HMAS Gawler (J188)

HMAS Gawler
History
Australia
Namesake	Town of Gawler
Builder	BHP, Whyalla
Laid down	24 January 1941
Launched	4 October 1941
Commissioned	14 August 1942
Decommissioned	5 April 1946
Motto	"Serve With Pride"
Honours and awards	Battle honours: Pacific 1942 Indian Ocean 1942–45 Sicily 1943
Fate	Transferred to Turkish Navy
Badge
Turkey
Name	Ayvalik
Acquired	5 April 1946
Commissioned	1946
Decommissioned	1963
Fate	Withdrawn from service
General characteristics during RAN service
Class and type	Bathurst-class corvette
Displacement	650 tons (standard), 1,025 tons (full war load)
Length	186 ft (57 m)
Beam	31 ft (9.4 m)
Draught	8.5 ft (2.6 m)
Propulsion	triple expansion engine, 2 shafts, 2,000 hp
Speed	15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph) at 1,750 hp
Complement	85
Armament	1 × 12-pounder gun (later replaced by 1 × 4 inch Mk XIX gun) 3 × 20 mm Oerlikons (later increased to 5, then reduced back to 3) 1 × Bofors 40 mm L/60 gun (installed later) Machine guns Depth charges chutes and throwers

HMAS Gawler (J188/B241/A115), named for the town of Gawler, was one of 60 constructed during World War II and one of 20 Bathurst-class corvettes built for the Admiralty but manned by personnel of and commissioned into the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). The ship was laid down by BHP at its Whyalla shipyard in early 1941, launched later that year, and commissioned in 1942.

After a short assignment to Fremantle as an anti-submarine patrol ship, Gawler was assigned to the British Eastern Fleet as a convoy escort. In April 1943, she was sent to the Mediterranean Sea for minesweeping duties. The corvette participated in the Allied invasion of Sicily, rescued survivors from the torpedoed troopship Yoma, and on one occasion escorted a convoy in the Atlantic. In October, Gawler rejoined the Eastern Fleet and resumed Indian Ocean convoy escort duties. After a refit at the start of 1945, Gawler joined the British Pacific Fleet. At the war's end, the corvette was tasked with mine-clearing and anti=piracy operations around Hong Kong, then sent to the Molucca Islands to inspect former Japanese facilities.

Gawler was decommissioned from the RAN in April 1946. The Admiralty transferred the ship to the Turkish Navy, where she was recommissioned as TCG Ayvalik. The corvette remained in Turkish service until 1963.