Pearce Able Seaman Libby (1 results)

"Sales/posting to the USA suspended". Landscaped A4 hard cover (laminated pictorial boards), 142pp, b&w photos. A fine copy. Soon after the outbreak of World War II an order was placed for sixty minesweepers of simple design to be constructed in Australian shipyards as part of the Commonwealth Government's wartime shipbuilding programme. Rapidly produced, these vessels were capable of patrol work, shore bombardment, minesweeping, escort and survey duties and troop-transport. They became popularly known as Corvettes, yhe Navy turning its attention to regional towns and communities in search of worthy names. The lead ship of the class was named HMAS Bathurst after the town in the central tablelands of NSW and those that followed each took their names from other regional towns dotted around the country. This linkage between the Navy and the Nation forged strong and enduring links between the RAN and the communities it drew upon to crew its fighting ships at a time when Australia never felt more threatened. Altogether 56 Bathurst Class Corvettes saw active service in the RAN during World War II, performing valuable work in far-flung theatres in both hemispheres. Three corvettes were lost during the war and a fourth in 1947 while clearing mines from the Great Barrier Reef. This pictorial work honours the service of the corvettes and their crew.…