HMAS Moresby (II)

In 1956 the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) commenced the first of a series of 5-year charting programs, which quickly revealed the inadequacies of the converted warships HMA Ships Barcoo (II) and Warrego (II), for the task. The 2 ships, along with HMAS Diamantina (I) following its conversion for surveying operations, performed admirable work, however, the RAN needed a purpose-built surveying vessel.

On 26 November 1959, Defence Minister Mr Athol Townley MP announced that the RAN would stop using fixed-wing naval aviation in 1963. This would free up funds for a new hydrographic survey ship, the first RAN vessel specifically designed for the role. It would be fitted with cutting edge equipment and a full flight deck for embarked helicopter operations. 

Fixed-wing naval aviation received a reprieve, but the RAN went ahead with the hydrographic ships. The hydrographic service was given complete freedom to determine its own specifications for a vessel of about 2000 tonnes. The final design phase for the ship was undertaken by the Australian Shipbuilding Board to the specifications set out by the RAN and the hydrographic service.

HMAS Moresby (II) was laid down at the State Dockyard, Newcastle on 1 June 1962, and was launched by Mrs Winifred (Wendy) Gatacre, the wife of the flag officer in charge East Australian Area, Rear Admiral GGO Gatacre CBE DSO DSC, on 7 September 1963. 

Following completion but prior to commissioning, Moresby embarked a Westland Scout AH-1 helicopter from 723 Squadron on 8 January 1964 for deck landing trials, and the ship later conducted sea trials in January and February. 

The squadron operated 2 Scouts, which rotated aboard the survey ship. The Scouts represented a vast improvement on the seaplanes that had previously been used in this role and proved the practicality of operating helicopters from small ships. They did, however, require a higher level of maintenance work than other aircraft as the coral sand eroded the rotor blades, engine and airframe structure. 

Moresby carried 3 34-foot survey motor boats equipped with echo sounders for surveying operations. They were fitted with sleeping berths and galleys, were designed to operate independently for extended periods away from the ship. 

Also embarked were: 

• 2 27-foot whalers, later replaced by 2 5m aluminium light utility boats
• 2 Land Rover 4-wheel drive vehicles with trailers
• 2 inflatable rubber rafts to land the vehicles ashore in remote areas
• a 3-tonne electric crane to lift and recover gear over the side. 

There was also space on board to accommodate sea riders from organisations such as the CSIRO and universities when conducting scientific research at sea. Moresby also provided hydrographic training for officers and sailors of the RAN and other navies. 

Moresby sailed from Newcastle to Sydney on 13 February 1964, flying the Red Ensign. At the halfway mark of the voyage, a brief handover ceremony was conducted off Norah Head and Captain Antony Cooper ADC RAN accepted Moresby on behalf of the RAN. The Red Ensign was hauled down and the White Ensign run-up in its place. Moresby officially commissioned on 6 March under the command of Commander John Osborn RAN at Garden Island in Sydney. At that time, it was one of the most advanced vessels of its type in the world.

After a brief period of trials Moresby got straight to work. By the end of the calendar year it had travelled 47 830 nautical miles. It had completed surveys in New South Wales, Tasmania, Queensland and in the Torres Strait. 

Following a refit at the beginning of 1965, Moresby was back in Tasmanian waters from April to June, conducting surveys off the state’s south-east coast. The value of Moresby’s embarked Scout helicopter was evident on 22 April when, in just one hour, the aircraft landed a ‘Hi-Fix’ station at Fisher Point, Recherche Bay. Previously this was a day-long operation conducted by boat. 

Later in the year, the vessel spent 4 months doing surveying operations off the north-west coast of Western Australia, with HMA Ships Diamantina (I), Gascoyne (I) and Bass. This included visits to Singapore and Bangkok in October and November. 

Its surveys in 1966 saw Moresby steam 92 797 nautical miles from the east coast of Tasmania, to New South Wales, to Queensland and back into Western Australian waters. 

Much of 1967 was spent in Papua New Guinea waters, surveying the north coast. Moresby arrived at Madang on 6 April. Two days later at Wewak, Moresby’s Scout, about to conduct a reconnaissance flight, lost directional control on take-off and ditched into the water in Wewak Harbour. All the aircraft’s occupants escaped uninjured. The Scout was recovered in just 4 hours but was irreparable. A replacement helicopter was flown from HMAS Albatross to Shoalwater Bay.

Moresby returned to Sydney in July for a maintenance period, before conducting a survey in Jervis Bay in November and returning to Papua New Guinea later that month to survey around the islands to the east and north-east of the mainland. 

Moresby later conducted surveys in Shoalwater Bay, Queensland, before proceeding to Western Australian waters for further operations. It made brief visits to Singapore and Jakarta in October, returning to Sydney on 12 December where it remained for the following 8 months undergoing a refit, receiving major upgrades to its hydrographic equipment. It was back at sea in northern Australian waters in August 1969 working off the coasts of far north Queensland and the Northern Territory.

Returning to far north Queensland in 1970, Moresby conducted surveys in the Gannet Passage and Torres Strait, and in Western Australian waters north and south of Broome. It paid visits to Port Moresby in March and April and Surabaya in September. 

On 29 April Moresby participated in the bicentenary commemorations of Captain James Cook’s landing at Kurnell in Botany Bay. Alongside the Kurnell Oil Jetty, Moresby paraded a guard to salute Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II as she observed the bicentenary re-enactment from HMY Britannia. The event was also attended by ships from the United Kingdom, United States, New Zealand, Japan, Argentina, Colombia, Canada, Norway, Chile, Indonesia, the Netherlands, Portugal and France.

Moresby visited Victorian waters towards the end of the year, conducting surveys around Wilsons Promontory in November and December.

The new year saw Moresby return to Papua New Guinea to conduct surveys in the Gulf of Papua in February, March and April 1971. It returned to Sydney on 22 April, where it underwent a refit before sailing for northern Australian waters to conduct soundings around Cartier Island and Red Island, and surveys in Western Australian waters in the approaches to Troughton Passage and Lesueur Island.

The first half of 1972 was spent conducting its first surveys in South Australian waters in the Yatala Passage, Denial Bay, the Nuyts Archipelago, the Pearson Isles and Port Stanvac. It returned to Sydney in June before once again proceeding west to operate in Western Australian waters, including the important shipping route approach to Port Walcott, one of the Pilbara’s major iron ore exporting ports and one of the busiest ports by tonnage in Australia. Moresby again visited Jakarta that October.

In 1973 Moresby undertook one of the most significant surveys of its commission. Over the course of 6 months, punctuated only by 11 days in Sydney for maintenance, it surveyed a channel through Swain Reefs in the southern part of the Great Barrier Reef for the world’s largest bulk carriers. Supported by a small fleet of Attack class patrol boats, Moresby recorded more than 340 000 depth soundings to chart the 32 km wide safe passage through the reef. The opening of the passage enabled bulk carriers, over 100 000 tonnes, access to ports like Gladstone and Rockhampton, saving them a 500 km detour into the open sea.

Moresby returned to Sydney in late July and began a 6-month refit in August, during which its Bofors guns were removed and a new crane installed. By the time it returned to sea in February 1974, it embarked the Navy’s new Bell 206B-1 Kiowa helicopters, which had replaced the Westland Scouts. Survey operations throughout the year were conducted in South Australia, Tasmania, Western Australia, the Northern Territory and the Monte Bello Islands.

1974 was notable for the number of search and rescue, and medical evacuation (MEDEVAC) operations Moresby was required to participate in. In February while in Tasmanian waters, the ship’s aircraft transported a lighthouse keeper to Hobart for urgent dental treatment, and 2 weeks later, on 3 April, it evacuated a sailor from the Japanese fishing vessel Koei Maru No. 28 to Hobart when he suffered an abdominal injury some 500 nautical miles off the Tasmanian coast. Both the Japanese Maritime Safety Agency and Koei Maru’s owner signalled their appreciation for the rescue and the excellent treatment the injured sailor received aboard Moresby. 

On 26 June while surveying near the Geelvink Channel, Western Australia, the ship was tasked to search for the crew of a fishing vessel which had foundered off Kalbarri. The 3 crew members were located at the base of the Zuytdorp Cliffs, about 16 km north of Kalbarri, by Moresby’s Kiowa on the second day of the search. They were later rescued by a police land party, suffering only from exhaustion and minor cuts and bruises.

That November, Moresby moved to its new home port of Fremantle after more than a decade of home porting at Sydney.

Surveys in 1975 were conducted in the Northern Territory and Western Australia. That July Moresby embarked some 18 tonnes of artefacts from the Dutch East India Company shipwreck Batavia, from Houtman Abrolhos for transport to the Western Australian Maritime Museum in Fremantle.

On 29 October Moresby was directed to rendezvous with the Japanese fishing trawler Fujisaie Maru No. 6. An altercation on board had left the trawler’s radio operator dead and its boatswain suffering from serious stab wounds. Moresby’s Kiowa evacuated the injured sailor to HMAS Leeuwin the following morning.

The highlight of 1976 was a voyage to the Seychelles in June to celebrate the former British colony’s independence. The occasion marked the end of 166 years of British colonial rule, and was attended by naval representatives from Britain, France, the US, India and Iran. Members of Moresby’s crew took part in many of the events ashore in Port Victoria, and the ship’s Kiowa participated in a flypast. Moresby also embarked 2 large tortoises, a male and a female, as a gift to the Perth Zoological Gardens from the new Seychelles Government. Upon its return to Australia, Moresby entered refit on 1 July.

Moresby returned to sea on 7 January 1977, with its survey operations for the year being conducted, once again, primarily in Western Australian waters around Cape Leeuwin, King Sound, Collier Bay and Yampi Sound. On 12 July it suspended surveying operations in Yampi Sound to conduct a search for a Vietnamese refugee boat, reported by a passing pleasure craft to be in York Sound. The ship’s Kiowa located the 70 ft vessel the following day carrying 27 adults and 20 children, ranging in age from 2 to sixty years. Moresby resupplied the boat, and a medical officer conducted medical checks on its passengers. A steaming party was also embarked to supervise the subsequent passage to Broome where the vessels arrived on 15 July ending a nine-and-a-half-week voyage for the refugees.

On 28 July Moresby’s Kiowa helicopter crashed on Sunday Island in King Sound when a rotor blade struck a rock on a cliff face, and the aircraft fell on to the rocks 20 m below. The aircrew escaped with only minor injuries. The aircraft, however, was swept away by the tide and located nearly 25 km away in Cygnet Bay.

Moresby was busy in the final 2 years of the 1970s conducting surveys in Western Australian waters, including in and around Cape Leeuwin, Cape Naturaliste, King George Sound, Rottnest Island, Geelvink Channel, Nuyts Point, Bald Island and Dongara; and in Northern Territory waters in Joseph Bonaparte Gulf. In July 1978 it transferred from Fremantle to Fleet Base West, HMAS Stirling, which was to be its final home port.

The 1980s saw Moresby engaged in hydrographic operations in Western Australian and Northern Territory waters. In June 1981 it visited Jakarta to maintain the excellent relations between the hydrographic services of the 2 nations. That August the ship’s Kiowa flight was awarded the McNicoll Trophy, awarded to the Fleet Air Arm unit with the best flying safety record over the previous year. The flight went on to win the award again in 1982 and 1983. 

In March 1983 Moresby was directed to observe the recovery of a Soviet space vehicle within Australia’s region of maritime interest. The vehicle was an uninhabited BOR-4 orbiter. It was a prototype of the later Buran orbiter but bore a design like the earlier Soviet Spiral Space Plane. The BOR-5 prototype had a design which more closely resembled the ultimate Buran design, like NASA’s space shuttle. 

It splashed down in the Indian Ocean on 16 March, 300 nautical miles south of the Cocos Islands where Moresby’s Kiowa and a RAAF P3C Orion aircraft filmed the recovery operation, which lasted for about 4 hours. The images of the top-secret operation were subsequently seen around the world, prompting the Soviet authorities to reschedule all future space missions to end in the Black Sea.

Moresby again visited Jakarta in June before recommencing survey operations in Western Australian waters. However, persistent defects in its main engines forced it to suspend surveying operations and return to Stirling in November to effect repairs. The necessary maintenance kept its alongside at Stirling for 5 months, although its SMBs continued to perform useful survey operations while the ship was alongside.

Moresby resumed survey operations upon its return to sea in April 1984, carrying out surveys around Stirling as well as surveying the America’s Cup race sailing course. In August it supported the National Parks and Wildlife Association’s studies at Christmas Island before returning to Stirling later that month to begin preparations for a scheduled refit.

It returned to sea at the end of February 1985, and resumed what proved to be a very busy year of survey operations around Shark Bay and the Houtman Abrolhos in Western Australia, and Joseph Bonaparte Gulf in the Northern Territory. It visited Singapore in August and September and steamed more than 100 000 nautical miles over the course of the year.

The new year began with yet another rescue for the ship’s helicopter. On 31 January 1986, 2 shell divers became stranded on Figure of Eight Island near Esperance when their boat, Orca II, ran aground on a reef. Moresby was alongside at Esperance at the time, and 9 hours later its helicopter retrieved the 2 divers after receiving assistance from RAAF and civilian aircraft to triangulate their position. The 2 divers were fortunate that not only was Moresby in the area, but that its helicopter was operational - an engine defect had grounded the aircraft for 6 days earlier in the month.

The helicopter suffered a second, more serious mechanical defect on 14 April while approaching the ship after assisting with the calibration of hydrographic equipment at Gibson Point in the Admiralty Gulf, Western Australia. The aircraft lost power at a height of 30 metres and crashed into the sea. The 3-person crew escaped uninjured, and the aircraft was recovered, with the exception of its rotor and transmission, by Moresby’s SMBs and crane. A replacement aircraft was embarked the following month.

The ship commenced a scheduled refit in July 1987 and returned to sea that December, however, problems with the ship’s new Simrad sonar kept its alongside for much of the next few months, undergoing defect rectification. It resumed surveying operations at the end January 1988.

In the afternoon of 18 April 1988 Moresby was requested by Western Australia Police in Onslow to assist in the search for a man lost overboard from the fishing vessel Grey Ghost in the vicinity of the Mangrove Islands. The ship’s Kiowa helicopter was dispatched to search by air while Moresby coordinated the search efforts of 2 other aircraft and fishing vessels with the Onslow Police. The man was spotted on Large Island, 25 km north-east of the Mangrove Islands, the following morning. Moresby’s Kiowa recovered the man and returned him safely to Onslow.

Tropical Cyclone Herbie hindered surveying operations in May, forcing the ship to withdraw surveying teams ashore and take shelter around Airlie Island. The following month while Moresby was alongside at Stirling undergoing maintenance, the ship’s helicopter and crew members were detached to North West Cape where they operated from the Harold E Holt Naval Communications Station until 4 October, in support of Operation NORTHERN FALCON. The aircraft flew several surveillance sorties around the perimeter of the station during anti-US demonstrations at the base.

The ship returned to the east coast of Australia to participate in the Bicentennial Naval Salute in September. After spending 2 days in Jervis Bay with the rest of the gathering fleet, Moresby entered Sydney Harbour for the first time in 14 years, on 25 September. It embarked 30 members of the media and took up a position off South Head to witness the gun salutes by representative visiting warships. Ten vessels from 10 nations each fired a 21-gun salute as they steamed into Sydney Harbour, which was answered after the final salute by the guns of the ‘Sirius Battery,’ temporarily established in one of the Second World War-era gun emplacements at HMAS Watson.

The following day Moresby joined Group Five consisting of HMAS Stuart, JDS Shimayuki, FNS Amiral Charner and PNS Tughril for the Fleet Entry, which saw 40 vessels enter Sydney Harbour in formation over the course of 2 days. A busy week of bicentennial celebrations ended in a Fleet Review, conducted by His Royal Highness Prince Andrew, Duke of York, embarked in HMAS Cook on 1 October, while the ship’s aircraft took part in the Fleet Review flypast.

Moresby made a rare port visit to Adelaide in November, where it berthed for the first time since May 1972. There, the ship’s helicopter provided aerial support for the Australian Formula 1 Grand Prix.

Survey operations in 1989 were conducted off the south coast of Western Australia between Esperance and Bremer Bay, and around the Wessel and English Company Islands in the Northern Territory. The ship underwent an extended maintenance period during the first half of the year, during which it was fitted with the new hydrographic logging and data processing system (HYDLAPS), a sophisticated navigation and data collection system designed specifically for hydrographic operations. HYDLAPS sea trials were conducted in June and July, and Moresby made a week-long visit to Singapore in August coinciding with Singapore National Day on the 9th.

Survey operations in 1990 were conducted around King George Sound and off Cape Naturaliste in Western Australia, and once again in the Wessel Islands and English Company Islands groups in the Northern Territory. The ship also paid another visit to Singapore in early November.

Moresby spent the early part of 1991 conducting surveys around Melville Island in preparation for the following year’s Exercise KANGAROO, before entering refit in Fremantle in May. With the ship rapidly approaching 30 years of age, a large amount of required maintenance became apparent once it was out of the water, which almost doubled the original work package. However, its scheduled completion was only delayed by 2 weeks and the refit officially completed on 22 November.

Survey operations in 1992 were conducted between Esperance and Albany in Western Australia, during which the ship supported laser airborne depth sounder system trials. The ship also surveyed the Wessel Islands, Cadell Strait and the Crocodile Islands in the Northern Territory. The ship then paid a brief visit to Bali from 30 July to 2 August.

At 11.41 am on 31 October, in position 11 36.29’S, 135 38.33’E off Arnhem Land, Moresby became the first RAN vessel to steam one million nautical miles. The ship was appropriately running a survey line at the time. It anchored in Refuge Bay at Elcho Island that evening to celebrate the event.

Moresby conducted a series of scientific trials and oceanographic observations in the early parts of 1993, in conjunction with the Defence Science and Technology Organisation and Australian Defence Force Academy. It conducted a series of oceanographic observations over the full extent of the continental shelf between Darwin and the Monte Bello Islands in April and May and also took measurements of the Leeuwin Current using an acoustic current doppler profiler from May to July.

Later, in September, it conducted an unsuccessful search for 2 consolidated PBY Catalina flying boats scuttled off the Western Australian coast after the Second World War, before proceeding back to northern Australian waters to recommence survey operations around the Wessel Islands and Crocodile Islands.

Survey operations in 1994 were conducted in Spencer Gulf in South Australia, using the high frequency differential geographical position system as the primary positioning system for the first time. It also surveyed around the Wessel and Crocodile Islands groups in the Northern Territory. It visited Surabaya in Indonesia in late October, and upon its return to Stirling in December began preparations for a refit scheduled to commence in the new year.

Moresby visited Sydney at the end of September 1995 to celebrate the 75th Anniversary of the RAN Hydrographic Service, the ship’s first visit to Sydney since the Bicentennial Naval Salute in 1988. It went on to visit Wollongong, the home of the Australian Hydrographic Service, with HMAS Flinders in early October to continue events associated with the 75th anniversary, including the 75th Anniversary Ball on the 6^th October.

1996 saw Moresby circumnavigate the continent. In November Moresby visited Lord Howe Island and Sydney before following a southerly route back to Stirling at the end of the month. The ship also paid brief visits to Singapore and Jakarta at the end of April and beginning of May.

During the first half of 1997, Moresby’s final year in commission, the ship carried out survey operations between Shark Bay and Point Cloates in Western Australia, Investigator Strait in South Australia, and Mercury Passage in Tasmania. It also visited Adelaide, Melbourne and Hobart. It departed Stirling on 7 July for its final surveying deployment in northern Australian waters. It made its last overseas port visits, to Singapore and Benoa, in August.

Survey operations continued in the Ashmore Reef and Sahul Banks areas in September, and Moresby completed its last line of sounding, at Sahul Banks, at 11.30 pm on Sunday 21 September 1997. Moresby arrived back at Stirling on 1 October ending its final surveying deployment.

The ship conducted a families’ day on 3 October, visiting its previous home port at Fremantle before returning to Cockburn Sound, where the helicopter and the survey motor boats were launched for the last time. It ended its final day at sea when it returned to Stirling at one minute after midday, flying its decommissioning pennant and secured alongside Oxley Wharf.

Moresby decommissioned on 13 November 1997, having steamed 1 170 421.7 nm (or 2 167 620.9 km) in 88 241.8 hours underway. It retired as the oldest ship in the fleet at 33 years of age and was the last to feature teak decks.

The ship was sold via public tender in 1999 and renamed MV Patricia Anne Hotung. It was later used to transport and repatriate Timorese refugees from Indonesia back to Timor-Leste.