| HMASAssault | |
|---|---|
| Nelson Bay, New South Wales in Australia | |
.jpg) Troops and landing craft crews training at HMASAssault duringWorld War II | |
| Site information | |
| Type | Training centre |
| Owner | Port Stephens Society of the Arts |
| Operator |
|
| Location | |
  HMASAssault Location inNew South Wales | |
| Coordinates | 32°42′57″S152°09′15″E / 32.715701°S 152.154101°E /-32.715701; 152.154101 |
| Site history | |
| Built | September 1942 |
| In use | 1 September 1942 (1942-09-01) – April 1945 |
| Fate |
|
HMASAssault is a formerRoyal Australian Navy (RAN)training centre that was in use duringWorld War II, located atNelson Bay in theMid North Coast region ofNew South Wales, Australia.
In June 1942, Royal Navy Commander F. N. Cook, the former commander of the Combined Operations Centre –HMS Tormenter – who was on loan to the RAN to help establish an Australiancombined operations school, identified Port Stephens as the ideal location to establish a RAN training base foramphibious landings.[1]: 118–9 On 9 August, GeneralDouglas MacArthur ordered the establishment of the Joint Overseas Operational Training School (JOOTS) at Port Stephens.[1]: 121 While the base was under construction,HMAS Westralia was assigned to the area as an accommodation ship, withHMAS Ping Wo serving as a tender.[1]: 121
Thestone frigate HMASAssault was commissioned on 1 September 1942;Assault was initially operated fromWestralia, but moved ashore on 10 December 1942.[1]: 121 [2] The base's main purpose was to train boat crews forlanding craft,beach commandos to prepare beaches and co-ordinate landings on the shore, and signals sections to facilitate communications between ships and land-based forces.[1]: 121 [2] Training atAssault was initially hampered by the lack ofLCVP andLCM craft available, with the base forced to usefolding boats towed by launches and lighters to simulate landing craft, andHMAS Koopa, a requisitionedpleasure boat, as an assault transport.[1]: 121 By March 1943, enough landing craft had been manufactured in Australia and delivered from the United States to allow for full-scale landing exercises.[1]: 121 For administrative purposes, landing and shore personnel trained atAssault were considered to be attached to the base, not the ships that they were embarked in.[1]: 124–5
The Naval Training Center atAssault was used to train landing craft crews, beach parties and signal teams. Between September 1942 and October 1943 the following Naval personnel were trained atHMAS Assault:[3]
The JOOTS section ofAssault was closed on 1 October 1943, with all joint amphibious warfare training consolidated at theArmy facility atToorbul Point,Queensland.[1]: 123 The RAN continued training its own boat and beach crews atAssault until August 1944,[1]: 123 when the base was decommissioned[citation needed] and reduced to a caretaker establishment.[1]: 123 In April 1945, the base was given to theRoyal Navy,[1]: 123 who used it as a Commando Depot for theRoyal Marines units attached to theBritish Pacific Fleet.[citation needed]
Assault's sickbay was used as migrant accommodation from 1949 to 1953. It was opened as a small hospital in 1956, then closed in 1981. On 10 August 1981 the buildings were handed over to the Port Stephens Society of the Arts[3] and are now used as the Port Stephens Community Arts Centre.[4]
