HMAS Basilisk

HMAS Basilisk
Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea
Aerial Photo of HMAS Basilisk
Type	Naval base
Site information
Operator	Royal Australian Navy (1943-1967); Royal Australian Navy (1967-1983)
Site history
In use	1 January 1943 (1943-01-01) – 17 December 1945 (1945-12-17); 14 November 1974 (1974-11-14) – 1983 (1983);
Fate	Decommissioned

HMAS Basilisk is a former Royal Australian Navy (RAN) shore naval base, located in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea.

History

The first RAN naval base in Papua New Guinea, the base was commissioned on 1 January 1943 under the command of Commander R.B.A. Hunt RAN, who was previously the Naval Officer in Charge Port Moresby.[1][2] Hunt was the hydrographic surveyor who had surveyed Port Moresby.[3]

Basilisk was paid off on 17 December 1945.

HMAS Basilisk was re-commissioned under CMDR P. Paffard, RAN on 14 November 1974 to provide administrative support for RAN personnel serving with the Papua New Guinea Defence Force.[4]

The naval base was finally decommissioned in 1983.

See also

• List of former Royal Australian Navy bases
• Pacific War

References

1. Australia in the war of 1939-1945. Australian War Memorial. 1952. p. 268.
2. Walker, Allan Seymour (1961). Medical services of the R. A. N. and R. A. A. F. Australian War Memorial. p. 46.
3. Sinclair, James Patrick (1988). Last frontiers: the explorations of Ivan Champion of Papua: a record of geographical exploration in Australia's Territory of Papua between 1926 and 1940. Queensland: Pacific Press. p. 282. ISBN 978-0-87515-000-0.
4. Department of Defence (1976). An outline of Australian naval history. Australian Government Publishing Service. p. 77.

External links

• Naval Historical Society of Australia
• Australia War Memorial