Pennant of the 20th Minesweeping Flotilla

The 20th Minesweeping Flotilla was a

Royal Australian Navy The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) is the navy, naval branch of the Australian Defence Force (ADF). The professional head of the RAN is Chief of Navy (Australia), Chief of Navy (CN) Vice admiral (Australia), Vice Admiral Mark Hammond (admiral), Ma ...

minesweeping Minesweeping is the practice of removing explosive naval mines, usually by a specially designed ship called a minesweeper using various measures to either capture or detonate the mines, but sometimes also with an aircraft made for that purpos ...

flotilla A flotilla (from Spanish, meaning a small ''flota'' ( fleet) of ships), or naval flotilla, is a formation of small warships that may be part of a larger fleet. Composition A flotilla is usually composed of a homogeneous group of the same cla ...

that operated during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. Formed on 9 December 1939 and styled in the naming convention for minesweeping flotilla names used by the Royal Navy, the flotilla consisted of HMAS ''Swan'', ''Yarra'', ''Doomba'' and ''Orara''. The makeup of the flotilla changed during the course of the war. After World War Two, it operated in a peacetime counter-mine mission up and down the

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

from 1 July 1947 to 31 May 1950, removing leftover mines.

Ships of the flotilla

* HMAS ''Swan'' * HMAS ''Yarra'' * HMAS ''Doomba'' * HMAS ''Orara'' * HMAS ''Warrego'' * HMAS ''Warrnambool'' * HMAS ''Echuca'' * HMAS ''Burnie'' * HMAS ''Mildura'' * HMAS ''Bunbury'' * HMAS ''Katoomba'' * HMAS ''Lithgow'' * HMAS ''Ararat'' * HMAS ''Cowra'' * HMAS ''Dubbo'' * HMAS ''Rockhampton'' * HMAS ''Townsville'' * HMAS ''Deloraine''

References

{{Royal Australian Navy History of the Royal Australian Navy