The Australian landing ship medium Harry Chauvel (AV 1353) was a United States Navy

United States Navy

The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...

 landing ship medium which was later sold to Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

 and operated by the Australian Army

Australian Army

The Australian Army is Australia's military land force. It is part of the Australian Defence Force along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force. While the Chief of Defence commands the Australian Defence Force , the Army is commanded by the Chief of Army...

.

The ship was built by the Pullman Standard Car Manufacturing Company in Chicago

Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

, Illinois

Illinois

Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...

 and was commissioned into the United States Navy (USN) as USS LSM-319 on 10 August 1944. She was assigned to the Pacific Theater of Operations

Pacific Theater of Operations

The Pacific Theater of Operations was the World War II area of military activity in the Pacific Ocean and the countries bordering it, a geographic scope that reflected the operational and administrative command structures of the American forces during that period...

 and saw action during the liberation of the Philippines during 1944 and 1945. Following the war she was decommissioned on 14 June 1946 and laid up in the Pacific Reserve Fleet.

The ship was purchased by the Australian Army on 16 July 1959 and was named Harry Chauvel (AV 1353) in honour of the Australian World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

 general Henry George Chauvel

Henry George Chauvel

General Sir Harry Chauvel GCMG, KCB was a senior officer of the Australian Imperial Force who fought at Gallipoli and in the Middle Eastern theatre during the First World War. He was the first Australian to attain the rank of lieutenant general and later general, and the first to lead a corps...

. The ship was one of four LSMs operated by the newly formed 32nd Small Ship Squadron, Royal Australian Engineers

32nd Small Ship Squadron, Royal Australian Engineers

The 32nd Small Ship Squadron, Royal Australian Engineers was an amphibious unit of the Royal Australian Engineers. They were formed in 1959 to operate the four LSM-1 class Landing Ship Medium purchased from the United States Navy...

 and was refitted in Japan before she arrived in Australia on 31 December 1959. From 1960 to 1964 Harry Chauvel supported Australian Army exercises and operated in a survey role on two occasions. In May 1964 she sailed for Malaysia and briefly took part in the Indonesian Confrontation

Indonesia-Malaysia confrontation

Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation during 1962–1966 was Indonesia’s political and armed opposition to the creation of Malaysia. It is also known by its Indonesian/Malay name Konfrontasi...

 in Borneo

Borneo

Borneo is the third largest island in the world and is located north of Java Island, Indonesia, at the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia....

. During the late 60s the ship supported Australian Army exercises in Australian, New Guinea

New Guinea

New Guinea is the world's second largest island, after Greenland, covering a land area of 786,000 km2. Located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, it lies geographically to the east of the Malay Archipelago, with which it is sometimes included as part of a greater Indo-Australian Archipelago...

 and New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

 and made three voyages to South Vietnam

South Vietnam

South Vietnam was a state which governed southern Vietnam until 1975. It received international recognition in 1950 as the "State of Vietnam" and later as the "Republic of Vietnam" . Its capital was Saigon...

to support the Australian units deployed there.

Harry Chauvel was decommissioned on 30 September 1971 when the 32nd Small Ship Squadron was disbanded. She was sold to Pacific Logistics in September 1971 and was renamed Paclog Dispatch. The ship foundered while under tow from Sydney to the Philippines.