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HMALST 3501- HMAS Labuan 1947- 51

The HMALST 3501, later known as the HMAS Labuan. Photo taken on first ANARE voyage to Heard Island. Image shows ship at Kerguelen Island at Port Jeanne d'Arc for bunkering. The bunkering took place between 30 December 1947 and 1 January 1948. AAD photograph by A. Campbell-Drury. (1420-B4)
The HMALST 3501, later known as the HMAS Labuan. Photo taken on first ANARE voyage to Heard Island. Image shows ship at Kerguelen Island at Port Jeanne d'Arc for bunkering.

The HMALST 3501 was built in Canada in 1943. This naval vessel of 2300 tons served in the Mediterranean Sea and Atlantic Ocean during World War 2.

The vessel joined the Australian Navy following the war. Her first ANARE voyage was to Heard Island, dropping Australia's first ANARE contingent on 11 December 1947. Far from comfortable, when heading into a sea, she was described as being like a caterpillar in motion, rippling from bow to stern.The noise was deafening, with bulkheads buckling in and out with loud cracks, while the rivets creaked and groaned. (Labuan was partly riveted and partly welded).

It was a unique vessel in a storm. An LST is about 300 feet (91.4 metres) long, and all the works are at the back. It has blunt bows, so as you hit a wave, it's like bashing into it with a brick wall. There'd be this tremendous crash like a thousand kerosene tins being smashed. Then the whole of the front part of the ship would bump up and down like a springboard, and as it flapped, waves would come back through the steel decking.

Interview with Phil Law & Tim Bowden, ANARE Jubilee History

On 16 December 1948, the LST (Landing-Ship-Tank) was renamed HMAS Labuan and painted yellow for Antarctic service. HMAS Labuan completed seven voyages with ANARE before being withdrawn from service after a voyage to Heard Island in 1951. She suffered severe damage on the way home, broke down completely and was towed into Freemantle on 1 March 1951.

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