Diamantina is Australia's largest World War II survivor and the last of over
200 River Class and variant frigates that Allies built during that conflict.
From war ship to oceanographic research vessel, between 1945 and 1980,
Diamantina gave outstanding service to the Australian nation - in war, in making
the peace, then in the Cold War years, by undertaking important oceanographic
and scientific research in the Indian and Pacific Oceans.
Built in a long gone shipyard in a small Queensland city, crewed over her
long life by thousands of men from all states and territories, based for most of
her second commission in Western Australia, and operating in the Indian and
Pacific Oceans to as far away as The Gulf, Hong Kong, the Diamantina embodies
much of the Navy's story in the latter part of the twentieth century.
Contents:
Foreword
Introduction
1. The Beginning
2. Fitout and Commission
3. Sydney and Workup
4. Bougainville
5. Making the Peace
6. 1946
7. Second Commission 1949-1969
8. 1970-1979
9. 'Diamantina' Comes Home
Appendix 1. HMAS Diamantina - List of Commanding Officers
Appendix 2. HMAS Diamantina - Commissioning Ship's Company 1945
Appendix 3. Christenings in HMAS Diamantina's Bell
Appendix 4. The Name Lives On
Index
