HMAS Wyatt Earp
This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. (April 2009) |
Sailing for Antarctica from Williamstown, Victoria, 19 December 1947.
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History | |
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Australia | |
Name | Wyatt Earp |
Namesake | Wyatt Earp |
Builder | Bolsønes Shipyard, Molde, Norway |
Laid down | 1918 |
Launched | 1919 |
Acquired | February 1939 |
Commissioned | 25 October 1939 |
Decommissioned | 19 July 1944 |
Renamed | FV Fanefjord, MV Wyatt Earp, HMAS Wongala, HMAS Wyatt Earp, MV Wongala, MV Natone |
Reclassified | Antarctic supply ship |
Stricken | 30 June 1948 |
Reinstated | 17 November 1947 |
Homeport | Adelaide, South Australia and Melbourne |
Fate | Aground, 23–24 January 1959 |
General characteristics | |
Displacement | 408 tonnes (402 tons) |
Length | 41.3 m (135 ft) |
Beam | 8.9 m (29 ft) |
Draught | 4.4 m (14 ft) |
Propulsion | 2 × diesels driving single screw |
Speed | 8.5 knots (15.7 km/h; 9.8 mph) |
Range | 11,000 nautical miles (20,000 km; 13,000 mi) |
Endurance | 63 days at 8 knots (15 km/h; 9.2 mph) |
Armament | 1 × Oerlikon 20 mm cannon, Machine guns |
Aircraft carried | 1–2 OS2U Kingfisher amphibian, carried as deck cargo |
HMAS Wyatt Earp (formerly known as FV Fanefjord, MV Wyatt Earp, and HMAS Wongala) was a motor vessel commissioned into the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) from 1939 to 1945 and again from 1947 to 1948.
Early years
The ship was constructed as a single-deck motor vessel named FV Fanejord, built from pine and oak for the Norwegian herring fishing trade.
In February 1939, Wyatt Earp was purchased from Ellsworth by the
Wongala made one trip as a Royal Australian Fleet Auxiliary, leaving Sydney on 14 November 1939 bound for Darwin with a cargo of stores. On return to Sydney in January 1940, she was laid up pending future employment, but was reactivated and moved to
Cadet service
Before her disposal, the Minister for the Navy received a request in March 1945 from the South Australian Branch of the Boy Scouts Association, that the ship be made available for Sea Cadet training.
In February 1947, the Scouts Association was notified by the Department of the Navy that the Federal Government was considering renewing Antarctic exploration. The Association was requested to return the vessel, which was inspected to determine her suitability for conversion to an Antarctic exploration vessel. The conversion was approved, and in June 1947, prior to her impending voyage to the Antarctic, it was decided to recommission the ship under the name she had used during her previous visits to the Antarctic with explorer Lincoln Ellsworth. The ship was recommissioned on 17 November 1947 at Port Adelaide as HMAS Wyatt Earp. Following a visit by Antarctic explorer Sir Douglas Mawson, Wyatt Earp sailed for Williamstown, Victoria in early December for preparation and loading.
After loading, including an
The weather was intense, particularly beyond 65 degrees South, and a landing at
Later years
Wyatt Earp was sold to a commercial operator in late 1951 and was renamed Wongala. A later change of ownership had her called Natone, and under this name she plied the east Australian coast until wrecked in a storm near Double Island Point, Queensland, on the night of 23–24 January 1959.
References
External links
- New Zealand, Ellsworth's antarctica ship (Wyatt Earp) and airplane (Polar Star), Dunedin (Photo, University of Wisconsin Library)
- "HMAS Wyatt Earp". Royal Australian Navy. 2012. Retrieved 14 November 2012.
- "HMAS Wyatt Earp 1947–48". Australian Antarctic Division. 2012. Retrieved 14 November 2012.