HMAS Dubbo (J251)

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For other ships of this name, see HMAS Dubbo.

Career Australia

Builder:	Morts Dock and Engineering
Laid down:
Launched:	7 March 1942
Commissioned:	31 July 1942
Decommissioned:	7 February 1947
Status:	Sold for scrap in 1958
General Characteristics
Displacement:	650 tons
Length:	186 feet
Beam:	31 feet
Draught:	8 feet 6 inches
Propulsion:	Triple expansion, 2 shafts. 2,000 hp
Speed:	15 knots
Complement:	85
Armament:	1 x 4 inch gun, 3 x Oerlikons (later 2), 1 x Bofors (later), Machine guns, Depth charge chutes and throwers
Motto:	"Fight to the Finish"
Badge:

The first ship to be named after the city of Dubbo, HMAS Dubbo (J251/M251) was one of sixty Bathurst class Australian Minesweeper built by Morts Dock and Engineering at Balmain in New South Wales, launched on 7 March 1942 by Mrs. B. B. Scrisier, Mayoress of Dubbo, and commissioned on 31 July 1942. HMAS Dubbo paid off to reserve on 7 February 1947, was sold for scrap to Mitsubishi Shoji Kaisha of Tokyo on 20 February 1958, and towed to Japan.

1 Operational History
- 1.1 World War II
- 1.2 Post-War
2 References

[edit] Operational History

[edit] World War II

From 1942 until mid-1945, Dubbo was assigned to anti-submarine duties off the Western Australian coast.

In March 1945, Dubbo sailed to Port Moresby, where she spent the rest of World War II around New Guinea and the Solomons, actively supporting Australian land forces. Dubbo fired her first hostile shots on 25 April 1945, against a Japanese position on Muschu Island. This was the first of several bombardments against Japanese positions during the war. Dubbo was undamaged during all of these, and returned to Brisbane in May 1945.

[edit] Post-War

In August 1945, Dubbo retured to the Solomons, where she was part of minesweeping operations. She returned for refits in October 1945, and in January 1946 performed minesweeping duties off the Australian coast. Dubbo was paid off into reserve in February 1957, and was sold for scrap 11 years later. In June 1958, Dubbo and the repair ship HMAS Platypus left Sydney under tow.