Australian Army Ship Crusader (AV 2767) - Service History

Service History

The ship completed her sea trials in late November 1945, and subsequently entered service with the Army's No. 2 Ordnance Craft Park. In February 1946 Crusader sailed to Rabaul in New Britain and later Torokina, Bougainville. During these and later voyages she proved successful in her intended role, and returned supplies and equipment from the islands to Australia. She also transported the bodies of 600 Australian servicemen killed during the fighting in the Solomon Islands to Port Moresby for permanent interment in the war cemetery there. Other unusual tasks undertaken by the vessel included transporting 800 native New Guineans from Aitape, Madang, Torokina and Wewak to a dispersal centre located in Rabaul and moving 44 tanks from Torokina to Sydney.

By January 1947 the Army no longer needed a ship with Crusader's capabilities, and she was loaned to the Australian Shipping Control Board. In February that year she transported a load of earth moving equipment from Melbourne to Launceston, and carried a cargo of timber back to Melbourne. She continued to be manned by an Army crew and made several further trips between Tasmania and the mainland, but in April 1947 it was reported that the ship was to be scrapped on the grounds that she was considered unseaworthy. Gil Duthie, the Federal member for Wilmot, sought to have Crusader retained in service until the shortage of shipping capable of transporting heavy loads to and from Tasmania was rectified. The Shipping Control Board rejected Duthrie's representations on the grounds that Crusader would need extensive alterations before she could be permanently used for commercial trade, and it would take at least a year to complete the necessary works. However, the Board gave a commitment to make other ships available to transport timber from Tasmania. Crusader was subsequently offered for sale, and was purchased by the Queensland Cement and Lime Company (QCL). She arrived at Brisbane on 28 September 1947 and was subsequently renamed Cementco.

QCL used Cementco as a self-propelled coral barge. The ship was converted to this role in Brisbane by the firms Evans Deakin, Evans Anderson and Phelan. Modifications included moving the wheel-house from the aft superstructure to about 50 feet (15 m) from the bow and extensively altering the cargo holds to carry up to 2,000 long tons (2,000 t) of coral. After these works were completed in July 1948 The Courier-Mail reported that they had "made the strangest vessel on the Australian waterfront even stranger". Cementco's stern was later extended so that each member of her crew had their own cabin.

In her new role the ship carried coral which had been dredged from Moreton Bay by the converted Landing Ship Tank Coral (the former HMAS LST 3022) to QCL's cement factory at Darra in Brisbane. Like the rest of QCL's small fleet, Cementco underwent a period of extensive maintenance at the Cairncross dry dock in Brisbane once every three years. During the 1974 Brisbane flood the ship's crew had to fasten Cementco to the pylons of the Story Bridge to prevent her from being carried down the Brisbane River.

Cementco continued to transport coral until the mid-1980s, when QCL was acquired by the firm Holderbank and another ship was purchased to transport clinker to the company's new factory at Gladstone. She was subsequently laid up at Mary Street Wharf while attempts were made to sell her; during this period she was renamed Crusader II to avoid confusion with a new ship named Cementco. A buyer was not found, and in 1986 Cementco was sunk at Flinders Reef off Cape Moreton where she later became a popular dive wreck.