HMAS Kalgoorlie

HMAS Kalgoorlie (J192/B245/A119), named for the city of Kalgoorlie, Western Australia, was one of 60 Bathurst class corvettes constructed during World War II and one of 20 built for the Admiralty but manned by personnel of and commissioned into the Royal Australian Navy (RAN).

Construction
Kalgoorlie was laid down by Broken Hill Pty Co Ltd at Whyalla, South Australia on 27 July 1940. She was launched on 7 August 1941 by the wife of Thomas Playford IV, then Premier of South Australia, and was commissioned into the RAN on 7 April 1942.

RAN service
After completing trials, Kalgoorlie was assigned as a convoy escort. Initially operating along the east coast of Sydney, the corvette was moved to Darwin in August 1942 and taken with convoys between Australia, Thursday Island, and Timor. On 25 September, Kalgoorlie and sister ship HMAS Warrnambool (J202) evacuated the ship's company of the destroyer HMAS Voyager (D31), which had run aground at Betano Bay two days before. In early December, Kalgoorlie was involved in the search for survivors from sister ship HMAS Armidale (J240), which had been sunk by Japanese aircraft on 1 December. Kalgoorlie eventually recovered 49 of the survivors.

In April 1943, the corvette returned to the east coast of Australia, still operating as a convoy escort. On 15 June, a thirteen-ship convoy heading for Brisbane and escorted by Kalgoorlie and sister ships HMAS Bundaberg (J231), HMAS Cootamundra, HMAS Deloraine, and HMAS Warrnambool (J202), was attacked off Smoky Cape. The United States Army Transport Portmar and the US Navy Landing ship USS LST-469 were torpedoed by Japanese submarine I-174: the former sinking in minutes with the loss of only two lives, while 26 were killed aboard the latter ship, which survived and was towed to port. Despite attempts to locate the submarine immediately after the attack, and a multiple-day search performed by Kalgoorlie, I-174 escaped unharmed. This was the last submarine attack to be made on the east coast of Australia during World War II.

Kalgoorlie spent the first half of 1944 as a convoy escort between Queensland and New Guinea, then joined sister ship HMAS Pirie (J189) in clearing the minefields laid by HMAS Bungaree throughout the Great Barrier Reef during the early part of the war. During August and September, the two corvettes located and destroyed almost 500 mines. Kalgoorlie spent the rest of the year on convoy escort duties, before joining the British Pacific Fleet at the end of 1944. The corvette operated with the Pacific Fleet until 15 July 1945, when she arrived in Brisbane for a refit. Kalgoorlie was still undergoing refit when the war ended. After the refit, the corvette operated in New Guinea and Australian waters until early May 1946.

The corvette was awarded four battle honours for her wartime service: "Darwin 1942-43", "Pacific 1942-43", "New Guinea 1943-44", and "Okinawa 1945".

RNN service
Kalgoorlie paid off on 8 May 1946, and was recommissioned on the same day into the Royal Netherlands Navy as HNLMS Ternate.