HMAS Townsville (J205/M205/A124), named after the city of Townsville, Queensland, was one of 60 Bathurst-class corvettes constructed during World War II, and one of 36 initially manned and commissioned solely by the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). Design and construction In 1938, the Australian Commonwealth Naval Board (ACNB) identified the need for a general purpose 'local defence vessel' capable of both anti-submarine and mine-warfare duties, while easy to construct and operate. The vessel was initially envisaged as having a displacement of approximately 500 tons, a speed of at least , and a range of The opportunity to build a prototype in the place of a cancelled Bar-class boom defence vessel saw the proposed design increased to a 680-ton vessel, with a top speed, and a range of , armed with a 4-inch gun, equipped with asdic, and able to fitted with either depth charges or minesweeping equipment depending on the planned operations: although closer in size to a sloop than a local defence vessel, the resulting increased capabilities were accepted due to advantages over British-designed mine warfare and anti-submarine vessels. Construction of the prototype did not go ahead, but the plans were retained. The need for locally built 'all-rounder' vessels at the start of World War II saw the "Australian Minesweepers" (designated as such to hide their anti-submarine capability, but popularly referred to as "corvettes") approved in September 1939, with 60 constructed during the course of the war: 36 (including Townsville) ordered by the RAN, 20 ordered by the British Admiralty but manned and commissioned as RAN vessels, and 4 for the Royal Indian Navy. Townsville was laid down by Evans Deakin & Co at Brisbane, Queensland on 16 November 1940. She was launched on 13 May 1941 by Mrs. P. E. McNeil, wife of the Third Member of the Naval Board, and commissioned into th RAN on 19 December 1941. Operational history Townsville entered active service in February 1942, escorting convoys between Darwin and Thursday Island. She was present in Darwin Harbour when the Japanese aircraft bombed the area on 19 February 1942, but was not damaged. Townsville remained in Darwin until July 1942, when she was sent to Sydney to begin escort duties off the east coast of Australia. The ship remained until May 1944, and despite being in the heaviest period of Japanese naval activity in Australian waters, only one ship was lost from a Townsville convoy; the