| Navy | The Royal Australian Navy |
| Type | Minesweeper |
| Class | Bathurst |
| Pennant | J 238 |
| Built by | Evans Deakin Ltd. (Brisbane, Queensland, Australia) |
| Ordered | 24 Sep 1940 |
| Laid down | 27 Aug 1941 |
| Launched | 30 Jan 1942 |
| Commissioned | 4 Nov 1942 |
| End service | |
| History | Sold to be broken up for scrap in January 1961. |
Commands listed for HMAS Gympie (J 238)
Please note that we're still working on this section
and that we only list Commanding Officers for the duration of the Second World War.
| Commander | From | To | |
| 1 | Lt.Cdr. Charles William John Patterson, RANR | Oct 1942 | 28 May 1943 |
| 2 | Lt.Cdr. (emergency) Richard Terence Power, RAN | 29 May 1943 | 10 Aug 1943 |
| 3 | T/Lt.Cdr. Raymond Rowsell, RNZNR | 10 Aug 1943 | Sep 1944 |
| 4 | A/Lt.Cdr. Norman Arthur Kingsbury Wallis, RANVR | Sep 1944 | Oct 1945 ? |
You can help improve our commands section
Click here to Submit events/comments/updates for this vessel.
Please use this if you spot mistakes or want to improve this ships page.
Notable events involving Gympie include:
11 Aug 1944
Convoy BG 8.
Around 1800K/11, this convoy left Langemak Bay for Humboldt Bay.
The convoy was made up of the transports; Extavia (American, 6535 GRT, built 1941), Owen Summers (American, 7180 GRT, built 1943), Thomas Nelson (American, 7191 GRT, built 1942), Thomas W. Symons (American, 7176 GRT, built 1943) and William Ellery Channing (American, 7176 GRT, built 1942).
On departure from Langemak Bay the convoy was escorted by the minesweeper HMS Gympie (T/Lt.Cdr. R. Rowsell, RNZNR). The patrol vessel USS SC-737 (?) was to have sailed with the convoy but had been delayed and was unable to sail with the convoy. She later sailed to overtake and join the convoy which she did around 0035K/12.
Around 1300K/12, the destroyer HMAS Vendetta (Lt.Cdr. J.S. Mesley, RAN) and minesweeper HMAS Katoomba (T/Lt. J.A. Grant, RANR(S)) joined the convoy coming from Madang as additional escorts.
The convoy arrived at Humboldt Bay around 0800K/14. (1)
10 Jul 1945
During 10 and 11 July 1945, HMS Stubborn (Lt. A.G. Davies, RN), conducted exercises off Fremantle with HMS Gympie (A/Lt.Cdr. N.A.K. Wallis, RANVR). These included night exercises. (2)
Sources
- Report of proceedings of HMAS Gympie for August 1944 + Report of proceedings of HMAS Vendetta for August 1944
- ADM 173/19759
ADM numbers indicate documents at the British National Archives at Kew, London.