About This Unit
HMAS Platypus was built to the order of the Australian Government. After completion in March 1917 she passed to the control of the Admiralty until 25 March 1919 when she was commissioned into the Royal Australian Navy at Portsmouth. Platypus sailed from Portsmouth on 8 April 1919 and with the submarines in company proceeded to Australia via the Suez Canal, arriving in Sydney on 15 July 1919.
The reconstituted Royal Australian Navy Submarine Service suffered from the outset from the world wide naval retrenchments beginning in 1929. Platypus paid off on 15 August 1929 and the following day commissioned as HMAS Penguin. Platypus continued in service as the Depot Ship at Garden Island, Sydney, under the name of Penguin until 26 February 1941 when she recommissioned as HMAS Platypus to resume seagoing service as a training ship.
In May 1941 she proceeded to Darwin. She was present in Darwin Harbour on 19 February 1942 when Japanese carrier borne aircraft made the first air attack on Australian soil. According to the official history of the Royal Australian Navy in World War II, ‘Platypus fought back hard, and though near-missed three times and with the lugger Mavie alongside her sunk escaped with damage in the engine room which immobilised her for some time.’
Read full details here (www.navy.gov.au)
Commissioned 25 March 1919: Decommissioned 13 May 1946: Battle Honours DARWIN 1942-43