HMAS Adelaide (1918)
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.jpg/300px-HMAS_Adelaide_(AWM_300081).jpg) HMAS Adelaide in her third armament configuration |
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| Career (Royal Australian Navy) |  |
|---|---|
| Namesake: | City of Adelaide |
| Builder: | Cockatoo Island Dockyard |
| Laid down: | November 20, 1915 |
| Launched: | July 27, 1918 |
| Commissioned: | August 5, 1922 |
| Decommissioned: | May 17, 1939 |
| Recommissioned: | 1 September 1939 |
| Decommissioned: | May 13, 1946 |
| Nickname: | 'Long Delayed' |
| Fate: | Sold for scrap |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Town class light cruiser "Birmingham" sub-class |
| Displacement: | 5,560 tons |
| Length: | 138.8 metres |
| Beam: | 14.9 metres |
| Draught: | 5.7 metres |
| Propulsion: | Parsons turbines, 2 x shafts, 25,000 hp |
| Speed: | 25 knots |
| Complement: | 470 |
| Armament: | Original configuration: 9 x 6 inch guns, 1 × 3 inch anti-aircraft guns, 4 × 3 pdr guns, 1 x 12 pdr gun, 10 smaller guns, 2 × 21 inch submerged broadside torpedo tubes, 2 depth charge chutes |
| Armour: | 3 inch side armour-belt over midships section |
HMAS Adelaide was a Town class light cruiser of the Royal Australian Navy, named after Adelaide, the capital city of South Australia.
Contents |
[edit] Construction
She was laid down by HMA Naval Dockyard at Cockatoo Island, Sydney on November 20, 1915 and launched on July 27, 1918 by Lady Helen Munro Ferguson, the wife of the Governor-General. Fitting out and completion were delayed due to the loss of important machinery parts as a result of enemy action, which gave rise to the nickname "Long Delayed". Adelaide was completed on July 31, 1922 and commissioned on August 5, 1922.
Although a sister ship to three other Town class cruisers serving in the RAN (HMA Ships Melbourne, Sydney, and Brisbane), these ships were built to the "Chatham" sub-class design while Adelaide was of the "Birmingham" sub-class. The most visible difference between the ships is that Adelaide has only three funnels.
[edit] Operational history
[edit] 1922-1939
Adelaide was decommissioned and placed in reserve on May 17, 1939, her crew travelling to England to take possession of the recently-transferred HMAS Perth. When World War II began on 1 September 1939, Adelaide was immediately re-commissioned and re-crewed.
[edit] World War II
Following the outbreak of World War II, Adelaide was dispatched in 1940 to the French colony of New Caledonia, to intervene if Vichy France was able to take control.
"88 Lord Caldecote, UK Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs, to Sir Geoffrey Whiskard, UK High Commissioner in Australia [1] Cablegram 291 LONDON, 30 August 1940, 11.10 p.m." "sloop DUMONT D'URVILLE was ordered by the Vichy Government to proceed from Papeete to New Caledonia."
"130 Captain H. A. Showers, Commanding Officer of H.M.A.S. Adelaide, to Commonwealth Naval Board Naval signal 0357Z/21 NOUMEA, 21 September 1940, 3.57 a.m. Received 21 September 1940, 6.21 a.m. [2] "Situation ashore still unstable mainly due to presence of 'DUMONT D'URVILLE' and lack of any military officer above rank of Lieutenant to give active assistance to SAUTOT."
Adelaide was one of several major Allied vessels in Sydney Harbour during the Japanese midget submarine attack of 31 May 1942.[1]
On 28 November 1942, Adelaide, in company with the Dutch cruiser Jacob van Heemskerk, identified and damaged the German supply vessel and blockade runner Ramses, which then scuttled itself, in the Indian Ocean.
Adelaide was paid off on May 13, 1946 and was sold to Australian Iron and Steel Pty Ltd January 24, 1949. On 2 April 1949 the hulk was towed to Port Kembla, NSW and broken up for scrap.
[edit] References
- ^ Jenkins, David (1992). Battle Surface! Japan's Submarine War Against Australia 1942–44. Milsons Point: Random House Australia, pp 193–194. ISBN 0-09-182638-1.
- Warships of Australia, Ross Gillett, Illustrations Colin Graham, Rigby Limited, 1977, ISBN 0-7270-0472-7
- Australian Navy history of HMAS Adelaide I
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