HMAS Hawkesbury (K363)

History
HMAS Hawkesbury in 1954
Australia
Name:	Hawkesbury
Namesake:	Hawkesbury River
Builder:	Mort's Dock & Engineering Company, Sydney
Laid down:	24 August 1942
Launched:	24 July 1943
Commissioned:	5 July 1944
Decommissioned:	31 May 1947
Decommissioned:	14 February 1955
Motto:	"Equality Not Servitude"
Honours and awards:	Battle honours: Pacific 1944–45 New Guinea 1944 Borneo 1945
Fate:	Scrapped in 1961
Badge:
General characteristics
Class and type:	River-class frigate
Displacement:	1,489 tons standard 2,120 tons full load
Length:	283 ft (86.26 m) p/p 301.25 ft (91.82 m)o/a
Beam:	36.5 ft (11.13 m)
Draught:	9 ft (2.74 m); 13 ft (3.96 m) (deep load)
Propulsion:	2 × Admiralty 3-drum boilers, 2 shafts, reciprocating vertical triple expansion, 5,500 ihp (4,100 kW)
Speed:	20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph)
Range:	500 long tons (510 t; 560 short tons) oil fuel
Complement:	140
Armament:	2 × QF 4 in (102 mm) /45 Mk.XVI, single mounts HA/LA Mk.XX 3 × QF 40 mm Bofors, single mounts Mk.VII 1 × Hedgehog 24 spigot A/S projector 2 × Squid triple barrelled anti-submarine mortars Depth charge Throwers

HMAS Hawkesbury (K363/F363) was a River-class frigate of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). Hawkesbury saw action during World War II. She entered service with the RAN in mid-1944 and was decommissioned in 1955.

Hawkesbury was laid down by Mort's Dock & Engineering Company at Sydney on 24 August 1942. She was launched on 24 July 1943, and commissioned into the RAN at Sydney on 5 July 1944.

After conducting trials off the Australian east coast she proceeded to New Guinea to undertake convoy escort duties. She escorted convoys in the South West Pacific Area until December when she returned to Brisbane.

Hawkesbury began her second operational deployment in January 1945, and conducted escort duties in New Guinea and Philippine waters until mid-April. On 27 April, she formed part of the escort for the convoy that landed Australian troops at Tarakan on 1 May. Hawkesbury provided fire support for the landing force until 7 May. After another period of escort duties, Hawkesbury took part in the Australian Brunei Bay landings in Borneo in June. In July she spent a period collecting intelligence in the Maluku Islands and established lighthouses with HMAS Cape Leeuwin to open a route between Darwin and Morotai. She returned to Sydney in July for a short refit.

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Wikipedia