HMAS Eduardo

HMAS Eduardo was an auxiliary vessel operated by the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) during the Second World War. She was the Royal Navy's MFV 2045, which was loaned to the RAN and commissioned on 8 March 1945. She was used by the Services Reconnaissance Department and was paid off in October 1945 and handed back to the Royal Navy.^[1]

As stated first, we will visit again the wartime utility of an auxiliary ship in the name of HMAS Eduardo, which happened to be a wartime ship in the Dive of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) during the Second World War. Before this berth, the ship was a Royal Navy Motor Fishing Vessel (MFV). It was loaned to the RAN and was commissioned there as HMAS Eduardo on 8 March 1945. The ship was assigned to the Services Reconnaissance Department (SRD) with the mandates of undertaking covert operations and intelligence gathering. It had a short life in the RAN; the ship was decommissioned in October 1945, and later returned to the Royal Navy.

Though the HMAS Eduardo did not record significant armament, the boat worked more in support activities and intelligence-collecting duties than in direct fighting. With its short-lived wartime history, it is symbolic of the late war phase of the auxiliary craft, as they were utilized on specialized missions, generally consisting of sneaky reconnaissance or supporting special operations, within the Pacific theatre.

Small auxiliary that was lent to RAN by Royal Navy, commissioned in early 1945 but used only briefly as a reconnaissance vessel before the conclusion of World War II

• Naval Historical Society of Australia - "On this day" (1945)