'' received the battle honours "Pacific 1942–44" and "New Guinea 1943–44" for her wartime service.<ref name=newhonours>{{cite news |url=http://www.navy.gov.au/Navy_Marks_109th_Birthday_With_Historic_Changes_To_Battle_Honours |title=Navy Marks 109th Birthday With Historic Changes To Battle Honours |date=1 March 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110613184920/http://www.navy.gov.au/Navy_Marks_109th_Birthday_With_Historic_Changes_To_Battle_Honours |archive-date=13 June 2011 |publisher=Royal Australian Navy |access-date=23 December 2012}}</ref><ref name=honourslist>{{cite web |url=http://www.navy.gov.au/w/images/Units_entitlement_list.pdf |title=Royal Australian Navy Ship/Unit Battle Honours |date=1 March 2010 |publisher=Royal Australian Navy |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110614064156/http://www.navy.gov.au/w/images/Units_entitlement_list.pdf |archive-date=14 June 2011 |access-date=23 December 2012}}</ref>
''Echuca'' was paid off into Reserve in August 1946, but recommissioned in January 1947 for mine clearance work in the Great Barrier Reef.<ref name=SPC/> The corvette performed this duty until August 1947, and in November 1947 towed the decommissioned corvette {{HMAS|Inverell}} to Sydney.<ref name=SPC/> ''Echuca'' was decommissioned again in Fremantle on 29 June 1948. At the end of April 1952, the corvette was sailed to Melbourne.<ref name=SPC/>
===RNZN service=== On 5 March 1952, ''Echuca'' and three other ''Bathurst''-class corvettes (HMA Ships ''Inverell'', {{HMAS|Kiama||2}}, and {{HMAS|Stawell||2}}) were transferred to the Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.navy.gov.au/hmas-inverell-i |title=HMAS Inverell (I) |access-date=27 September 2008 |work=HMA Ship Histories |publisher=Sea Power Centre – Royal Australian Navy |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121105161516/http://www.navy.gov.au/hmas-inverell-i |archive-date=5 November 2012 }}</ref> She was commissioned into the RNZN in May 1952, and received the prefix HMNZS.<ref name=Gillett140>{{cite book |last=Gillett |first=Ross |title=Australian and New Zealand Warships since 1946 |year=1988 |publisher=Child & Associates |location=Brookvale, NSW |isbn=0-86777-219-0 |oclc=23470364 |page=140}}</ref>
The corvette remained in service with the RNZN until 1967, although from 1953 she was classified as being in reserve.<ref name=SPC/><ref name=Gillett140/> She was sold to Pacific Scrap Limited of Auckland for scrapping<ref name=SPC/> on 11 April 1967.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=McDougall|first=R J|date=1980|title=Shipbreaking and Pacific Scrap Ltd|journal=New Zealand Marine News|publisher=New Zealand Ship and Marine Society|volume=30 |issue=3|pages=91–99}}</ref>
==Citations== {{reflist}}
==References==
===Books=== *{{cite book |last=Donohue |first=Hector |title=From Empire Defence to the Long Haul: post-war defence policy and its impact on naval force structure planning 1945–1955 |series=Papers in Australian Maritime Affairs |volume=1 |date=October 1996 |publisher=Sea Power Centre |location=Canberra |isbn=0-642-25907-0 |issn=1327-5658 |oclc=36817771}} *{{cite book |last=Stevens |first=David |title=A Critical Vulnerability: the impact of the submarine threat on Australia's maritime defense 1915–1954 |series=Papers in Australian Maritime Affairs |volume=15 |year=2005 |publisher=Sea Power Centre Australia |location=Canberra |isbn=0-642-29625-1 |oclc=62548623 |issn=1327-5658}} *{{cite book |author=Stevens, David |author2=Sears, Jason|author3= Goldrick, James|author4= Cooper, Alastair|author5= Jones, Peter|author6= Spurling, Kathryn |editor=Stevens, David |title=The Royal Australian Navy |series=The Australian Centenary History of Defence (vol III) |year=2001 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=South Melbourne, VIC |isbn=0-19-554116-2 |oclc=50418095}} *{{cite book|last1=Wright|first1=Gerry|title=Kiwi Bathurst Tales: Some stories from those who served in the four New Zealand Bathursts, HMNZ Ships Echuca, Stawell, Kiama and Inverell|date=2015|publisher=Gerry Wright|location=Auckland|isbn=9780473337193}}
===Journal and news articles=== *{{cite journal |last=Stevens |first=David |date=May 2010 |title=The Australian Corvettes |journal=Hindsight (Semaphore) |publisher=Sea Power Centre – Australia |volume=2010 |issue=5 |url=http://www.navy.gov.au/w/images/Semaphore_2010_5.pdf |access-date=13 August 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110320183407/http://www.navy.gov.au/w/images/Semaphore_2010_5.pdf |archive-date=20 March 2011 }}
==External links== {{Commons category|HMAS Echuca (ship, 1942)}}
{{Bathurst class corvette|others}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Echuca}} Category:Bathurst-class corvettes of the Royal Australian Navy Category:Ships built in Victoria (state) Category:World War II corvettes of Australia Category:1942 ships Category:Bathurst-class corvettes of the Royal New Zealand Navy