HMAS Yandra

The S.S. Yandra circa 1930
History
Australia
Name:	Yandra (1928-1959)
Namesake:	Aboriginal: "All alike"
Owner:	Coast Steamships Ltd, Adelaide
Builder:	Burmeister & Wain, Copenhagen
Launched:	1928
Fate:	Ran aground Neptune Islands 1959 and written off
History
Australia
Name:	HMAS Yandra (1940-1946)
Acquired:	June 1940
Commissioned:	22 September 1940
Decommissioned:	1946
Fate:	Returned to owners
General characteristics
Type:	Tug
Displacement:	990 tons
Length:	211.1 feet (64.3 m)
Beam:	35.2 feet (10.7 m)
Draught:	11.9 feet (3.6 m)

Yandra was a 990-ton coastal steamer built by Burmeister and Wain, Copenhagen in 1928 for Coast Steamships Ltd for service in the Australian state of South Australia. She was requisitioned by the Royal Australia Navy in June 1940 during the Second World War for conversion to a minesweeper and anti-submarine vessel and was commissioned on 22 September 1940 as HMAS Yandra. She returned to civilian service in 1946. She ran aground during dense fog onto South Neptune Island on 25 January 1959 and was subsequently written off.

The Yandra was built for Coast Steamships Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Adelaide Steamship Company, by Burmeister and Wain, Copenhagen. She arrived in Port Adelaide from London on Tuesday, 23 October 1928 and commenced service in early November 1928. She was specifically designed for serving regional ports on the west coast of Eyre Peninsula - a locality commonly known as the ‘west coast’ in South Australia. Her relatively shallow draft allowed access to ports at destinations such as Elliston and Venus Bay.

The Yandra was requisitioned from Coast Steamships Ltd. on 27 June 1940. She was converted for anti-submarine warfare in Sydney and then commissioned in the Royal Australian Navy on 22 September 1940.

HMAS Yandra challenged a ship off Rottnest Island, Western Australia on 5 October 1941 during the night and was given a false name Salland, from Calcutta. The ship never appeared in port as expected and caused naval intelligence some concern that this vessel could have been the German auxiliary cruiser Kormoran, it was dismissed as a misreading of the morse code. HMAS Yandra picked up 72 German survivors of the Kormoran on 27 November 1941, while searching for HMAS Sydney.