HMAS Platypus (1917)

HMAS Platypus with all six Australian J Class submarines in 1919
History
United Kingdom
Builder:	John Brown and Company, Clydebank, Scotland
Laid down:	14 October 1914
Launched:	28 October 1916
Commissioned:	21 March 1917
Decommissioned:	1919
Fate:	Transferred to Royal Australian Navy
History
Australia
Commissioned:	25 March 1919
Decommissioned:	13 May 1946 (into reserve) 1 November 1956 (paid off for disposal)
Renamed:	HMAS Penguin (1929) HMAS Platypus (1941)
Reclassified:	Destroyer tender 1922-1929 Submarine tender 1929-1930 Depot ship 1930-1941 Base ship/training ship 1941-1944 Maintenance ship 1944-1946
Struck:	20 February 1958
Motto:	"Nothing Too Difficult"
Honours and awards:	Battle honours: Darwin 1942-43
Fate:	Sold for scrap in 1958
General characteristics
Displacement:	3,476 tons
Length:	310 ft (94 m) (water line) 325 ft (99 m) (overall)
Beam:	44 ft (13 m)
Draught:	15 ft 8 in (4.78 m)
Propulsion:	2 sets of triple expansion reciprocating steam engines, twin screw
Speed:	15.5 knots (28.7 km/h; 17.8 mph)
Armament:	1 × 4.7-inch gun

HMAS Platypus was a submarine depot ship and base ship operated by the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) between 1919 and 1946. Ordered prior to World War I to support the Australian submarines AE1 and AE2, Platypus was not completed until after both submarines had been lost, and she was commissioned into the Royal Navy from 1917 to 1919.

After the RAN acquired six J class submarines, Platypus was recommissioned as an Australian warship. She was reroled as a destroyer tender after the J class was removed from service in the 1920s, tasked with supporting the two O class submarines during 1929 and 1930. After the submarines were placed in reserve, Platypus was renamed HMAS Penguin and operated as a depot ship until 1941. The ship assumed her old name and was relocated to Darwin, then Cairns for use as a base ship. After a refit in 1944, Platypus operated as a repair vessel in New Guinea waters until she was placed into reserve in 1946.

Platypus was sold for scrap in 1958.

Platypus was ordered by the Australian government before the outbreak of the war to service the new E class submarines, AE1 and AE2. She was built by John Brown and Company at Clydebank in Scotland, and launched on 28 October 1916. By the time she was completed, both submarines had been lost, and she was instead commissioned into the Royal Navy on 21 March 1917.

At the conclusion of the war, the ship was transferred to the Royal Australian Navy and was commissioned into the RAN on 25 March 1919.

Platypus’s main role was to support the RAN's six J class submarines, which she sailed with from Britain to Sydney between April and July 1919.