HMAS

Aeolus

With much of the Royal Australian Navy fleet deployed to foreign waters in the early years of World War II, the defence of Australia’s coastlines became a primary concern for the Naval Board. The Naval Auxiliary Patrol (NAP) was a war-raised unit approved on 25 June 1941, charged with patrolling and safeguarding Australia's inner harbours, ports, rivers and estuaries against enemy sabotage or attack. The NAP fleet was comprised primarily of former pleasure craft, offered freely by their owners.

In May 1942, the NAP was transferred to the Royal Australian Naval Volunteer Reserve (RANVR) and was thereafter known as the RANVR NAP. By October 1942 the total strength of the NAP had increased to over 3000 mobilised and unmobilised reservists. This was to remain the case until early 1944 when it was considered that the danger of enemy attack was remote enough to reduce the strength of the NAP to a minimum. https://seapower.navy.gov.au/media-room/publications/naval-auxiliary-patrol.

Aeolus, formerly Leisurlea, was a 34 foot Motor Launch that served as a Naval Auxiliary Patrol vessel. Requisitioned for service on 18 September 1942, HMAS Aeolus was commissioned into RAN service on 23 October 1942. The boat decommissioned on 23 June 1944.

HMAS Aeolus first appeared in the April 1943 edition of the Navy List: https://seapower.navy.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/Navy_List-April-1943.pdf