SS River Burnett

SS River Burnett was a cargo steamship that was built in Queensland in 1946 and scrapped in Taiwan in 1973. She was a member of the "A"-class of standard cargo ships built for the Australian Shipbuilding Board between 1943 and 1947.

In 1955 River Burnett became notable as the first ship ever to survive hitting Corsair Rock in Port Phillip, Victoria. Numerous ships have been lost after hitting Corsair Rock. River Burnett succeeded in getting off the rock under her own power, but afterward her bow sank to the seabed. Her stern remained afloat, and a seven-week salvage operation succeeded in raising her.

River Burnett was successfully repaired, and gave many more years of service. In 1965 she was flagged out to Liberia and renamed Ionic Coast. In 1967 she was renamed again as Ilissos. She was scrapped in 1973 in Kaohsiung.

In 1941 the Australian Shipbuilding Board commissioned a set of standard designs for cargo ships. One design, the "A"-class, was for a cargo steamship of about 5,000 GRT with five holds and a shelter deck. An existing design was copied, and adapted by extending the bulkheads up to the shelter deck to improve wartime safety.

For cargo handling, each ship was to have one 20-ton heavy derrick and ten five-ton derricks, each with its own steam winch. Each ship had also a warping winch.

The single screw was powered by a combination of a three-cylinder triple expansion engine and a Bauer-Wach low pressure steam turbine. The Commonwealth Government Marine Engine Works was established to build the reciprocating engines, cargo winches and steering engines, and assemble the Bauer-Wach turbines.

Exhaust steam from the low-pressure cylinder of the reciprocating engine drove the turbine. The turbine drove the same shaft as the reciprocating engine via a Föttinger fluid coupling and double reduction gearing.

In June 1941 the Shipbuilding Board ordered the first six "A"-class ships: two from Cockatoo Docks & Engineering Company in Sydney, two from Evans Deakin & Company in Brisbane, and one each from BHP in Whyalla and the Commonwealth Naval Dockyard in Williamstown, Victoria.