The minesweeper was built by the Montrose Shipyard in Scotland, launched on 6 October 1953, and commissioned into the Royal Navy on 28 September 1954 as HMS Chediston.

[1] Between August 1955 and October 1957, the ship was attached to Tay Division of the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve.

[2] Chediston was modified for tropical conditions, and commissioned on 12 August 1962 as HMAS Curlew.

[6] The delay in bringing the Bay class minehunters into service kept Curlew operational until 1990.

[1] In the late 1990s she appeared in the movies Paradise Road and The Thin Red Line.