The British completed 151 River-class frigates for a host of Commonwealth and Allied navies during WWII, and the vessels went to serve at least 19 different fleets around the globe. Of those, HMAS Diamantina, commissioned 27 April 1945, is the only one preserved as a museum ship, the rest of her sisters gone to scrap or reef.
Importantly during her 35 active years with the Royal Australian Navy– during which she had steamed 615,755 miles– she received the official surrender of Japanese forces in the Solomons.
The Ocean Island surrender is signed onboard HMAS Diamantina (Photo: RAN)
Handed over to the Queensland Maritime Museum as a self-touring museum, her fate is now up in the air as the QMM is closing for good at the end of the year, a victim of COVID closures and lockdowns.