Originally classified as minesweepers, but widely referred to as corvettes, the Bathurst-class vessels fulfilled a broad anti-submarine, anti-mine, and convoy escort role.

Although the Bathursts were designed for the anti-submarine and anti-mine roles, they also served as troop and supply transports, provided air defence for convoys and disabled ships, participated in shore bombardments, and undertook hydrographic surveys.

[1] During July 1938, the RAN Director of Engineering, Rear Admiral Percival McNeil, was instructed to develop plans for a local defence vessel, with a displacement of approximately 500 tons, a speed of at least 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph), and a range of 2,000 nautical miles (3,700 km; 2,300 mi).

[1] McNeil completed his drawings in February 1939; his proposal called for a 680-ton vessel, with a speed of 15.5 knots (28.7 km/h; 17.8 mph), and a range of 2,850 nautical miles (5,280 km; 3,280 mi).

[2][5] Although not perfectly suited for any specific role, the all-round general capability for minesweeping, anti-submarine warfare, patrol, and escort duties was seen as a good short-term solution until better vessels could be requisitioned or constructed.

[9] Officers slept in cabins with bunks (as opposed to hammocks), and ate and relaxed in each ship's wardroom, complete with bar and steward service.

[16] Each was fitted with a triple expansion steam engine (usually fabricated by railway workshops) to drive two propellers at a theoretical maximum speed of 15.5 knots (28.7 km/h; 17.8 mph), although this required ideal conditions and was rarely achieved.

[21] The lead shipyard was Cockatoo Docks & Engineering Company in Sydney, which laid down the first ship, HMAS Bathurst, in February 1940, and produced a further seven vessels.

[25] The initial rate of construction was slow, due to a variety of factors: delays in equipment delivery from overseas, industrial problems, a lack of qualified labour, and the difficulty of naval overseers in supporting all eight shipyards at once primary among them.

[2][22] The initial prediction was that two vessels per month would enter service through 1941, but by June 1940, only five of the seventeen ordered so far had been laid down, and the RAN was advised at the end of 1940 that only seven would be completed December 1940.

However, the corvettes found themselves performing a wide range of duties, including troop and supply transport, bombardment, assault landings support, survey and hydrography mapping, and providing aid to disabled ships.

[30] Because of the dual, conflicting roles of local defence vessel and ocean-going escort, Bathursts based in Australia were under two different controllers for the first part of the Pacific War; operationally under the US Navy's Naval Commander South West Pacific Area Forces (COMSOUWESTPAC), and administratively under the Naval Officer In Charge (NOIC) of the ship's homeport.

[33] In the early part of their war service, Bathursts were involved in the evacuation of several locations which fell to the initial Japanese advance, and in the transportation of supplies and reinforcements to Australian and Dutch guerrilla operations in Timor.

[34] HMAS Armidale was the only ship of the class destroyed by enemy action;[25] she was sunk by torpedoes from Japanese aircraft on the afternoon of 1 December 1942 while transporting personnel of the Netherlands East Indies Army to Betano, Timor.

[29] On 11 February 1944, the corvettes Ipswich and Launceston, along with the Indian sloop HMIS Jumna, were responsible for the sinking of the Japanese submarine Ro-110 in the Bay of Bengal.

[36] The corvettes were assigned to Task Group 70.5 of the United States Seventh Fleet, and were used to survey waters prior to several amphibious landings during the war.

[40] A month later, four Bathursts were part of an eight-ship escort for a 40-strong convoy to Gibraltar when it was attacked by 50 German torpedo bombers; the corvettes' air defence destroyed nine aircraft, and only two merchant ships received damage.

[43] The incidents in Geraldton and Lithgow were minor and resolved without disciplinary charges, while the 'mutiny' aboard Toowoomba was caused by a lack of communication: after a hard day loading supplies, the sailors did not respond to an order to assemble on the quarterdeck as they felt they had laboured enough that day, but changed their mind when informed that the order to assemble was so the captain could thank them for their efforts, and reward them with drinks.

[43] However, the Pirie mutiny was far more serious: the ship's company were unable to respect their commanding officer, who was an ineffective leader but an overly strict disciplinarian with a superiority complex.

[44] This lack of respect was compounded while repairs were made to the corvette following an air attack off Oro Bay in April 1943, when the captain forced the rest of the company to live aboard, while he took residence at a hotel.

[46] A Board of Inquiry failed to identify any ringleaders, and the problem was handed back to Pirie's commander to solve as he saw fit: fourteen men were charged with mutiny, with ten sent to prison.

[6] One of these, HMAS Ipswich, renamed KRI Hang Tuah, was bombed and sunk on 28 April 1958 by a CIA-operated Douglas B-26 Invader operating in support of Permesta rebels opposed to the Guided Democracy in Indonesia established the previous year.

[49][50] Of the 33 surviving RAN vessels, twelve were formed into the 20th Minesweeping Flotilla and tasked with clearing minefields deployed during the war in the waters of Australia, New Guinea, and the Solomons.

[57] Also at Garden Island, Sydney, a stained glass window listing the names of the corvettes frames the upper balcony doors of the Naval Chapel.