The Snake class junks were a class of six vessels operated by the Royal Australian Navy

Royal Australian Navy

The Royal Australian Navy is the naval branch of the Australian Defence Force. Following the Federation of Australia in 1901, the ships and resources of the separate colonial navies were integrated into a national force: the Commonwealth Naval Forces...

 (RAN) to support special forces

Special forces

Special forces, or special operations forces are terms used to describe elite military tactical teams trained to perform high-risk dangerous missions that conventional units cannot perform...

 operations in 1944 and 1945. The ships were lightly armed and were used to infiltrate special forces parties and their supplies into Japanese-held territory.

Service history

When the Services Reconnaissance Department's

Services Reconnaissance Department

The Services Reconnaissance Department , also known as Inter-Allied Services Department , Special Operations Australia and Section A, Allied Intelligence Bureau was an Australian military intelligence and special reconnaissance unit, during World War II.Authorised by General Thomas Blamey in March...

 (SRD) naval section was established in January 1944 it was equipped with only two vessels to transport special forces parties and their supplies behind Japanese lines. In order to make up this deficiency four trawler

Naval trawler

A naval trawler is a vessel built along the lines of a fishing trawler but fitted out for naval purposes. Naval trawlers were widely used during the First and Second world wars. Fishing trawlers were particularly suited for many naval requirements because they were robust boats designed to work...

-type ships which were being built at Williamstown, Victoria

Williamstown, Victoria

Williamstown is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 8 km south-west from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Hobsons Bay. At the 2006 Census, Williamstown had a population of 12,733....

 for 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...

 were transferred to SRD on 26 March 1944. The superstructure of these vessels was modified so that they appeared similar to the junks

Junk (ship)

A junk is an ancient Chinese sailing vessel design still in use today. Junks were developed during the Han Dynasty and were used as sea-going vessels as early as the 2nd century AD. They evolved in the later dynasties, and were used throughout Asia for extensive ocean voyages...

 operated in the Singapore

Singapore

Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...

 area. A further two vessels were later built at Fremantle, Western Australia

Fremantle, Western Australia

Fremantle is a city in Western Australia, located at the mouth of the Swan River. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle was the first area settled by the Swan River colonists in 1829...

 and a fifth Williamstown-built ship was cancelled at the end of the war. While all six ships were commissioned into the RAN, their nine man crews were drawn from the Navy and other services.

The Snake class vessels relied on stealth to penetrate into Japanese territory. They were lightly armed with two Oerlikon 20 mm cannon

Oerlikon 20 mm cannon

The Oerlikon 20 mm cannon is a series of autocannons, based on an original design by Reinhold Becker of Germany, very early in World War I, and widely produced by Oerlikon Contraves and others...

s and three or four M2 Browning machine guns or Bren Guns for defensive purposes only. They could also carry up to 20 tons of cargo stored below decks.

The Snake class vessels commenced operations in late 1944 and operated from bases at Darwin

Darwin, Northern Territory

Darwin is the capital city of the Northern Territory, Australia. Situated on the Timor Sea, Darwin has a population of 127,500, making it by far the largest and most populated city in the sparsely populated Northern Territory, but the least populous of all Australia's capital cities...

, Morotai

Morotai

Morotai Island Regency is a regency of North Maluku province, Indonesia, located on Morotai Island. The population was 54,876 in 2007.-History:...

, 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...

, the Philippines

Philippines

The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...

 and 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....

. Four of the class (Tiger Snake, Black Snake, Sea Snake and River Snake) undertook operations in Japanese territory, and these ships completed only eleven missions before the end of the war. The Australian military did not require the Snake class after Japan's surrender, and all but Diamond Snake were transferred to the British Borneo Civil Administration Unit between November and December 1945. Diamond Snake was transferred to the Australian Army on 19 October that year.

Ships in class

The six Snake class vessels were:

Ship	Builder	Commissioned	Decommissioned	Notes
HMAS Black Snake	J.J. Savage and Sons, Williamstown	30 December 1944	3 November 1945
HMAS Diamond Snake	J.J. Savage and Sons, Williamstown	23 July 1945	19 October 1945	Transferred to the Australian Army
HMAS Grass Snake	Millars Bunnings Shipbuilding, Fremantle	23 April 1945	13 December 1945
HMAS River Snake	Millars Bunnings Shipbuilding, Fremantle	19 February 1945	2 November 1945
HMAS Sea Snake	J.J. Savage and Sons, Williamstown	31 March 1945	27 November 1945
HMAS Tiger Snake	J.J. Savage and Sons, Williamstown	22 August 1945	3 November 1945