HMAS River Snake

HMAS River Snake in May 1945
History
Australia
Name	HMAS River Snake
Builder	Millars Bunnings Shipbuilding, Fremantle
Launched	1945
In service	19 February 1945
Out of service	2 November 1945
Fate	Handed over to the British Civil Administration Unit in Borneo
General characteristics
Class and type	Snake-class junk
Tonnage	80 tons (gross)
Length	66 ft (20 m)
Beam	17 ft (5.2 m)
Depth	7.6 ft (2.3 m)
Installed power	Gray Marine 64 YTL diesel, single screw, 300 hp (220 kW)
Speed	9 knots (17 km/h)
Range	500 nautical miles (930 km)
Capacity	20 tons of cargo
Complement	9
Armament	Two Oerlikon 20 mm cannon, three or four M2 Browning machine guns or Bren Guns

HMAS River Snake was a Snake-class junk built for the Royal Australian Navy during the Second World War. She was launched in 1945 and commissioned into the Royal Australian Navy on 19 February 1945. She was used by the Services Reconnaissance Department (SRD) and was paid off on 2 November 1945, before being handed over to the British Civil Administration in Borneo.

Operation Suncharlie

During Operation Suncharlie SRD operatives were deployed from HMAS River Snake, an Australian built Country Craft, in Portuguese Timor on 23 April 1945. This operation, partly using folboats (collapsible kayaks), was to be for long term intelligence work, but after a short reconnaissance they returned to River Snake on 26 April 1945.

Commander John Gowing.

References

• Hoehn, John (2011). Commando Kayak: The Role of the Folboat in the Pacific War. Zurich, Switzerland: Hirsch. ISBN 978-3-033-01717-7.
• Straczek, J.H. (1996). Royal Australian Navy: A-Z Ships, Aircraft and Shore Establishments. Sydney: Navy Public Affairs. ISBN 1876043784.

Further reading

• Corvettes. Australia's Naval Patrol Forces. Photo file No. 10. Marrickille: Topmill. 2001. ISBN 1-876860-21-9.

• "The Official History of the Operations and Administration of] Special Operations – Australia [(SOA), also known as the Inter-Allied Services Department (ISD) and Services Reconnaissance Department (SRD)] Volume 2 – Operations Part 1 page 53-54". National Archives of Australia. pp. 131–133.