AS 3051 Vessel Cargo Steel 233ft - John Monash
This ship was built by Ardrossan Shipyards Ltd, Ayreshire, Scotland in 1955 along with her sister ship MV Tatana.
The Marra went to Adelaide Steamships while the Tatana went to Union Steamship Co of New Zealand.
Both ships had somewhat of a flat bottom so when the tide went out they could sit on the mud but by recirculating
water from the ballast tanks they were able to continue to work cargo un-interrupted.
This concept was ideal for the Army and it also met the needs for a training ship. The MV Marra was purchased from
Adelaide Steamship Company in May 1965. Later on the Tatana was offered to the Army by Union Steamship but the offer was declined.
At the time of sale to the Army it was registered as 1396 tons. It had standard 5 ton derricks for all three holds
and a 20 ton jumbo derrick for #2 hold. Sundry modifications and additions were made over the years and a "tween deck"
was created in #3 hold. 13 cabins were included and classroom facilities were provided. For its operational role
to Vietnam it was fitted with a MK13 40mm Bofors gun on the fore-peak and 2 .50cal machine guns on the Bridge deck.
The 40mm Bofors was removed as it could not be depressed enough to hit anything close and was a maintenance problem due to sea spray.
Powered by a British Polar 7 cylinder, naturally aspirated, 2 stroke, directly reversible main engine at 238 rpm she could maintain around 10 knots
but has been known to do 13 knots when traveling down the east coast of Australia using the southerly set current.
The ships two generators were De-Haviland Mirrilees diesels coupled to DC Generators. A GM 64HN9 Grey Marine drove the fire and
flushing pump. The ship's power supply was 220v DC. This caused a problem when wanting to run an a.c. only film projector.
Sapper ingenuity to the fore - a DC to AC rotary converter was soon built by the electricians. This remained hidden from RAEME's
spying eyes - it was hidden in the dumb waiter that served the Officers and Sgt's messes. A genuine 'gold rivet' was fitted in the
prop shaft tunnel, under #3 hold.
Being an ex-Merchant Navy ship her accommodation was of a high standard compared to that of the LSMs. Sappers were 4 to a cabin,
and the rest of the crew either shared or had their own cabin. Quite stable in to a head-on or tail sea but being flat bottom
tended to roll when abreast of the waves. Traveled much better when fully loaded. Apart from the DC cargo winches it had very
little mechanical problems. There were several minor misshaps in her career with the Army - nearly collided with a dredge in
Townsville, pulled the bollards out of the magazine wharf at Subic Bay, ran over a wooden vessel (probably unlit people smuggler
in Melaka Strait), had a crease in the bow which was alleged to be caused by hitting a wharf in Townsville, accidentally dumped
some tons of fuel in Darwin Harbour while trimming the ship during bomb loading and the crew lost a rum drinking competition
against the crew of a pommy mine-sweeper in Labuan.
Most crew enjoyed their life on board John Monash. She traveled to many varied destinations. Most major ports in Australia, PNG, Indonesia,
Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines
and Vietnam were some of her destinations. Always seemed to have minor engine problems as it sailed near Singapore.
In 1973 she collected a Russian tank from Da Nang so, apart from 11 MC Gp personnel and a few Embassy Guards her crew may have
been the last 'Field Force' full unit that served in SVN.
Laid up in 1974 she was sold later that year.