HMAS Westralia (I)

Westralia was a civilian twin-screw motor vessel built for Huddart Parker Ltd. It was requisitioned for war service as an armed merchant cruiser (AMC) on 2 November 1939. The vessel was commissioned as HMAS Westralia at Sydney on 17 January 1940.

HMAS Westralia in its first wartime role as an armed merchant cruiser.

On 30 March 1940 Westralia sailed to Darwin and then to Macassar. It spent April on patrol in East Indian waters. It captured the Norwegian ship Fernlane and sent it to Singapore as a prize.

Westralia escorted convoys in the Pacific and Indian oceans during the Second World War. From June 1940 to January 1941, it was on patrol and escort duties on the East Indies Station. This covered the whole of the northern and western areas of the Indian Ocean from Sumatra to Bombay (Mumbai) and south to Mauritius.

Westralia spent the first half of 1941 on shipping protection at Nauru and Ocean Island. From October to December 1941, it transported troops to Timor and New Guinea and patrolled the Darwin area.

In January 1944 Westralia landed United States troops at Cape Cretin (New Guinea). Leaving the area on 28 January, Westralia was attacked by Japanese aircraft. It suffered casualties and some damage, but not enough to put it out of commission.

On 5 February Westralia returned to Cape Cretin with reinforcements. It spent March and April in New Guinean waters and returned to Sydney on 31 May 1944 for refitting. In July 1944 Westralia transported troops to the forward areas operating from New Guinean bases. 

In October 1944 Westralia (I) took part in the landings at Leyte Gulf in the Philippines.

Westralia spent December in the Solomons and at Manus before returning to the Philippines for the Lingayen landings in January 1945. There Westralia experienced an attempted kamikaze attack by a Japanese aircraft but only suffered minor damage.

In the postwar period Westralia repatriated troops from the islands north of Australia to the mainland. 

Westralia decommissioned at Sydney on 19 September 1946 after steaming 120 978 miles in naval service.