![Mar. 1946: Port quarter view of HMAS SWAN [II], postwar leader of the 20th Minesweeping Flotilla - Photo Allan C. Green [1878-1954] SLV. | by Kookaburra2011](http://live.staticflickr.com/2491/4332686082_c9743b8137.jpg)
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Mar. 1946: Port quarter view of HMAS SWAN [II], postwar leader of the 20th Minesweeping Flotilla - Photo Allan C. Green [1878-1954] SLV.
1002. A smart looking little ship, HMAS SWAN is shown here in her minesweeper configuration, with parafanes on her quarterdeck. Since first built she has acquired a tripod mast, but is still carrying her wartime main armament of twin 4-inch [10.16cm] mounts fore and aft, and a 40mm bnofors on B deck.
As described earlier, HMAS SWAN had a narrow escape during the first bombing of Darwin in Feb 1942, being berthed directly behind the mine-laden ammunition ship NEPTUNA shortly before it massively exploded. She had been loading AA ammunition from NEPTUNA, but the operation was being interrupted by a protest from Darwin wharfies over the use of non-union labor when the first wave of planes struck. Sadly 20 wharf laborers were killed by a bomb hit on the Stokes Hill wharf in these opening minutes of the raid. Firing furiously, SWAN was strafed as she pulled away from the burning wharf, losing three men killed and a number wounded.
Photo Allan C. Green [1878-1954] Green Collection, State Library of Victoria [Latrobe Library]. Copyright expired.
Mar. 1946: Port quarter view of HMAS SWAN [II], postwar leader of the 20th Minesweeping Flotilla - Photo Allan C. Green [1878-1954] SLV.
1002. A smart looking little ship, HMAS SWAN is shown here in her minesweeper configuration, with parafanes on her quarterdeck. Since first built she has acquired a tripod mast, but is still carrying her wartime main armament of twin 4-inch [10.16cm] mounts fore and aft, and a 40mm bnofors on B deck.
As described earlier, HMAS SWAN had a narrow escape during the first bombing of Darwin in Feb 1942, being berthed directly behind the mine-laden ammunition ship NEPTUNA shortly before it massively exploded. She had been loading AA ammunition from NEPTUNA, but the operation was being interrupted by a protest from Darwin wharfies over the use of non-union labor when the first wave of planes struck. Sadly 20 wharf laborers were killed by a bomb hit on the Stokes Hill wharf in these opening minutes of the raid. Firing furiously, SWAN was strafed as she pulled away from the burning wharf, losing three men killed and a number wounded.
Photo Allan C. Green [1878-1954] Green Collection, State Library of Victoria [Latrobe Library]. Copyright expired.