Name HMAS Black Snake Out of service 3 November 1945 Beam 17 ft (5.2 m) Length 20 m Range 926,000 m | In service 30 December 1944 Launched 1944 Tonnage 72,570 kg | |
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Builder J.J. Savage and Sons, Williamstown | ||
HMAS Black Snake was a Snake-class junk built for the Royal Australian Navy during the Second World War. She was launched in 1944 and commissioned into the Royal Australian Navy on 30 December 1944. She was used by the Services Reconnaissance Department (SRD) and was paid off on 3 November 1945, before being handed over to the British Civil Administration in Borneo.
On 26 April 1945 HMAS Black Snake, commanded by Sub-Lieutenant John Key, deployed a party of nine SRD operatives, called Giraffe 3, in the Celebes area. They anchored off the west coast of Maloe Island. Using Hoehn military folboats (collapsible kayak) the party of four including Key landed at Pasirpoeth to repair native boats. Some then sailed on to nearby Tifore Island to give assistance and medical attention to natives. On 30 April 1945, Black Snake returned to Morotai.
On 16 May 1945, a party of SRD operatives, codenamed Swift, went to Loloda Island in the Celebes via HMAS Blacksnake and used a folboat to go ashore and gather general intelligence.