In 1959, the Australian Army purchased four Landing Ships Medium from the United States for general transport duties. At the end of 1959, 32 Small Ships Squadron, Royal Australian Engineers (RAE) was reorganised to operate these vessels. In 1965 a general cargo ship was purchased from the Adelaide Steamships Company and added to the Squadron's strength.

The Squadron was based at Woolwich Barracks, Hunters Hill, NSW, on the site previously occupied by Morts Dock, using extant berthing and docking facilities. It was immediately subordinate to Headquarters Transportation Centre RAE, Georges Heights, later 1 Terminal Group RAE. This headquarters unit was designed to be deployable aboard one of the ships and control the Squadron if there was a need to move from Sydney. It was immediately subordinate to Eastern Command, Victoria Barracks, Paddington.

Under the reorganisation of the Squadron each ship effectively formed a small ship troop as follows:

No 1 Small Ship Troop AV1356 CLIVE STEELE

No 2 Small Ship Troop AV1353 HARRY CHAUVEL

No 3 Small Ship Troop AV1355 VERNON STURDEE

No 4 Small Ship Troop AV1354 BRUDENELL WHITE

All of the above were Landing Ships Medium (LSM).

The cargo vessel was:

No 6 Small Ship Troop AS3051 JOHN MONASH

Throughout their service the LSMs were employed primarily on amphibious warfare duties. All the vessels of the Squadron were used for general cargo work, training, dumping of ammunition at sea, survey duties and civilian charter. As well as serving in Australian waters they were deployed to Borneo, Malaya, PNG and Vietnam. VERNON STURDEE was taken out of service in 1969 and disposed of the next year. The remaining LSMs were disposed of on 30 September 1971 when the Squadron was disbanded. JOHN MONASH remained in service until 1975.

AWM270 consists of an assortment of documents concerning the administration of the Squadron. Items [6/13]-[6/37], [6/39], [6/40] and an assortment of ship's logs were received by the Memorial in 1984 as part of a collection of Army records controlled as OW84/5. The remainder of the records were passed by 32 Small Ships Squadron Association to the Department of Defence in December 1983 for subsequent transfer to the Memorial to enable them to receive repair and conservation treatment and be placed in suitable storage. They were received by the Memorial in November 1985 and, upon receiving conservation treatment, placed in store.

Arrangement and description to rationalise the two 32 Small Ships Squadron records holdings as AWM270 was undertaken in early 1997 and completed in April. The series covers such topics as accounting, stocktaking, works, and personnel administration. There are also documents concerning the administration of the Squadron's ships, including a selection of Chief Officer's and Engineer's logs. Included are a summary of the ships' repair and operational activities between January 1965 and June 1969 (in a stocktaking file - Item [1/12]) and a plan of Woolwich Barracks (in a works file - Item [3/3]).

Much of the series is water damaged, sometimes very badly, and parts are illegible. As it is far from being complete or chronologically consistent it was decided to arrange it by subject. A two number control system was imposed, a primary number being allocated to each subject. They are:

1/- Finance - accounting and stocktaking

2/- Personnel administration

3/- Works

4/- Miscellaneous administration including Squadron Routine

Orders

5/- Ship's administration

6/- Ship's Chief Officer's and Engineer's logs

7/- Miscellaneous and estrays

Secondary numbers identify individual items allocated within each primary class.

Sources:

Records comprising AWM270.

Series A7702, items 417/001/032 and 535/004/004.

Series A6059/2, item 21/441/25.

Brian Alsop, 'Australian Army Watercraft. The Unknown Fleet. From the Second World War to the Present Day', Marrickville NSW, Topmill, 1996.

Ross Gillett, 'Australian and New Zealand Warships since 1946', Sydney, Child and Associates, 1988.

"Farewell to Old Friends" in 'Sapper' Vol I, No 1, 1971.