HMAS Gascoyne
Two ships of the
Royal Australian Navy have been named for the Gascoyne River, the longest river in
Western Australia which rises west of the Carnarvon Range and flows to the
Indian Ocean.
The first
HMAS Gascoyne (K-354/F-354/A-276) was a River class
frigate laid down by Morts Dock and Engineering Company at Balmain in
New South Wales on
3 July 1942, launched on
20 February 1943 by Lady Wakehurst, wife of the Governor of New South Wales and commissioned on
18 November 1943.
Gascoyne paid off into reserve on
12 April 1946 but re-commissioned at
Sydney on
8 June 1959 for survey and oceanographic research duty.
HMAS Gascoyne paid off on
1 February 1966, was sold for scrap to the Fujita Salvage Company Limited of
Osaka in
Japan on
15 February 1972 and left
Melbourne under tow for Japan on
6 July 1972.
The second
HMAS Gascoyne is a Huon class minehunter.