Perth-class Destroyer

The ''Perth''-class destroyers were three modified guided missile destroyers operated by the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). Ordered from Defoe Shipbuilding Company during 1962 and 1963, HMA Ships , , and were the first guided missiled-armed warships, and the first naval ships of United States design, to enter service with the RAN. All three ships operated during the Vietnam War, while ''Brisbane'' also participated in the Gulf War. The class was decommissioned between 1999 and 2001, with all three vessels later sunk as dive wrecks.

Design and construction

During the late 1950s, the RAN announced a requirement for guided missile-armed warships; along with plans to install guided missiles aboard currently active escort vessels, plans were made to acquire two purpose-built destroyers.Cooper, in Stevens, ''The Royal Australian Navy'', p. 190 Although traditionally, Australian warships were based on British designs, the RAN chose to study the United States Navy's (USN) along with the Royal Navy's . The American design was favoured because the Tartar missile carried was seen as the missile body the USN would standardize on for future anti-aircraft (AA) missile development while the British Sea Slug was an interim and dated system. There were risks in operating American-designed vessels for a navy using predominately British-designed ships, however the County-class DDG used much unproven technology and was rather too large to fit a medium navy and the RAN proposed fitting the Tartar to County-class vessels. However, another RAN proposal – to redesign the County class's standard combined steam and gas propulsion system as a purely steam-powered system – was knocked back by the British. The US destroyer was a more proven design which often an essential need for the RAN to have a powerful AA and GP character with the planned phase out of as a strike carrier in 1963.

In 1960, the decision was made to instead acquire ''Charles F. Adams''-class ships, and on 6 January 1962, two destroyers of a slightly modified design were ordered from Defoe Shipbuilding Company of Bay City, Michigan.Gillett, ''Australian and New Zealand Warships since 1946'', p. 66 Plans to refit Tartar missiles to the and es were later cancelled because of cost, and on 22 January 1963, a third destroyer was ordered from Defoe.Cooper, in Stevens, ''The Royal Australian Navy'', p. 192 The Australian ships were referred to as the ''Perth'' class after lead ship ; the other two destroyers were HMA Ships and . Thought was given to acquiring a fourth ship of the class, but this did not go ahead.

At launch, the destroyers had a standard displacement of 3,370 tons, and a full load displacement of 4,500 tons, although by 1998, various modifications and modernisations had increased the ship's full load displacement to 4,618 tons.Blackman (ed.), ''Jane's Fighting Ships 1968–69'', p. 13Sharpe (ed.), ''Jane's Fighting Ships 1998–99'', p. 24 Each ship was long at the waterline, long overall, had a beam of , and a draught of . The propulsion system consisted of four Foster Wheeler D-type boilers connected to two General Electric double reduction steam turbines; these provided to the two propeller shafts, allowing them to reach speeds of . Maximum range was at , or at . The standard ship's company at launch consisted of 21 officers and 312 sailors.

Construction of lead ship ''Perth'' commenced when she was laid down on 21 September 1962. ''Perth'' was launched on 26 September 1963, completed on 22 May 1965, and commissioned into the RAN on 17 July 1965. ''Hobart'' was laid down a month after ''Perth'' on 26 October 1962, with launching on 9 January 1964, and completion on 18 December 1965, two days after she was commissioned into the RAN. Work on ''Brisbane'' did not start until 15 February 1965, with the destroyer launched on 5 May 1966, commissioned on 16 December 1967, but not completed until 24 January 1968. Construction and acquisition of the ''Perth'' class included many firsts for the RAN: they were the first ships to be armed with guided missiles, the first to be designed and built in the United States, and the first to be launched sideways instead of stern-first. During construction, the ships were respectively identified with the United States Navy hull numbers DDG-25, DDG-26, and DDG-27.

Armament and sensors

As a guided-missile destroyer, the primary armament of the ''Perth''-class ships at launch was of a Mark 13 missile launcher for Tartar anti-aircraft missiles. This was supplemented by two 5-inch/54 calibre Mark 42 guns in two single turrets, two Ikara anti-submarine missile systems (although the actual launchers were not installed until the late 1960s), and two Mark 32 triple-tube torpedo sets for Mark 46 torpedoes. The main differences between the ''Perth'' class and the parent design related to the weapons systems: a large deckhouse was added between the two funnels to house the two Ikara launchers and their magazines, and the Mark 13 single-arm launcher was fitted instead of the Mark 11 twin-arm launcher.

During the ships' careers, the Tartar missiles were replaced by the Standard missile, and the launchers were updated to fire the Harpoon missile, although Harpoon missiles were not carried by the ''Perth''s, and the modification was intended as a "for but not with" fitting. During 1990 and 1991, the three ships were modified to carry two Vulcan Phalanx close-in weapons systems; Phalanx units were stored in a common pool, and were only fitted to the ships as required. Around the same time as the Phalanx installation, the Ikara launchers and magazines were removed. As a result, the magazine spaces were converted into accommodation and recreation areas, and the ship's company was reduced from 332 to 310, although the number of officers had increased by this point from 21 to 25.

In 1998, near the end of the ships' careers, the radar suite consisted of a Hughes SPS-52C air search radar, a Norden SPS-40C air search radar, a Norden SPS-67V surface search radar, two Raytheon SPG-51G fire control radars for the Mark 13 launcher, and a Western Electric SPG-53F fire control radar for the 5-inch guns. A Sangamo SQS-23KL hull-mounted sonar was fitted in the bow. Countermeasures included two SRBOC Mark 36 units, a Nulka decoy launcher, and an AN/SLQ-25 towed decoy.

Operational history

Between 1967 and 1971, all three destroyers were rotated through deployments to the Vietnam War: ''Perth'' and ''Hobart'' deployed three times, while ''Brisbane'' only undertook two tours. During these deployments, the destroyers were integrated into the United States Seventh Fleet. The three ships operated primarily in the naval gunfire support role, but also performed screening escort for the American aircraft carriers, and were involved in the Market Time and Sea Dragon operations, both of which aimed to prevent North Vietnamese troop and supply movements by sea.Dennis et al., ''The Oxford Companion to Australian Military History'', p. 127 During these deployments, ''Perth'' was damaged by North Vietnamese shells in October 1967, and ''Hobart'' was accidentally attacked by United States Air Force aircraft in June 1968.

In 1971, all three ships were marked for modernisation, primarily involving updates to the missile and gunnery systems, along with the installation of the Naval Combat Data System (an derivative of the United States Navy's Naval Tactical Data System modified for the ''Perth''s).Jones, in Stevens, ''The Royal Australian Navy'', p. 219 ''Hobart'' was refitted in San Francisco during 1972, but instead of following through on plans to update all three ships in American shipyards, the RAN decided to upgrade the other two destroyers at Garden Island instead to give the dockyard experience in refitting the destroyers.

From 1974 to the start of 1975, ''Hobart'' underwent a second modernisation, this time involving the fitting of a new combat system, updates to the radar suite, and modification of the Mark 13 launcher to fire Standard missiles. The same upgrades were made to the other two ships at Garden Island between 1977 and 1979.

During the early-to-mid 1980s, the destroyers, along with s, were regularly deployed to the Indian Ocean.Jones, in Stevens, ''The Royal Australian Navy'', p. 229 Maintaining a constant naval presence in the Indian Ocean was a response to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, along with the growing presence of Soviet warships.

The ships were modernised a third time between 1987 and 1991. During this upgrade, the radar and gun systems were updated, and the Mark 13 launcher was modified to fire Harpoon missiles.

''Brisbane'' served as part of the RAN commitment to the Gulf War during 1990 and 1991.

In late 1993, , a former ''Charles F. Adams''-class destroyer, was acquired by the RAN for use as a parts hulk to support the three ''Perth''-class vessels. After arriving in Sydney in 1994, a four-man team was assigned to identify and remove equipment from the ship. These were primarily used to maintain the three destroyers, although some components were fitted to the ''Adelaide''-class guided missile frigates, or installed at training facilities. While being stripped, the team painted the number 40 on ''Goldsborough''s bow, filling the gap in the pennant number sequence of the ''Perth''s. By August 1994, the ship had been stripped of usable equipment, and the hulk was sold to an Indian company for ship breaking.

Decommissioning and replacement

All three ships were decommissioned between 1999 and 2001.Jones, in Stevens, ''The Royal Australian Navy'', p. 272 Following their withdrawal from service, they were all sunk as dive wrecks in Australian waters: ''Perth'' off Albany, Western Australia, ''Hobart'' off Yankalilla, South Australia, and ''Brisbane'' off Mooloolaba, Queensland. Before being scuttled, ''Brisbane''s bridge and forward 5-inch gun were removed from the destroyer; these were installed at the Australian War Memorial in 2007 as part of the "Conflicts 1945 to Today" gallery.

There was no direct replacement of the ''Perth'' class following their withdrawal from service, with the area air defence role instead taken by the ''Adelaide''-class guided missile frigates (which at the time, only had the capability to defend themselves, not other ships).Jones, in Stevens, ''The Royal Australian Navy'', pp. 272–3 Four of the six ''Adelaide'' class, were upgraded as a makeshift gap-filler, while the two oldest ''Adelaide''s were decommissioned to offset the cost. Fleet anti-air defence remained at a reduced capability until the entry into service of the three air warfare destroyers.Oldham (ed.), ''100 Years of the Royal Australian Navy'', p. 105 was commissioned on 23 September 2017.

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{{Charles F. Adams class destroyer
Destroyer classes