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The ''Perth''-class destroyers were three modified
guided missile destroyer A guided-missile destroyer (DDG) is a destroyer whose primary armament is guided missiles so they can provide anti-aircraft warfare screening for the fleet. The NATO standard designation for these vessels is DDG, while destroyers who have a pri ...
s operated by the
Royal Australian Navy The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) is the principal naval force of the Australian Defence Force (ADF). The professional head of the RAN is Chief of Navy (CN) Vice Admiral Mark Hammond AM, RAN. CN is also jointly responsible to the Minister of ...
(RAN). Ordered from
Defoe Shipbuilding Company The Defoe Shipbuilding Company was a small ship builder established in 1905 in Bay City, Michigan, United States. It ceased to operate in 1976 after failing to renew its contracts with the United States Navy. The site of the former company is ...
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 The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...
, while ''Brisbane'' also participated in the
Gulf War The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a Coalition of the Gulf War, 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Ba'athist Iraq, ...
. The class was decommissioned between 1999 and 2001, with all three vessels later sunk as
dive wreck Wreck diving is recreational diving where the wreckage of ships, aircraft and other artificial structures are explored. Although most wreck dive sites are at shipwrecks, there is an increasing trend to scuttle retired ships to create artifici ...
s.


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 The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...
's (USN) along with the
Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by Kingdom of England, English and Kingdom of Scotland, Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were foug ...
's . The American design was favoured because the
Tartar Tartar may refer to: Places * Tartar (river), a river in Azerbaijan * Tartar, Switzerland, a village in the Grisons * Tərtər, capital of Tartar District, Azerbaijan * Tartar District, Azerbaijan * Tartar Island, South Shetland Islands, Ant ...
missile carried was seen as the missile body the USN would standardize on for future
anti-aircraft Anti-aircraft warfare, counter-air or air defence forces is the battlespace response to aerial warfare, defined by NATO as "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It includes surface based, ...
(AA) missile development while the British
Sea Slug Sea slug is a common name for some marine invertebrates with varying levels of resemblance to terrestrial slugs. Most creatures known as sea slugs are gastropods, i.e. they are sea snails (marine gastropod mollusks) that over evolutionary ...
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 The Defoe Shipbuilding Company was a small ship builder established in 1905 in Bay City, Michigan, United States. It ceased to operate in 1976 after failing to renew its contracts with the United States Navy. The site of the former company is ...
of
Bay City, Michigan Bay City is a city and county seat of Bay County in the U.S. state of Michigan, located near the base of the Saginaw Bay on Lake Huron. As of the 2010 census, the city's population was 34,932, and it is the principal city of the Bay City Metrop ...
.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 lead ship, name ship, or class leader is the first of a series or class of ships all constructed according to the same general design. The term is applicable to naval ships and large civilian vessels. Large ships are very complex and may ...
; 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 The waterline is the line where the hull of a ship meets the surface of the water. Specifically, it is also the name of a special marking, also known as an international load line, Plimsoll line and water line (positioned amidships), that ind ...
, long
overall Overalls, also called bib-and-brace overalls or dungarees, are a type of garment usually used as protective clothing when working. The garments are commonly referred to as a "pair of overalls" by analogy with "pair of trousers". Overalls were ...
, 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 number Hull number is a serial identification number given to a boat or ship. For the military, a lower number implies an older vessel. For civilian use, the HIN is used to trace the boat's history. The precise usage varies by country and type. United S ...
s 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 Mark 13 is the thirteenth chapter of the Gospel of Mark in the New Testament of the Christianity, Christian Bible. It contains Jesus' predictions of the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem and disaster for Iudaea Province, Judea, as well as hi ...
missile launcher for
Tartar Tartar may refer to: Places * Tartar (river), a river in Azerbaijan * Tartar, Switzerland, a village in the Grisons * Tərtər, capital of Tartar District, Azerbaijan * Tartar District, Azerbaijan * Tartar Island, South Shetland Islands, Ant ...
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 torpedo The Mark 46 torpedo is the backbone of the United States Navy's lightweight anti-submarine warfare torpedo inventory and is the NATO standard. These aerial torpedoes are designed to attack high-performance submarines. In 1989, an improvement p ...
es. 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 Mark 11 is the eleventh chapter of the Gospel of Mark in the New Testament of the Christian Bible, beginning Jesus' final week before His death as He arrives in Jerusalem for the coming Passover. It contains the stories of Jesus' entry into Jerus ...
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 A harpoon is a long spear-like instrument and tool used in fishing, whaling, sealing, and other marine hunting to catch and injure large fish or marine mammals such as seals and whales. It accomplishes this task by impaling the target animal ...
missile, although Harpoon missiles were not carried by the ''Perth''s, and the modification was intended as a "
for but not with In military usage, fit to receive or fitting "for but not with" describes a weapon or system which is called for in a design but not installed or is only partially installed during construction, with the installation completed later as needed. This ...
" 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 The BAE Systems Mark 36 Super Rapid Bloom Offboard Countermeasures Chaff and Decoy Launching System (abbreviated as SRBOC or "Super-arboc") is an American short-range decoy launching system (DLS) that launches radar or infrared decoys from naval ve ...
Mark 36 units, a
Nulka Nulka is an Australian-designed and -developed active missile decoy built by an American/ Australian collaboration. Used aboard warships of the United States Navy (USN), Royal Australian Navy (RAN), United States Coast Guard (USCG), and Royal Ca ...
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 Seventh Fleet is a numbered fleet of the United States Navy. It is headquartered at U.S. Fleet Activities Yokosuka, in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. It is part of the United States Pacific Fleet. At present, it is the largest of ...
. The three ships operated primarily in the
naval gunfire support Naval gunfire support (NGFS) (also known as shore bombardment) is the use of naval artillery to provide fire support for amphibious assault and other troops operating within their range. NGFS is one of a number of disciplines encompassed by th ...
role, but also performed screening escort for the American aircraft carriers, and were involved in the
Market Time Operation Market Time was the United States Navy, Republic of Vietnam Navy and Royal Australian Navy operation begun in 1965 to stop the flow of troops, war material, and supplies by sea, coast, and rivers, from North Vietnam into parts of Sout ...
and
Sea Dragon Sea Dragon or seadragon may refer to: Fish * Leafy seadragon (''Phycodurus eques'') * '' Phyllopteryx'' genus ** Common seadragon or weedy seadragon (''Phyllopteryx taeniolatus'') ** Ruby seadragon (''Phyllopteryx dewysea'') Military * Operat ...
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 Naval Tactical Data System (NTDS) was a computerized information processing system developed by the United States Navy in the 1950s and first deployed in the early 1960s for use in combat ships. It took reports from multiple sensors on different ...
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 The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...
, 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 The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a Coalition of the Gulf War, 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Ba'athist Iraq, ...
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 Cannibalization of machine parts, in the maintenance of mechanical or electronic systems with interchangeable parts, refers to the practice of removing parts or subsystems necessary for repair from another similar device, rather than from inventor ...
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 In the Royal Navy and other navies of Europe and the Commonwealth of Nations, ships are identified by pennant number (an internationalisation of ''pendant number'', which it was called before 1948). Historically, naval ships flew a flag that iden ...
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 Ship-breaking (also known as ship recycling, ship demolition, ship dismantling, or ship cracking) is a type of ship disposal involving the breaking up of ships for either a source of parts Part, parts or PART may refer to: People *Armi P� ...
.


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 wreck Wreck diving is recreational diving where the wreckage of ships, aircraft and other artificial structures are explored. Although most wreck dive sites are at shipwrecks, there is an increasing trend to scuttle retired ships to create artifici ...
s in Australian waters: ''Perth'' off
Albany, Western Australia Albany ( ; nys, Kinjarling) is a port city A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyc ...
, ''Hobart'' off
Yankalilla, South Australia Yankalilla is an agriculturally based town situated on the Fleurieu Peninsula in South Australia, located 72 km south of the state's capital of Adelaide. The town is nestled in the Bungala River valley, overlooked by the southern Mount Loft ...
, and ''Brisbane'' off
Mooloolaba, Queensland Mooloolaba is a coastal suburb of Maroochydore in the Sunshine Coast Region, Queensland, Australia. It is located north of the state capital, Brisbane, and is part of the Maroochydore urban centre. In the , Mooloolaba had a population of 7,7 ...
. Before being scuttled, ''Brisbane''s bridge and forward 5-inch gun were removed from the destroyer; these were installed at the
Australian War Memorial The Australian War Memorial is Australia's national memorial to the members of its armed forces and supporting organisations who have died or participated in wars involving the Commonwealth of Australia and some conflicts involving p ...
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.


Ships


Citations


References

;Books * * * * * * * ** ** ;Journal articles *


Further reading

*


External links

{{Charles F. Adams class destroyer Destroyer classes