Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Westralia was built for Huddart Parker Ltd. Following the declaration of war she was requisitioned for war service and fitted out as Armed Merchant Cruiser on 2 November 1939 and commissioned as HMAS Westralia at Garden Island Sydney on 17 January 1940 under the command of Commander Alvord S Rosenthal RAN.

Westralia's first operational voyage began on 30 March 1940 when she departed Sydney for Darwin and thence to the East Indies (Indonesia) and the Indian Ocean. April was spent in East Indian waters on patrol. 

Most of the next two years until September 1942 were spent escorting convoys and carrying out re-supply and personnel transport tasks  first in the Indian Ocean and later in the SW Pacific in company with other Armed Merchant Cruisers such as Largs Bay, Kanimbla and just prior to the Japanese Midget submarine attack on Sydney Harbour, with the USS Chicago (the main target of the raid).

Then followed a period acting as a support and depot ship for amphibious training taking place near Port Stephens  in ancticiaption for future operations in New Guinea and the islands.

In early 1943 whe was reconfigured as a Landing Ship Infantry, which was to be her role until the end of hostilities.  She supported training in the Solomons and New Gunea and later took part in a series of operational landings mostly of US troops up to and including Leyte Gulf  in the Phillipines in October 1944.

Her last major operation was supporting the 7th and 9th Division landings in Borneo as part of Operation Oboe in July-August 1945.

She was decommissioned and returned to her owners on 19 Sep 1946, but almost straight away entered service with the Royal Navy operated by a Merchan Navy crew as afar afield as the Mediterranean.  In 1951 she was returned to her owners and operated in South Pacific trade, being renamed twice.  She was scrapped in 1961.

Complied by Steve Larkins Jan 2018

Source: 1.  RAN Website - http://www.navy.gov.au/hmas-westralia-i (www.navy.gov.au)