View source for HMAS Assault

{{Short description|Former Royal Australian Navy base and training centre}}
{{EngvarB|date=December 2018}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2018}}
{{DISPLAYTITLE:HMAS ''Assault''}}
{{Infobox military installation
| name = HMAS ''Assault''
| ensign = 
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| partof = <!-- for elements within a larger site -->
| location = [[Nelson Bay, New South Wales|Nelson Bay]], New South Wales
| nearest_town = <!-- used in military test site infobox -->
| country = Australia
| image = HMAS Assault (304848).jpg
|image_size        = 288px
|caption           = Troops and landing craft crews training at HMAS ''Assault'' during [[World War II]]
| alt = 
| image2 = <!--secondary image, major command emblems for airfields -->
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| type = [[Naval base|Training centre]]
| coordinates = {{Coord|-32.715701|152.154101|display=title,inline|type:landmark|format=dms}}<!-- {{Coord}} -->
| gridref = 
| image_map = 
| image_mapsize = 
| image_map_alt = 
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| pushpin_map = New South Wales
| pushpin_mapsize = 288
| pushpin_map_alt = 
| pushpin_map_caption = Location in [[New South Wales]]
| pushpin_relief = 1
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| ownership = Port Stephens Society of the Arts<!-- government department such as the MoD or the United States DoD -->
| operator = {{unbulleted list|{{navy|Australia|1913}} (1942–45)|{{navy|United Kingdom}} (1945–49)|[[Commonwealth Employment Service]] (1949–53)}}<!-- where different from ownership such as the RAF or the USAF -->
| controlledby = <!-- such as RAF Bomber Command or the Eighth Air Force -->
| open_to_public = <!-- for out of use sites/sites with museums etc -->
| site_other_label = <!-- for renaming "Other facilities" in infobox -->
| site_other = <!-- for other sorts of facilities - radar types etc -->
| site_area = <!-- area of site m2, km2 square mile etc -->
| code = <!--facility/installation code, applies to US -->
| built =  September 1942
| used = {{Start date|df=y|1942|09|01}}{{spaced endash}} April 1945
| builder = 
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| height = <!-- height of tallest part, not above sea level -->
| length = <!-- for border fences or other DMZs -->
| fate = {{unbulleted list|[[Ship commissioning#Ship decommissioning|Decommissioned]];|{{nowrap|now Port Stephens Community Arts Centre}}}}<!--changed from demolished parameter-->
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| current_commander = <!-- current commander -->
| past_commanders = <!-- past notable commander(s) -->
| garrison = <!-- such as the 25th Bombardment Group -->
| occupants = <!-- squadrons only -->
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| footnotes = <!-- catchall in case it's needed to preserve something in infobox that doesn't work in new code -->
}}
'''HMAS ''Assault''''' is a former [[Royal Australian Navy]] (RAN) [[naval base|training centre]] that was in use during [[World War II]], located at [[Nelson Bay, New South Wales|Nelson Bay]] in the [[Mid North Coast]] region of [[New South Wales]], Australia.

==Formation and history==
In June 1942, Royal Navy Commander F. N. Cook, the former commander of the Combined Operations Centre – {{HMS|Tormenter}} – who was on loan to the RAN to help establish an Australian [[combined operations]] school, identified Port Stephens as the ideal location to establish a RAN training base for [[amphibious landings]].<ref name=Mallett>{{cite book |last=Mallett |first=Ross |editor=Stevens, David |editor2=Reeve, John |title=Sea Power ashore and in the air |year=2007 |publisher=Halstead Press |location=Ultimo, NSW |isbn=9781920831455 |oclc=271328006 |chapter=Together Again for the First Time: The Army, the RAN and Amphibious Warfare 1942–1945}}</ref>{{rp|118–9}} On 9 August, General [[Douglas MacArthur]] ordered the establishment of the Joint Overseas Operational Training School (JOOTS) at Port Stephens.<ref name=Mallett/>{{rp|121}} While the base was under construction, {{HMAS|Westralia|F95|6}} was assigned to the area as an accommodation ship, with {{HMAS|Ping Wo||6}} serving as a tender.<ref name=Mallett/>{{rp|121}}

The [[stone frigate]] HMAS ''Assault'' was commissioned on 1 September 1942; ''Assault'' was initially operated from ''Westralia'', but moved ashore on 10 December 1942.<ref name=Mallett/>{{rp|121}}<ref name=Djokovic/> The base's main purpose was to train boat crews for [[landing craft]], [[Royal Australian Navy Beach Commandos|beach commandos]] to prepare beaches and co-ordinate landings on the shore, and signals sections to facilitate communications between ships and land-based forces.<ref name=Mallett/>{{rp|121}}<ref name=Djokovic>{{cite web |last=Djokovic |first=Petar |title=RAN Beach Commandos |url=http://www.navy.gov.au/history/feature-histories/ran-beach-commandos |publisher=Royal Australian Navy |access-date=9 August 2014}}</ref> Training at ''Assault'' was initially hampered by the lack of [[LCVP (United States)|LCVP]] and [[Landing Craft Mechanized|LCM]] craft available, with the base forced to use [[folding boat]]s towed by launches and lighters to simulate landing craft, and {{HMAS|Koopa}}, a requisitioned [[pleasure boat]], as an assault transport.<ref name=Mallett/>{{rp|121}} By March 1943, enough landing craft had been manufactured in Australia and delivered from the United States to allow for full-scale landing exercises.<ref name=Mallett/>{{rp|121}} For administrative purposes, landing and shore personnel trained at ''Assault'' were considered to be attached to the base, not the ships that they were embarked in.<ref name=Mallett/>{{rp|124–5}}

The Naval Training Center at ''Assault'' was used to train landing craft crews, beach parties and signal teams. Between September 1942 and October 1943 the following Naval personnel were trained at ''HMAS Assault'':<ref name=ozatwar>{{cite web |title=HMAS Assault, RAN Shore Establishment, Port Stephens, NSW – During WW2 |url=http://www.ozatwar.com/ran/hmasassault.htm |website=Oz at War |access-date=6 August 2017}}</ref>
*100 officers
*100 coxswains
*120 beach commanders
*453 boat crews
*250 stokers
*40 signalmen

The JOOTS section of ''Assault'' was closed on 1 October 1943, with all joint amphibious warfare training consolidated at the [[Australian Army|Army]] facility at {{QLDcity|Toorbul Point}}, [[Queensland]].<ref name=Mallett/>{{rp|123}} The RAN continued training its own boat and beach crews at ''Assault'' until August 1944,<ref name=Mallett/>{{rp|123}} when the base was decommissioned{{citation needed|date=August 2014}} and reduced to a caretaker establishment.<ref name=Mallett/>{{rp|123}} In April 1945, the base was given to the [[Royal Navy]],<ref name=Mallett/>{{rp|123}} who used it as a Commando Depot for the [[Royal Marines]] units attached to the [[British Pacific Fleet]].{{citation needed|date=August 2014}}

''Assault''{{'}}s sickbay was used as migrant accommodation from 1949 to 1953. It was opened as a small hospital in 1956, then closed in 1981. On 10 August 1981 the buildings were handed over to the Port Stephens Society of the Arts<ref name=ozatwar/> and are now used as the Port Stephens Community Arts Centre.<ref>{{cite web |title=Centre History |url=http://www.artscentre.nelsonbay.com/page8.html |website=artscentre.nelsonbay.com |publisher=Port Stephens Community Arts Centre |access-date=3 January 2017}}</ref>

==See also==
*[[List of Royal Australian Navy bases#Former bases|List of former Royal Australian Navy bases]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{Portal bar|New South Wales|Royal Australian Navy}}
{{Royal Australian Navy}}
{{RAN Bases}}
{{Hunter Region places and items of interest}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Assault, Hmas}}
[[Category:Closed facilities of the Royal Australian Navy]]
[[Category:Port Stephens Council]]
[[Category:Military education and training in Australia]]
[[Category:Military establishments in the Hunter Region]]
[[Category:1942 establishments in Australia]]
[[Category:1945 disestablishments in Australia]]
[[Category:Military units and formations established in 1942]]
[[Category:Military units and formations disestablished in 1945]]
[[Category:Former military installations in New South Wales]]