HMAS Moresby (1918)
HMAS Moresby in February 1940
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| History | |
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 United Kingdom
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| Name: | Silvio |
| Namesake: | Famous racehorse |
| Builder: | Barclay Curle and Co Ltd, Glasgow, Scotland |
| Laid down: | 27 November 1917 |
| Launched: | 12 April 1918 |
| Fate: | Transferred to Royal Australian Navy |
| History | |
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Australia
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| Name: | Moresby |
| Namesake: | Captain (later Admiral) John Moresby |
| Commissioned: | 20 June 1925 |
| Decommissioned: | 21 December 1929 |
| Recommissioned: | 27 April 1933 |
| Decommissioned: | 14 December 1934 |
| Recommissioned: | 11 April 1935 |
| Decommissioned: | 14 March 1946 |
| Motto: | "With Science And Vision" |
| Honours and awards: |
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| Fate: | Sold for scrap on 3 February 1947 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | 24 class sloop |
| Displacement: |
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| Length: | 267 feet (81 m) |
| Speed: |
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| Complement: | 82 (as built) |
| Armament: |
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HMAS Moresby (formerly HMS Silvio) was a 24-class (also known as Racehorse class) "Fleet Sweeping" sloop that served in the Royal Navy (RN) and Royal Australian Navy (RAN) as a minesweeper, anti-submarine vessel, and survey ship. The ship was involved in both World Wars, and was the venue of the Japanese surrender of Timor on 11 September 1945.
The 24 class were designed as minesweeping sloops capable of accompanying fleets on operations. As built, the vessels had a displacement of 1,320 tons, were 267 feet (81 m) in length, and had a standard ship's company of 82. The sloops were powered by coal-fuelled boilers connected to steam turbines. Although larger and roomier than preceding designs, the 24 class had a reputation of poor seakeeping capabilities.
The sloop was laid down as HMS Silvio, named after a British Epsom Derby-winning racehorse, by Barclay Curle and Co Ltd at their Glasgow shipyard on 27 November 1917. She was launched on 12 April 1918, and commissioned into the Royal Navy on 25 May 1918.
On 25 July 1918, Silvio, HMS Moresby, and three other warships were escorting a convoy when it came under attack by a U-boat off the coast of Ulster. All five escorts attacked the submarine, but none were successful in damaging it.
In 1925, Silvio was the last of five of the 24-class sloops to be converted to survey ships. In the same year, the ship was lent to the Australian Government to replace HMAS Fantome and assist HMAS Geranium in surveying throughout northern Australian waters, including a navigation channel through the Great Barrier Reef. The ship was renamed and recommissioned into the Royal Australian Navy as HMAS Moresby, after John Moresby, on 20 June 1925. She departed England on 28 June, and arrived in Australia in September.
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