HMAS Gunbar

HMAS Gunbar (GN) was an auxiliary minesweeper operated by the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) during World War II.

Gunbar
History
Australia
Name:	Gunbar (1911-1946) West River (1946-1950)
Owner:	North Coast Steam Navigation Company
Port of registry:	Sydney
Builder:	Ardrossan Drydock & Shipbuilding Company, Glasgow
Yard number:	243
Launched:	9 December 1911
Completed:	February 1912
Identification:	UK Official Number: 131507 Call sign:VLFG
Fate:	Scrapped in 1950
History
Australia
Name:	HMAS Gunbar
Acquired:	30 September 1940
In service:	18 December 1940
Out of service:	3 December 1945
Fate:	Sold in 1946
General characteristics
Tonnage:	480 gross ton
Length:	150 ft (46 m)
Beam:	30 ft (9.1 m)
Depth:	8.7 ft (2.7 m)
Propulsion:	Twin screw
Speed:	10 knots
Complement:	4 officers and 23 ratings (RAN)
Armament:	1 × 12 pounder 12 cwt QF 1 (quad) .5 inch Vickers MG 2 Depth Charge chutes (RAN)

Gunbar was built by Ardrossan Drydock & Shipbuilding Company, Glasgow for the North Coast Steam Navigation Company and launched on 9 December 1911.[1][2] She was sold in 1926 to the Gunbar Shipping Company> Gunbar was sold back to the North Coast Steam Navigation Company in 1929, before being sold again in the same year to Richardson & Company. She was sold again in 1935 to Smith & Ellis.[3]

She was requisitioned by the RAN on 30 September 1940 and commissioned as HMAS Gunbar on 18 December 1940 for minesweeping duties during World War II. Gunbar was strafed and damaged during the Japanese air raid on Darwin on 19 February 1942, with one man killed.[4] She was converted to a boom-gate vessel and served at Port Kembla and Sydney. She was paid off on 3 December 1945.[5]

Bought by the RAN in 1946, she was sold to A.J. Ellerker and Company the same year. She was renamed West River and was in the process of being sold, however her sale fell through in 1950.[3]