Allied Warships

HMAS Quickmatch (G 92)

Destroyer of the Q class

NavyThe Royal Australian Navy
TypeDestroyer
ClassQ 
PennantG 92 
Built byJ.S. White & Co. (Cowes, U.K.) 
Ordered 
Laid down6 Feb 1941 
Launched11 Apr 1942 
Commissioned14 Sep 1942 
End service26 Apr 1963 
Loss position
 
History

Decommissioned to reserve on 26 April 1963.

Commanding Officers:
Lt.Cdr. Rodney Rhoades, DSC, RAN
14 September 1942 - 12 March 1944

Lt.Cdr. Otto Humphrey Becher, DSC, RAN
Promoted to Cdr. on 31 December 1944
12 March 1944 - 20 July 1945

Cdr. James Kenneth Walton, RAN
20 July 1945 - still in command in October 1945 according to the Navy List

 
Former nameHMS Quickmatch

Commands listed for HMAS Quickmatch (G 92)

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CommanderFromTo
1Rodney Rhoades, RAN14 Sep 194212 Mar 1944
2Otto Humphrey Becher, RAN12 Mar 194420 Jul 1945
3Cdr. James Kenneth Walton, RAN20 Jul 1945Oct 1945 ?

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Noteable events involving Quickmatch include:


1 Dec 1942
The Italian blockade breaker Cortellazzo had departed Bordeaux bound for Japan on 29 November 1942. The next day the ship was spotted by a Sunderland flying boat. The British destroyer HMS Redoubt (Lt.Cdr. N.E.G. Ropner, DSO, RN) and the Australian destroyer HMAS Quickmatch (Lt.Cdr. R. Rhoades, DSC, RAN) were detached from convoy KMF-4 to intercept the Italian ship. They did so on 1 December and after the Italians had abandoned ship she was sunk by torpedo by HMS Redoubt about 470 nautical miles west of Cape Finisterre, Spain in position 44º00'N, 20º00'W. (see map)

6 Jul 1943
The Canadian merchant Jasper Park is torpedoed and sunk south-south-west of Cap Sainte Marie, Madagascar in position 32º52'S, 42º15'E by the German submarine U-177. Later the Australian destroyers HMAS Quiberon (Cdr. G.S. Stewart, RAN) and HMAS Quickmatch (Lt.Cdr. R. Rhoades, DSC, RAN) together pick up 51 survivors.

26 Dec 1944
At 0500 on 25 December 1944, HMAS Quickmatch (Lt.Cdr. O.H. Becher, DSC, RAN) was ordered from port during what became known as the "Christmas Scare" off Sydney, Australia. The German submarine U-862 had torpedoed the merchant Robin J. Walker. At 2300, the destroyer found the still sinking liberty ship. It left to search for survivors. It lost radar contact with merchant ship at 0300 on the 26th and assumed it sank. Two hours later, it was guided to lifeboats by Catalina aircraft and rescued Captain MacRae and the 66 surviving members of his crew.

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