HMAS Burnie

Career
Laid down:	4 June 1940
Launched:	25 October 1940 <tr valign=top><td>Commissioned:</td><td>15 April 1941</td></tr>
Status:	renamed to Ceram, removed from effective Navy list in 1958
General Characteristics
Displacement:	650 tons (standard)
Length:	186 feet
Beam:	31 feet <tr valign=top><td>Draught:</td><td>8 feet 6 inches</td></tr>
Speed:	15 knots
Complement:	85 officers and men <tr valign=top><td>Armament:</td><td>1 x 4-inch gun, 40 depth charges</td></tr>

HMAS Burnie [1] (J-198/B-238/A-112), named for the port of Burnie, Tasmania, was a Bathurst class corvette built by Mort's Dock and Engineering Company at Balmain in New South Wales, launched on 25 October 1940 by Lady King, wife of the chairman of directors of Mort's Dock and Engineering Company, and commissioned on 15 April 1941 under the command of Lieutenant George E. Gough. HMAS Burnie paid off on 5 July 1946, was transferred to the Royal Netherlands Navy on 10 July 1946 and renamed Ceram. It was removed from the effective list in 1958

It was one of 60 Australian minesweepers built during World War II, and one of 56 intended for the Royal Australian Navy. Initially it was part of the 20th Minesweeping Flotilla, after joining it on 10 May 1941, and then was based temporarily at Fremantle for escort and patrol duties. In December 1941 the Royal Australian Navy used the Burnie to help oppose the Japanese advance in the Dutch East Indies after the Pearl Harbor attack.

On 16 January 1942, Lieutenant T. Christy Ranr took over command from Lieutenant George E. Gough. Between 18 February and 20 February of 1942 it took part in the evacuation of Sumatra, and on 28 February of the same year it helped rescue survivors from the Dutch vessel Broero on Java Head.

In September 1942 Burnie was transferred to the Eastern Fleet engaging in anti-submarine patrols and convoy escorts between Bombay, Aden, and Colombo, and returned to Australia in 1944. At that point it was assigned to the Minesweeping Flotilla as a part of the British Pacific Fleet, carryign out similar anti-submarine patrol and convoy escort duties in New Guinea, the Admiralties, and the Philippines. Minesweeping operations were also performed by it near Hong-Kong in 1945, and in August of that year it payed visit to Burnie, Tasmania, it's namesake.

On 5 July 1946, Burnie, along with her sister ships HMAS Ipswich and HMAS Toowoomba, arrived in Ceylon, and was transferred to the Royal Netherlands Navy and renamed Ceram, serving more than 160,000 miles under that name.

References

• Sea Power Centre Australia. HMAS Burnie - HMA Ship Histories, http://www.navy.gov.au/spc/history/ships/burnie.html.
• The Last Corvettes to leave Tjilatjap, http://vader.nw.com.au/~stella/tjilatjap.htm.

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