HMAS ''Vigilant'' (later known as HMAS ''Sleuth'' and HMAS ''Hawk'') was an auxiliary patrol boat serving with the

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 ...

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 ...

. Notably it was the 120th ship built by the

Cockatoo Island Dockyard The Cockatoo Island Dockyard was a major dockyard in Sydney, Australia, based on Cockatoo Island. The dockyard was established in 1857 to maintain Royal Navy warships. It later built and repaired military and battle ships, and played a key role ...

and the first aluminium ship built in Australia.

History

PV ''Vigilant'' was a prototype ship designed and built at

in 1937–38. The hull and wheelhouse were constructed entirely of aluminium to save weight. As a result, the ship had a total displacement of only 106 tons. It was built for the Department of Trade and Customs, intended for use patrolling waters to the north of Australia in conjunction with the ''Kuru''. It was initially based at

Townsville The City of Townsville is a city on the north-eastern coast of Queensland, Australia. With a population of 201,313 as of 2024, it is the largest settlement in North Queensland and Northern Australia (specifically, the parts of Australia north of ...

Naval service

The ship was still undergoing sea trials when it was requisitioned by the Royal Australian Navy in October 1940, commissioning as HMAS ''Vigilant'' on 12 November 1940. It was classed as an auxiliary patrol vessel. It was initially equipped with a 3-pounder QF gun but this was replaced with a

20 mm Oerlikon The Oerlikon 20 mm cannon is a series of autocannons based on an original German Becker Type M2 20 mm cannon design that appeared very early in World War I. It was widely produced by Oerlikon Contraves and others, with various models employ ...

. As well as the mounted gun, it carried a variety of light arms including a

Bren light machine gun The Bren gun (Brno-Enfield) was a series of light machine guns (LMG) made by the United Kingdom in the 1930s and used in various roles until 1992. While best known for its role as the British and Commonwealth forces' primary infantry LMG in Worl ...

''Vigilant'' was transferred to

Darwin, Northern Territory Darwin ( Larrakia: ') is the capital city of the Northern Territory, Australia. The city has nearly 53% of the Northern Territory's population, with 139,902 at the 2021 census. It is the smallest, wettest, and most northerly of the Australi ...

in 1941 and was used for protecting the harbour approaches. During the

Bombing of Darwin The Bombing of Darwin, also known as the Battle of Darwin, on 19 February 1942 was the largest single attack ever mounted by a foreign power on Australia. On that day, 242 Empire of Japan, Japanese aircraft, in two separate raids, attacked the ...

, ''Vigilant'' engaged some of the attacking aircraft with its 20 mm Oerlikon and later assisted in picking up survivors from the water in Darwin Harbour. ''Vigilant'', with a hold capacity of 7 tons, played an important role in the

Battle of Timor The Battle of Timor occurred in Portuguese Timor and West Timor, Dutch Timor during the Second World War. Empire of Japan, Japanese forces invaded the island on 19 February 1942 and were resisted by a small, under-equipped force of Allies of Worl ...

from May 1942 and made several supply trips to the island. During one of these supply voyages, it assisted in the search for survivors from HMAS ''Armidale''. During this time, it also resupplied corvettes operating in the Timor Sea with depth charges. HMAS ''Vigilant'' was renamed HMAS ''Sleuth'' on 17 April 1944 and HMAS ''Hawk'' on 13 March 1945. ''Hawk'' was paid off on 12 November 1945.

Post-war service

After the war, the ship was returned to the Department of Trade and Customs as PV ''Vigilant'', and served as a whaling patrol ship off

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

until 1965. Despite attempts to save the ship for preservation, it was scuttled off Sydney in April 1966.

Legacy

Vigilant Close in

Bentley Park, Queensland Bentley Park is a suburb of Cairns within the local government area of Cairns Region, Queensland, Australia. It is located approximately south of the Cairns City. In the , Bentley Park had a population of 8,360 people. History Bentley Park ...

is named after HMAS ''Vigilant''. Following an overhaul of the RAN

battle honour A battle honour is an award of a right by a government or sovereign to a military unit to emblazon the name of a battle or Military operation, operation on its flags ("colours"), uniforms or other accessories where ornamentation is possible. In ...

s system, completed in March 2010, the RAN decided that, in recognition of the vessel's wartime service, future ships named HMAS ''Vigilant'' would be entitled to carry the honours "Darwin 1942–43" and "Pacific 1942–43".

Gallery

Image:Vigilant plan.jpg, General arrangement plan Image:Sleuth Castlemaine Benalla.jpg, HMAS ''Sleuth'' with the corvettes ''Castlemaine'' and ''Benalla'' off Darwin in 1944.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vigilant Patrol vessels of the Royal Australian Navy 1938 ships Scuttled vessels of New South Wales