HMAS Koopa
HMAS
Koopa
 |
| Type |
Depot Ship (Combined Operations Training) and later Mother Ship for Fairmile Motor Launches |
|---|---|
| Pennant |
KP |
| Builder |
Ramage & Ferguson Ltd, Leith, Scotland |
| Commissioned |
14 September 1942 |
| Decommissioned |
10 January 1947 |
| Dimensions & Displacement | |
| Length | 192 feet 7 inches |
| Beam | 28 feet 1 inch |
| Draught | 8 feet 7 inches |
| Capacity | 416 tons cargo |
| Propulsion | |
| Machinery | Ramage & Ferguson tripled expansion engines, 6 cylinders |
| Horsepower | 176 NHP |
| Armament | |
| Guns |
|
The passenger ferry Koopa had operated since before World War II in Moreton Bay, Queensland, running pleasure cruises. On 10 August 1942 the vessel was requisitioned for naval service. She commissioned at Brisbane on 14 September 1942 under the command of Lieutenant Commander George WT Armitage, RAN (Emergency List).
Until late 1943 Koopa was used as a depot ship for combined operations training at Toorbul, Queensland, and then became the mother ship for Fairmile motor launches operating in the Milne Bay area of New Guinea.
After returning to Brisbane in February 1945 she was handed over to the Royal Navy on 26 July 1945 as a floating source of steam and electrical power.
Koopa reverted to the RAN on 24 September 1945 and was returned to her owners, Brisbane Tug and Steamship Company Ltd, on 10 January 1947.
Further reading
- 'Fairmile Ships of the Royal Australian Navy' edited by and written by Peter Evans & Richard Thompson - published by Australian Military History Publications, Loftus, 2005.
