HMAS Australia (1927)
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 HMAS Australia, taken after her final refit following the end of the war. |
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| Career Australia |  |
|---|---|
| Builder: | John Brown Shipbuilding & Engineering Company Ltd. (Clydebank, Scotland) |
| Laid down: | 26 August 1925 |
| Launched: | 17 March 1927 |
| Commissioned: | 24 April 1928 |
| Decommissioned: | 31 August 1954 |
| Status: | Sold for scrap 25 January 1955. On 26 March 1955 she left Sydney in tow, bound for the United Kingdom where she was broken up at Barrow-in-Furness |
| General Characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 9,850 tons (10,010 t) standard, 13,450 tons (13,670 t) full load |
| Length: | 630 ft (192 m) |
| Beam: | 68.25 ft (20.8 m) |
| Draught: | 16.25 ft (4.9 m) |
| Propulsion: | 4 shaft Brown-Curtis geared turbines, 8 Admiralty 3-drum boilers, 80,000 shp. |
| Speed: | 31.5 knots |
| Range: | 3,100 miles at 31.5 knots (5,740 km at 58 km/h), 13,300 miles at 12 knots (24,600 km at 22 km/h); 3,400 tons (3,450 t) fuel oil |
| Complement: | 679 (848 at war) |
| Armament: | Original configuration: 8 x 8 in (203 mm) single guns, 4 x 4 in (102 mm) dual Anti-aircraft guns, 4 x 3 pdr guns |
| Armour: | Original configuration: 1 to 4 in magazine box protection, 1.375 in deck, 1 in side-plating,turrets and bulkheads, 4.5 in belt, 4 internal boiler room sides (added 1936-1940) |
| Aircraft carried: | 1 aircraft with 1 catapult |
| Motto: | "Endeavour" |
| Nickname: | "The Aussie" |
| Badge: |  |
HMAS Australia[1] (D84), launched in 1927, was a County-class heavy cruiser in the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). The ship is believed to have been the first ship damaged by a kamikaze attack, and to also be the ship hit the most times by kamikazes.
Australia was laid down by John Brown and Company of Clydebank at Glasgow, Scotland on August 26, 1925. She was launched on March 17, 1927 and commissioned on April 24, 1928, two months before sister ship HMAS Canberra[2].
Contents |
[edit] Operational History
[edit] World War II
After World War II began, "The Aussie" (as the ship was affectionately known within the RAN), first fired her main armament of eight 8 inch guns in anger off the coast of Dakar, in late 1940, when it took part in Operation Menace. Australia damaged the Vichy French destroyer L'Audacieux, which as a result was beached on September 23–September 24. Australia received hits from shore batteries and her Supermarine Walrus reconnaissance plane, detached from No. 9 Squadron Royal Australian Air Force, was shot down.
During 1941, Australia escorted convoys and patrolled the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. Following the onset of the Pacific War, Australia was re-deployed to the South West Pacific Area. In May 1942, during the Battle of the Coral Sea, the ship survived a brief but intense attack from Japanese torpedo bombers. From August 1942 until mid-1944, Australia provided supporting fire and surface protection for Allied land forces at land battles including the invasion of Guadalcanal and the New Guinea campaign, including the Allied landings in New Britain.
On October 21, 1944, in the lead-up to the Battle of Leyte Gulf, Australia was hit by a Japanese plane carrying a 200 kg (441 lb) bomb, in the first-ever kamikaze attack. The plane struck the superstructure, above the bridge, spewing burning fuel and debris over a large area. However, the bomb failed to explode; if it had, the ship might have been effectively destroyed. At least 30 crew members died as a result of the attack, including the commanding officer, Captain Emile Dechaineux; among the wounded was Commodore John Collins, the Australian force commander.
On October 25, Australia was hit again and was forced to retire to the New Hebrides for repairs. The ship returned to combat in January 1945; by the end of the war, she had survived being hit by kamikazes on six separate occasions, which had resulted in the loss of 86 lives. This was Australia's last action, as she was still undergoing repairs when the war ended.
[edit] 1945-1956
Following the end of the war, Australia served as a training ship. She was paid off for disposal on August 31, 1954 and sold for scrap to the British Iron and Steel Corporation (Salvage) on January 25, 1955, left Sydney under tow on March 26, 1955, and was broken up at the Thomas W. Ward Shipbreaking Yard at Barrow-in-Furness in 1956.
[edit] Preservation
A barrel from the main armament was preserved and can be seen in the grounds of the Australian War Memorial.
[edit] Gallery
 HMAS Australia circa 1932–33 |
 HMAS Australia, 1942 |
 One of HMAS Australia's eight inch guns in the grounds of the Australian War Memorial |
[edit] References
| County-class cruiser |
| Royal Navy |
| Kent class - Berwick | Cumberland | Cornwall | Kent | Suffolk |
| London class - Devonshire | London | Shropshire | Sussex |
| Dorsetshire class - Dorsetshire | Norfolk |
| Royal Australian Navy |
| Kent class - Australia | Canberra |
| London class - Shropshire (transferred) |
List of cruiser classes of the Royal Navy List of major warship classes of the Royal Australian Navy |
