All RAN Frigates Profiles

[kookaburra]

Starting an on-going project to profile all RAN frigates.

The first posts will deal with the first groups of RAN frigates.

WW11 and immediate postwar River and Bay (Modified River) Classes.

During WW11 the Australian Government authorised the construction of 12 River Class and 14 Bay (Modified River) Class frigates - in the end eight of the former and four of the latter being built, when the war's end caused the orders for four Rivers and 10 Bays, larger and more heavily armed, to be cancelled. Hence: 12 of these frigates
built from 16 authorised or ordered.

Based on RN designs they were conceived as larger and more capable anti-aircraft and anti-submarine vessels to replace the 700 ton Bathurst Class corvettes.

Only six of the River Class were actually completed in time of WW11 services - HMASs Barcoo, Burdekin, Diamantina, Gascoyne,Hawkesbury, and Lachlan, but their contributions in the latter stages of the Pacific war was considerable.

They took part in bombardments and landing site surveys
in the campaigns from New Guinea through to the Philippines, where Gascoyne, for example, was attached to the US fleet and did perilous work laying bouys and surveys the routes into the Leyte and Lingayen Guld landings, and elsewhere there.

One of the ships engaged with US destroyers in a long range duel with Japanese detroyers, and HMAS Hawkesbury was the first RAN ship, escorting the troopship Duntroon , back into Singapore after the surrender, her men greeted with joy and relief by the starving PoWs in Changi.

The two River Class frigates completed too late for the war were HMASs Macquarie and Barwon. Postwar, the River Class ships were intermittently laid up and converted for survey and oceanographic work.

The four Bay Class ships also emerged too late for WW11, but saw extensive service with the Occupation forces in Japan and all four saw action with the United Nations forces in Korea in the early 1950s, HMAS Murchison becoming famous for her exploits and gun duels with shore batteries in the Han River estuary.

WNSF Directory:

Truthfully I've just caught up with Kc's huge and fine project to list all naval ships in a formatted directory (see Directory posts) , and haven't yet quite got my head around how additions are made there. Meantime I'll try and list all the requested directory data for these ships here, and work out how they can to be included there later.

On a whim mainly based on the new pics available I'm actually starting here with one of the second group:

Bay Class HMAS Culgoa.

Data:
Class: Bay or Modified River Class.
Builder: Williamstown Naval Dockyard
Displacement: 1,544 tons standard, 2,200 tons FL
Armament: Four 4-inch (102mm) HA/LA (two twins); Class up to six 40mm bofors; two to four 20mm Oerlikons; one 'Hedge-hog 'throwing ahead' weapin, four depth charge rails.
Speed: 19 1/2 knots
Complement: 175
Completion:Launched Sept 22, 1945, commissioned April 1, 1947.
Fate: Broken up in Taiwan, 1972


Article:
Offical RAN website page with complete narrative of HMAS Culgoa's history here:

http://www.navy.gov.au/HMAS_Culgoa


Pic profile. Please Note: 7th pic, Newcastle 1952, is best, most original, and was meant to be first of the photos

[kookaburra]

HMAS Barcoo RAN WW11 River Class, survey vessel later.

Commissioned in January 1944, HMAS Barcoo was the second River Class frigate in service. She initially operated around New Guinea and New Britain. With other RAN ships she covered the AIF landings at Jacquinot Bay, New Britain in Nov 4, 1944,
and bombarded the Wide Bay area two days later. In May 1945 she supported the AIF landings at Tarakan, and was later part of the assault force on Brunei Bay.

Barcoo was converted for survey duties after the war. Below is an additional image of her misfortune in being beached at Glenelg, South Australia, during a near hurricane on April 11, 1948, a story told on a 'A Day In The Life of...' thread posted yesterday. It's here:

http://www.worldnavalships.com/forums/showthread.php?t=4282

Data:

Class: RAN River Class
Builder: Cockatoo Island Dockyard, Sydney
Laid down 2/10 1942, launched 26/8 1943,
comm. 17/1 1944
Displacement: 1,477 tons standard, 2220 Fl
Armament: Two single 4-inch (102mm) HA/LA ;
class 6-10 20mm Oerlikons, one 'Hedgehog' forward throwing weapon, depth charges.
Speed: 20 knots
Complement: 140
Fate: Scrapped, Taiwan, March 1972


Article:

Ran Official website narrative of HMAS Barcoo's history:

http://www.navy.gov.au/HMAS_Barcoo

[kookaburra]

HMAS Lachlan: River Class frigate, survey vessel, RNZN 1949-75

Commissioned in the last year of WW11, HMAS Lachlan had a brief but active war career as a hydrographic ship surveying approaches and laying marker buoys into the AIF landings at Tarakan and Brunei, the latter under covering fire from U.S. destroyers and other vessels.

Her first task on commissioning had been to carry the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester to a ceremonial entry and opening of the Captain Cook Graving Dock on March 24, 1945, although the dock was already in use - HMS Illustrious having been taken in for emergency repair.

In 1949 she was transferred, initially on loan, to the RNZN where she continued to serve as an oceanographic vessel, and underwent a number of appearance changes, getting a helicopter deck on her stern later in her career. Lachlan was paid off in 1975, and became a base accomodation ship at Devonport Naval Dockyard, HMNZS Philomel, for more than 10 years. She was finally disposed of c1986.

Data:

Type: River Class frigate.
Builder: Mort's Dock and Engineering Co. Sydney,
Commissioned Feb 2, 1945; to RNZN June 1949, acq. 1963, paid off 1975, used as base ship to c1986.
Displacement: 1420 tons standard, 2120 FL
Armament, as frigate: Two single 4-inch guns, class four bofors, Hedgehog and depth charges.
Speed: 20 knots
Complement: 140
Fate: Disposal c1986


Article:

The RAN official website entry with Lachlan's career (but which mistakenly identifies her as a Modified River or Bay Class vessel. She was River Class).

http://www.navy.gov.au/HMAS_Lachlan

[kookaburra]

RIVER CLASS PERSPECTIVE:

During WW11 there were some 151 River Class frigates built, the largest groups being with the RN and RCN (which I think had 67) on the heavy Atlantic convoy duties.

The 12 Australian River and Modified Rivers were the third largest group, as Australian shipbuilding had earlier concentrated on turning out the 60 Bathurst Class corvettes (incl. 4 for India and 20 for the RN, but RAN manned and commissioned).

During the war and after a handful River Class ships also served with the Free French Navy, The Royal Nethelands Navy, the South African Navy, and Sri Lankan Navy, and two were in service during the war with the USN.

PIC GATHERERS: In these River/Bay Class posts I am repeating a few images previously posted on a 'Postwar RAN' thread. PLEASE NOTE: Where necessary I have now re-sized and repaired most of these images from a rare John Bastock book, which had heavy page ripple shadows and print show-through effects when I first posted them ( lacking photo management skills then).

I think they are big improvements on those earlier posts , and should replace any gathered from that earlier thread (I am making this point particularly as Terry had mentioned on that thread that he was pleased to be seeing new images of these ships - so, again, please now take and replace those from here).


Below: A rare photo of a River Class undergoing conversion to survey, maybe a paint job, at the Alfred Graving Dock at Williamstown Naval Dockyard, Victoria in 1947, with two others at the dock behind.

It's possible two of these ships are Burdekin and Barwon, which were among the ships laid up at the (little seen) reserve fleet moorings in Corio Bay Geelong after the war. Here's the Williamstown pic:

[kookaburra]

HMAS Diamantina
Last existing RAN River Class Frigate [Museum]

Named for a river which was named for the wife of the first Governor of Queensland, HMAS Diamantina was commissioned on April 27, 1945. This allowed a brief but busy wartime career during which she carried out bombardments at Sohana Island, Bougainville, the Bonis Peninsula and points along the south side of Buka Passage.

In September the surrender ceremonies for Japanese forces on Nauru and Ocean Island were carried out on her.

Paid off into reserve in August 1946, she was recommissioned in 1959 as a survey and oceanographic research vessel based in Fremantle, and in February the following year scientists aboard discovered a fissure in the Indian Ocean floor west of Cape Leeuwin which dropped to depths of over 4,000 fathoms. Now known as the Diamantina Trench, it was then the deepest known part of the Indian Ocean, and part a research that was regarded as important for Cold War operations.

Decommissioned again in February 1980 she had steamed 615,755 miles since commissioning, and went under her own power to Brisbane to enter the historic South Brisbane Dry Dock (built 1876-1880) as the centrepiece for the Queensland Maritime Museum. In 1998 the caisson of the old dock was damaged during floods and she re-floated off her blocks, and was later taken out to a wharf while repairs were undertaken. The gates to the dock have since been replaced by a sea wall, and a tours go down into the dock to view her hull.

There's a photo tour of Diamantina below deck compartments here:

http://www.christianhomeschoolingresources.com/christianhomeschoolingresources/page123.html

Data:

Class: River
Builder: Walkers Ltd, Maryborough, Qld.
Commissioning:Laid down April 12, 1943,
commissioned April 27, 1945
Displacement: 1420 tons, 2120 FL
Armament:as frigate, class two single 4-inch (102mm)HA/LA; secondary varied by ship, six to 10 20mm and 4-6 40mm bofors carried later on some ships. One 'Hedgehog'.
Speed: 20 knots
Complement: 140
Fate: Museum, 1981.


Article:

http://www.navy.gov.au/HMAS_Diamantina_(I)

[kookaburra]

HMAS Gascoyne, Australia's first frigate.

Laid down in July 1942, and commissioned on November 11, 1943, HMAS Gascoyne was not only Australia's first frigate but had perhaps had the most intense war of any of the six that saw WW11 service.

After service in New Guinea she joined the US Fleet and under Commander N.R. Read RAN and became the headquarters ship for the US Hydrographic Task Group 70.5, which was also commanded by an Australian, Commander R.B. Hunt, RAN.

In October 1944, at the invasion of Leyte Gulf - centre of the largest sea battle in history - Gascoyne and HMAS Warrego laid markers into the landing sites with the fleet under constant attack. Her work kept her in the Philippines for further landings and on Christmas Day at Guiuan Harbour she rescued 1300 US troops from the blazing Netherlands troopship Somelsdijk which had been hit by an aerial torpedo while at anchor.

Her crew then fought the fires and saved the ship.

On January 3 she was herself near-missed by a heavy bomb while leaving Leyte, and later engaged with US destroyers in a chase of two Japanese destroyers.

At the Lingayen Gulf invasion later that month she and Warrego again laid markers into the enemy shore, and she later took over a tow from HMAS Warramunga of the US destroyer-transport USS Brooks, which had been heavily damaged by kamikaze.

She was involved in the Australian landings at Balikpapan in July, 1945 - the last amphibious assault of the Pacific war - and subsequently carried out patrols and bombardments.

Gascoyne was present at the surrender ceremony in Tokyo Bay, and subsquently carried senior Japanese officers to formal surrenders in the southwest Pacific. Paid off in Sydney in April 1946, she was then to spend the next 13 years in reserve until she was refitted and recommissioned in June 1959 for a new life as a training and oceonographic research vessel. For this role Gascoyne was fitted with deep-sounding equiopment, a laboratory and stern helicopter deck.

Over the next six years she carried CSIRO scientists on research work that took her from northern Australia across the Tasman and as far east as Pago Pago, and from Fremantle to Singapore. She took part in an international survey of the Indian Ocean. On her final circumnavigation of Australia, under Lieutenant-Commander Mike Calder, she joined HMA ships Diamantina, Moresby and Banks in charting the shipping lanes into the booming iron ore port of Port Hedland, WA, which was rapidly becoming the busiest port in Australia.

Gascoyne carried a 380ft paying off pendant into Melbourne on January 4, 1966 and paid off at Williamstown dockyard on February 2. She had steamed 200,000 miles on oceanographic research duties.

Gascoyne was used as an accomodation ship at Williamstown for crews of HMA ships under refit until declared for disposal in 1971, and sold to Fujita Salvage Company of Osaka in February 1972. Australia's first frigate, which had made a significant contribution in two phases of service, was towed to Japan for scrapping later that year.

Data:

Class: River
Builder: Morts Dock and Engineering Co, Ltd,
Sydney
Commissioning: Laid down July 3, 1942,
commissioned Nov 18, 1943
Displacement 1, 489 tons standard, 2120 FL
Armament, as frigate: two 4-inch singles, two 40mm bofors, four 20mm Oerlikons, Hedgehog and D.C.s
Speed: 20 knots
Complement: 140
Fate: Scrapped, Japan, 1972

Article:

http://www.navy.gov.au/HMAS_Gascoyne_(I)

EDIT: I've mistakenly said elsewhere that HMAS Barcoo was the first RAN frigate - she was second. I've now made that correction.

[kookaburra]

HMAS Burdekin - Liberation in Macassar

I don't have a good array of photographs of HMAS Burdekin to offer, but in the end found something different - Navy men at their gallant best.

In the end I think these AWM photographs, not high resolution, nonetheless show a moment to treasure. It is September 27, 1945, and the frigates HMAS Burdekin and HMAS Gascoyne have arrived with 1000 Australian troops to preside over the liberation of Macassar in the Celebes.

The photographs show the two frigates entertaining ladies and some families from a British Women's internment camp for afternoon tea.

The ladies have been held for 3 1/2 years by the Japanese. But they have arrived looking their very best for the occasion.

A couple of details. The dignified Chinese lady in the centre of one wardroom scene is Mrs Wong, wife of the Chinese Consul. The three young girls in Pic 12 are local Ambionese lasses known as 'The Bombers' - invited because they had smuggled food into the "Peace Camp' to the captive women and families. The nickname had something to do with noisey clogs they wore.


Pic 13: On departure, each lady was given a large loaf of bread for her family - the first bread they had seen for 3 1/2 years.

I thought this was one of those interludes that would have been memorable for those involved, but now long forgotten if ever publicly known. I do know that Australians remained popular in the Borneo region for decades afterwards because of these liberations. Another pic shows a surrender ceremony taking place on Burdekin.

SHIPS DATA:

Class: River
Builder: Walkers Ltd, Maryborough Queensland.
Commissioning: Laid down Jan 7, 1942, commissioned June 26, 1944.
Displacement: 1420 tons standard, 2120 full load.
Armament: class, Two 4-inch, eight 20-mm (four Vickers .303 Bren guns, Hedgehog, Dcs (some ships carried 40mm bofors later).
Speed: 20 knots
Complement: 140
Fate: Sold Sept 1961 for scrapping in Japan.

Article:

http://www.navy.gov.au/HMAS_Burdekin

[kookaburra]

HMAS Hawkesbury - first RAN back into Singapore:

Commissioned in July 1944, Hawkesbury had an active part in the final year of the Pacific War: initially engaged around New Guinea she also made several fast runs into the central Pacific to escort US forces to operational areas. She took part in many island bombardments, and the Australian landings at Tarakan and Brunei.

For the crew, the most memorable moment, however, would have been September 12, 1945, the day Admiral Lord Louis Mountbatten took the Japanese surrender in Singapore, and Hawkesbury became the first RAN ship back into that port, escorting the troopship Duntroon which had garrison troops, a PoW reception group and hospital facilities aboard.

Naturally the reunion between the frail PoWs in Changi and the RAN men was joyous, and Hawkesbury escorted Duntroon and the trooper Arawe carrying 8th Division ex-PoWs back to Australia.

In 1952-53 Hawkesbury did two tours as a patrol ship around restricted areas of the British nuclear tests in the Monte Bello Islands.

Unlike a number of her sister ships she was not converted postwar for survey duties.



Ships Data:

Class: River
Builder: Morts Dock and Engineering Ltd Sydney.
Commissioned: July 5, 1944
Displacement: 1,420 tons standard, 2120 tons FL
Armamment: Two 4-in HA/LA guns, class AA varied from 8 20mm to six 40mm bofors, four Vickwers .303 bren guns, one Hedgehob, and DCs -0 Hawkesbgury was later fitted with two 3-barbel 'Squid" mortars mounted in a shelter deck forward.
Speed: 20 Knots
Complement: 140
Fate: Sold for scrapping in Japan, September 12, 1962.


Article:

http://www.navy.gov.au/HMAS_Hawkesbury_(I)

First photo here shows Hawkesbury in dark Pacific blue camouflage paint,; second is docking at Newcastle, NSW, June 8 1946 - the day marking the celebration of VE Day in London; third is docking at Onslow, WA, in c1952-53 during her tours as Monte Bello N-zone patrol ship. The last two photos showing her laying alongside the old depot ship HMAS Platypus in the late 1940s.

[mik43]

Once again, splendid work kooks

Mik

[kookaburra]

Thanks so much Mik. Here's ...

HMAS Barwon and HMAS Macquarie, the last original design River Class RAN frigates to commission.

I'm putting these two together as these were commissioned too late for the war, and their intended anti-aircraft anti-submarine escort roles. Both had very short service careers and spent most of their lives in reserve.

Commissioned on December 7, 1945, HMAS Macquarie's initial service was only 12 months before she was laid up. She had spent time in New Guinea and Indonesia, assisting War Crimes investigation and graves registration teams. She had another year of service from August 1952 as a patrol and weather-reporting ship for the British nuclear tests at Monte Bello.

Barwon, commissioned on January 1, 1946, had 15 months service - performing postwar chores around New Guinea and she also spent some time in Indonesian waters.

Ship's data:

HMAS Macquarie
Class: River
Displacement: 1,495 tons standard
Builder: Morts Dock and Engineering Co Ltd, Sydney.
Commissioned: Dec 7 1945-Dec 19,1946, August 15, 1952-Sept 19, 1953.
Armament: Two 4-inch HA/LA, three 40mm bofors; seven 20mm Oerlikons; two DC throwers, one DC rail., .
Speed: 20 knots
Complement: 149
Fate: Sold for scrapping in Australia July 5, 1962.

Article:
http://www.navy.gov.au/HMAS_Macquarie

HMAS Barwon:
Displacement: 1495 tons standard
Builder: Cockatoo Island Dockyard, Sydney
Commissioned: Jan 12 1946- March 31, 1947
Armament: TInitially as above for Macquarie but reduced to two four-inch, one 40mm AA in peacetime, and two three-barrelled Squid mortars fitted while in reserve.
Other details as above.
Fate: Sold August 17 1962 for disposal in Australia, but later re-sold for scrapping in Japan.


Article:

http://www.navy.gov.au/HMAS_Barwon

Because of their short service, pics choice for these two is a little thin, with some representative repeats but some new here.

[kookaburra]

HMAS Shoalhaven - postwar Modified River ('Bay') Class.


Commissioned on May 1 1946, Shoalhaven had three tours of duty patrolling New Guinea waters where she was mainly engaged with a rendering mines safe unit. In 1950 she proceeded to the Far East and was in Shanghai during the HMS Amethyst incident with which she was associated in a minor way, and then took up Occupation duties with the Commonwealth Forces at Kure in Japan.

She had two tours of duty with the U.N. forces during the Korea, one at the outbreak of the war and a second on Armistice patrol duties after hostilities ended. She was also one of the several RAN frigates later involved in patrolling the British Monte Bello Islands nuclear test zone.

In a later tour in northern Australia she towed a disabled tanker, Pacific Star 450 miles through heavy seas to Darwin. She was paid off in March 1955, and spent seven years in reserve before, in August 1962, she was one of three RAN frigates [the others being Barwon and Macquarie], towed out of Sydney Harbour by the tug Benten Maru for breaking up in Japan.


Ships data:

Class: Modified River.
Displacement: 1,522 tons standard, 2200 FL.
Builder: Walkers Ltd, Maryborough, Qld.
Commissioned: May 1, 1946
Armament: Four 4-inch: three 40mm bofors, four 20mm Oerlikon; one Hedgehog, four DCTs.
Speed: 19 1/2 knots.
Complement: 175
Fate: Broken up, Japan, 1962.


Article:

http://www.navy.gov.au/HMAS_Shoalhaven_(I)

There are a couple of other photos of Shoalhaven on the Postwar RAN thread, Post#3, here:

http://www.worldnavalships.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3686

[kookaburra]

HMAS Murchison Modified Bay Class, most famous RAN frigate in Korea.


Commissioned on December 17, 1945, HMAS Murchison's first overseas tour of duty was with the occupation forces at Kure, Japan. Back in Sydney on January 25, 1945, her men assisted in the rescue of ratings trapped by the explosion on the landing ship HMAS Tarakan (Article in the Illustrated Review thread). It was with the U.N. Forces in Korea, however, with a small inshore group designated Task Unit 95.12.2 that she earned undoubted fame for herself charting the shifting channels of the Han River estuary.

Initially the group charged with this perilous task included the RN frigates Cardigan Bay and Morecambe Bay and six small South Korean Navy craft: later HMNZS Rotoiti and the South Korea ship PC62 were part of these operations.

Over eight days at the end of July, 1951, Murchison fired 1,100 rounds from her four-inch main guns protecting men taking soundings in the winding channels right under the noses of the enemy which dominated both banks. I think the other ships in this inshore squadron would have had similar experiences, but some 26 miles of channels were chartered with 80,000 soundings taken.

It was two forays back into the estuary in September that made Murchison's experience distinctive. On September 28, under the command of LCDR A.N. Dollard, and with Admiral G. Dyer USN on board for a tour of the Han estuary, Murchison was in close to the north bank in a difficult, fast-flowing channel when she came under heavy fire from unsuspected 75mm batteries and 50mm mortars.


While returning close range fire that silenced the opposition, she took five direct shell hits and one mortar burst on the decks, leaving four crew wounded. Returning to the scene two days later she found that the enemy batteries had been replaced and reinforced, and in another close range duel over open sights she again destroyed enemy batteries, but herself again taking two direct 75mm shell hits, one above the water line and another bursting in the engine room, this time with two men wounded. In this engagement Murchison fires 276 four-inch shells and 500 bofors.


She was awarded the Duke of Gloucester Cup for her actions in 1951: her Han estuary experiences being undoubtedly the most willing close exchanges engaged in by any of the RAN ships that served in Korea, with the possible exception of HMAS Sydney's aircraft.

After eight months Murchison returned to Australia, and was another of the frigates patrolling the Monte Bello nuclear test sites, before returning to Korea on Armistice l duties.

Murchison paid off into reserve in the mid-1950s, and was declared for disposal in 1962. In September that year, with HMAS Hawkesbury, she was towed to Japan by the tug Pacific Star for scrapping.

Ship's Data
Class: Modified River, or 'Bay' Class.
Displacement: 1544 tons standard, 2200 fl.
Builder: Evans Deakin and Co Ltd, Brisbane.
Commissioned: Dec 17, 1945
Armament: Four four-inch HA/LA, three 40mm bofors, four 20mm, one Hedgehog, four DCTs, two DCRs.
Speed: 19 1/2 knots.
Complement: 175.
Fate: Broken up, Japan, 1963.

Article by Robert McKie
http://www.gunplot.net/korea/korea3.html

Article

http://www.navy.gov.au/HMAS_Murchison

A few previously unposted pics of her:

[maccdale]

Priceless, Thanks so much for posting this info. I visited HMAS Diamantina last month, and a feature tour will be up shortly on my site.
Great pics.
Mac

[kookaburra]

Priceless, Thanks so much for posting this info. I visited HMAS Diamantina last month, and a feature tour will be up shortly on my site.
Great pics.
Mac

Thank you Mac, and welcome to the forum. Here's another rather fine unposted view of HMAS Murchison that should have gone with the last post. SLNSW, again taken at Newcastle NSW.

I'll complete the River and Modified River Class ships with HMAS Condamine in the next post.

[kookaburra]

Also this rather good pic should have gone with the HMAS
Shoalhaven profile, Post #11. It's a previously unposted pic of Shoalhaven that I found later, and better than most in that post.

[kookaburra]

HMAS Condamine


Finishing up this first group of 12 River and Modified River Frigates: HMAS Condamine served with the U.N. forces in Korea for 10 months June 1952, and was first in action against communist shore batteries in August - the first of many such bombardments again troops, trains, shore bateries and supply routes. She was the 12th RAN vessel engaged in the Korea conflict, and the last specifically assigned to Armistice patrols on a second tour in 1955.

At present , I'm short of decent new pics of her, although the first here is pretty good. She received a pylon mast before she was decommissioned on Dec 2, 1955.

[B]Ships Data:

Class: Modified River or 'Bay.'
Displacement: 1563 tons
Builder: NSW State Dockyard, Newcastle
Commissioned: February 22, 1946
Armament: Four 4-inch; the 40mm bofors, four 20mm, one Hedgehog, four DCTs, two DCRs.
Speed 19 1/2 knots.
Complement: 175
Fate: Scrapped in Japan, 1962


Article:

http://www.navy.gov.au/HMAS_Condamine_(I)

[Vegaskip]

Don't know if you are interested or not, but I did a painting of SYDNEY with MURCHISON in the back ground.
Jims Ship Paintings, page 11, #268

[kookaburra]

Don't know if you are interested or not, but I did a painting of SYDNEY with MURCHISON in the back ground.
Jims Ship Paintings, page 11, #268

Thanks Jim, you put the right two ships together in another excellent piece of work, and I enjoyed looking at many again as I went back looking for the Sydney-Murchison painting.

It's on page 8 now, btw - the page appearance for the thread posts change apparently as long threads click over. That sounds jumbled, I know, and not sure how to explain it, but post number, #268 in this instance, is what's needed. But tracking back through your thread is a sheer pleasure anyway. Cheers, K.

[kookaburra]

Postwar 'Q' Class Fast Anti-Submarine Frigates

HMASs Quadrant, Quiberon, Queenborough, Quickmatch

The conversion of these four of the five WW11-era 'Q' destroyers which came to the RAN is dealt with in a thread 'Q' Class Frigate Conversions,' with a fair few photos. That's here:

http://www.worldnavalships.com/forums/showthread.php?t=4041

Hence I don't propose to do these ships individually, and don't have enough new pics to support that anyway. I think some data details for each and a selection of decent unposted pics here will be sufficient. HMAS Quality, least known ship of the RAN, was the destroyer not converted.

I was unaware that two of the 1950s converted frigates were later re-classified as Destroyer Escorts, as with the later Type 12 frigates as they gained new capabilities. It turns out I was correct in saying in the other thread that the Q Class frigates seemed a little under-armed for anything other than anti-submarine roles. I now learn they were intended to get some new form of torpedo installation, which was never fitted.

The Q Class anti-submarine frigates played an important role with the fleet in the latter part of the 1950s and early 1960s, and were active in Borneo anti-infiltration patrols during the Confrontation period with Indonesia,
the so-called 'hidden war.'

Class details:

Displacement: as destroyers, 1705 tons
standard, 2500 FL.
as frigates and DEs:
2020 tons standard, 2,700 FL.
Armament: as destroyers:
four 4.7 inch, one 4-barrel 2lb pom-pom,
six 20mm Oerlikon, eight 21-inch torpedo,
four DCTs, DRs. Some Oerlikons
progressively replaced by three single 40
mm bofors.
As frigates and DEs: Two four-inch, Two 40
mm , Two Limbo, Two Squid (Quadrant
only) Scheduled new torpedo fittings never
mounted

Individual Ships data:

Quiberon Builder J Samuel White, Cowes comm. July 7 1942 Pendants G81, D20, D281, as frigate F02, as DE 57; Conversion Cockatoo and Garden Island Dockyards; re-comm. Dec 18, 1957. Sold for scrapping, Feb 15 1972

Quickmatch Builder J Samuel White, Cowes c;omm Sept 14, 1942 Pendants G92,D21, D292 , as frigate F04 ; Conversion Williamstown Naval Dockyard, Melbourne; re-comm. Sept 23, 1955; sold for scrapping Feb 15, 1972

Quadrant: Builder Hawthorn Leslie & Co, Hebburn; Pendants G11, D17, D11, as frigate F01 Conversion Williamstown Naval Dockyard, Melbourne re-comm. July 16, 1953; Sold for scrapping Feb 15, 1963


Queenborough : Builder Swan Hunter & Wigham Richardson; completed Sept 7 1942; Pendants G70, D19, D270 as frigate F02, as DE 57 Conversion Cockatoo Island Dockyard, Sydney, re-comm. Dec 18 1957; paid off July 10 1963, sold for scrapping.

[kookaburra]

BLUE DAYS AT SEA

Not a ripple.

The blokes on the after deck have got their towels out and are working on their tans, and a few more have dragged their Lie-Lows out by the Seacat.

There's a smell a fresh brewed coffee wafting from the Bridge. A couple of boys are having a smoke, and others just hanging over the rails watching bubbles in the wake.

Perfect.

Now all we have to do is find a palm tree to lay under for the night, and get out our ukeleles...

[kookaburra]

HMAS YARRA, RIVER CLASS MODIFIED TYPE 12 FRIGATE, DESTROYER ESCORT LATER

Commissioned in July 1961, Yarra served 24 years in the RAN and was one of the first class of ships to be fitted with guided missiles, Seacat and later Ikara.In a wide ranging careeer she did a two month tour conducting anti-infikltration patrols around Borneo and Malaya during the Confrontation with Indonesia, and escorted the troop transport HMAS Sydney to Vietnam.

On her last day at sea, on November 18, 1985, Yarra sailed with seven (of only 13) survivors of the famous WW11 sloop HMAS Yarra 11 aboard as guests. She paid off four days later, and was sold for scrapping.

I don't propose to do all six RAN Type 12 frigate/DEs - Yarra 111, Parramatta 111, Stuart 11, Derwent 11, Swan 111, and Torrens 11 - individually here. There are many pics, some quite dramatic, and some discussion on their variations and modifications in the 'Change At The Top : RAN Type 12 re-fits' thread, here:

http://www.worldnavalships.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3989

Ships Data:

Class: River, or Modified Type 12, DE later.
Displacement: 2,100 tons standard, 2,700 FL.
Builder: Williamstown Naval Dockyard, Melbourne.
Commissioned: July 27, 1961
Armament: Two 4.5 inch dual purpose; one quad Seacat launcher replacing twin 40mm bofors; One single rail Ikara launcher; One three-barelled Limbo AS motor, a second unit replaced when Ikara was fitted.
Speed: 30 knots+
Complement: 250
Fate: Sold for scrapping, 1986.

Article:

http://www.navy.gov.au/HMAS_Yarra_(III)

[kookaburra]

CHANGE AT THE TOP REVISITED:

HMAS SWAN 111 AND HMAS TORRENS 111.


Folks, in getting into the Type 12 River Class Frigates/DEs,and seeking to avoid pic duplications, in the last post I referred anyone very interested in these ships to an earlier thread 'Change At The Top: RAN Type 12 Re-fits' as the source of many more pictures. Again it's here:

http://www.worldnavalships.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3989

But ...how embarassing. Not for the first time in my life perhaps, my whole underlying assumption in that thread was wrong.

Without checking construction dates, I had somehow assumed that the towering Dutch-style radar array came with the later ships and re-fits.

Not so. Among many other changes, the lower radar aft in the 'mainmast position' came with the last pair of ships built, HMAS Swan and HMAS Torrens, not the other way about - and it had nothing to do with re-fits.


Costing almost twice as much, the whole appearance of the last two ships was simplified, or streamlined. Their lower funnels were moved aft into a more central position, the built up structure from the hull abaft the bridge was removed; their Ikara missile system was semi-enclosed at the quarter-deck ; the bridge structure was 'squared up' without the projecting section; they carried fewer boats; their enclosed director dome was on the mainmast; and their scuttles were plated over - that is, they didn't have any. In short, they looked more like the RN Leanders.

If you now look closely at the pics below, and the earlier posts on Yarra you will begin to discern these many differences.

These were the two ships which I thought were very bland in their appearance - but it wasn't because they were earlier. Carrying more sophisticated electronics than their earlier sisters, a purist would say they were more refined
[and looked less as if the towering radar mast of the earlier ships might topple them over in a seaway, I guess].

I've added an EDIT note to the 'Change At The Top' thread confessing my errors, but it is still worth looking at for the Type 12 pictures. And there are more pics of the Type 12s in Posts #1 and 10 of the 'Postwar RAN: some unposted ships' thread here ...

http://www.worldnavalships.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3686

Tomorrow I'll try to canvass the introduction of guided missiles into the RAN on these ships, particularly Ikara, which was the main reason they were re-designated as Destroyer Escorts in 1969.

Ships Data:

HMAS Torrens:

Displacement: 2100 tons standard, 2,700 fl.
Builder: Cockatoo Island Dockyard, Sydney.
Commissioned: January 19, 1971.
Armament: Two 4.5 inch dual purpose; onequad Seacat launcher; One single Ikara launcher; one three-barrelled Limbo anti-submarine mortar.
Speed: 30+ knots.
Complement: 250
Fate: sunk off Perth, June 14, 1999, in a a Mark 48 torpedo firing demoinstration by HMA submarine Farncomb.


HMAS Swan:

The wife of the Minister for Defence, Mrs Fairhall, made 11 unsuccessful attempt to break a champagne bottle on Swan's bow at her launching in December 1967, and the job was finally done by the Superintendent of Williamstown Dockyard. However, the presence of three swans and four cygnets born under Swan's keel-plate was considered a lucky omen.

Builder: Williamstown Naval Dockyard, Melbourne.
Commissioned: Jan 20, 1970.
Fate: Sunk as dive reef, Geographe Bay, WA, 1997.

Other details as for Torrens.

[davep]

interesting post kookaburra, i've always been a fan of the leander/type 12 hull and i've read a few articles of how the design was arrived at, did that hull form work as well in the pacific as it did in the atlantic that it was designed for?

[kookaburra]

Thanks Dave - I haven't fogotten Skyhawks on the Aircraft carrier thread btw, just looking out for some that might actually be useful to a model-maker, clear markings etc.

Meantime, its also taking me a little time to get my knees on the chest of the guided missiles subject I'd foreshadowed in the last post here. As I've mentioned elsewhere, I like my electrical appliances that come with switches marked ... ON and OFF.

Or perhaps is the case of guided missiles ... Ready, Aim...FIRE.

Anyway, in the interim I thought I'd post this pic of HMAS Parramatta [111] in her trials condition, but with the squadron for a ceremonial entry into the Harbour on June 15, 1961, marking the 50th anniversary of the RAN.

This pic again shows the difference in the hull lines, tall forward mast radar, funnel and scuttles etc. with the last pair, as discussed in my last post.

As you can see, as one of the first group, she is also carrying a twin 40mm bofors mount aft, later replaced by a quadruple Seacat missile launcher.

Ship's data

Class: Type 12 River or Modified Leander
Displacement: 2100 tons standard, 2,700 tons FL
Builder Cockatoo Island Do0ckyard, Sydney
Commissioned: July 4, 1961
Armament: Twin 4.5 inch dual purpose; twin bofors replaced by Seacat quad; one single rail Ikara missile launcher; two 3-barrelled Limbo launchers, reduced to one three-barrel after Ikara fit.
Speed: 30+ knots
Complement: 250
Fate: Broken up in Pakistan, 1991

Article:

http://www.navy.gov.au/HMAS_Parramatta_%28III%29

These ships, btw, were 370ft in length, with a 41ft beam.

HMAS Parramatta 111 escorted the fast troop transport HMAS Sydney to Vietnam on three occasions, gave relief to victims of the Bali earthquake in July 1976, and visited the Peoples Republic of China.

I think this pic is interesting enough to stand alone. For the 1961 ceremonial entry she is in the company of two Q Class frigates (called Type 15- centre), two Daring Class destroyers, and the carrier Melbourne in the distance. Looks like a couple of little fellows ahead of the flagship too.

[kookaburra]

HMAS Stuart 11 - Ikara Missile Test Ship

Commissioned on June 28, 1963, HMAS Stuart played a crucial role in the introduction of the Australian designed Ikara anti-submarine missile system, when she was used as the the ship for testing the missile system in August that year.

With the British Seacat quadruple anti-aircraft missile launchers also replacing bofors on the six Type 12 River Class frigates, these were the first steps into the missile age by the RAN.

Although it is reported that the ship suffered a near miss when its one its Mk 44 acoustically guided torpedoes turned back on it during one of these tests, Ikara was a successful advanced weapons system acquired by the Royal Navy, Brazil, Chile and also by the RNZN, which was introduced to the system with the acquisition of ex-HMS Dido/HMNZS Southland.

Developed at the Australian Government Aircraft Factory in Melbourne, the Ikara emerged in a period when navies were trying to enhance the anti-submarine capacities of escort vessels to match the major technical and performance advances in the capabilities of modern submarines.

A short-range cruise missile Ikara was contemporaneous with the US ASROC system, the French Malafon, and the Russian RPH-2 Viyuga.

I'm not sure what it's comparison with the latter two is, but with a range of 11nm (19km) Ikara had twice the range of the US ASROC and texts say it was regarded as a more effective and reliable system than the direct rocket pointed ASROC system, whose range was 5000 yards.

Ikara detached and parachuted a Mk 44 or Mk 46 lightweight acoustic-homing torpoedo over its sonar-detected target at several times that range, and allowed its target less reaction and evasion time.

The RN initially acquired Ikara for installation on its 1960s proposed CVA-01 aircraft carriers (cancelled) and its proposed Type 82 destroyers, only one of which, HMS Bristol, was built. Subsequently the Ikaras were fitted to eight later Type 12 Leander Class ships, for which, with their low hull noise emissions, they were regarded as ideally suited.

The RN required a number of adaptions of the Ikara system, to North Atlantic frequencies and their combat control computer systems, along with storage and handling changes for longer range cruising, and a more flexible mix of weapons load - which included the nuclear depth bomb, NDB.

There were three versions of the Ikaras: the single rail F1 was carried on all six River Class frigates and DEs, as they were designated later, and double-railed versions of the Charles F. Adams or Perth Class DDGs.


They were not fitted on the six US-built Oliver Hazard Perry or Adelaide Class frigates that followed and phased the Type 12 River Class out of service.

By the early 1990s the last of the Type 12 River Classes were disappearing and the Ikaras were removed from the Perth Class DDGs as obsolete. Nonethless, the first major Australian international missile weapons system had been retained in service for almost 30years.

The ship that fired the first tests, HMAS Stuart 11was laid up and herself paid off on July 26, 1991, having been retained longer that anticipated because of the RAN's commitments to the invasion of Iraq. She was sold for scrapping soon afterwards [I don't have the details, will edit in].

Ships Data

Stuart 11 was built at Cockatoo Island Dockyard and commissioned on June 28, 1963, and fate as above.
Her other details are the same as HMAS Yarra 111 in the earlier post. The third photo here shows an Ikara installlation preserved at Garden Island dockyard, Sydney.

[kookaburra]

HMAS Derwent: Seacat Missiles, BBC TV interlude and Survivability Blast Experiments

The heading describes several distinctive aspects of HMAS Derwent's 30-year career. While HMAS Stuart
was perhaps involved in more demanding test firings of the newly developed Australian Ikara anti-submarine missile, Derwent conducted the first RAN trials of the British Seacat anti-aircraft missile system off the NSW coast a month after she was commissioned, in April 1964.

The trials proved highly successful against pilotless target aircraft, although I have read that the Seacat, durable and reliable as it was, became outmoded against ever-faster aircraft and had a very modest to negligible success rate with the RN during the 1982 Falklands War [one confirmed A-4 Skyhawk downing, as I understand it, from over 100 missiles, I think, fired].

Among her many deployments to SE Asia more than a decade later Derwent was the stand-in ship for HMS Phoebe for the Hong Kong and Singapore episodes of the BBC TV series Warship, set in a fictional frigate, HMS Hero. She featured in the 1977 episodes titled Wind Song and Singapore Incident, her crew being issued with HMS Hero badges and tallies, and probably cautioned not to speak. The ship got HMS Hero name plates and life-preservers, and could say what she liked.

Between 1991 and 1992 Derwent's Seacat and Ikara missile systems were removed, and she was used as a training ship, again becoming involved with missile testing with trials for the RBS 70 surface to air missile prior to the deployment of RAN units in the second Gulf War.

Decommissioned on August 8, 1994, after more than 30 years service and steaming almost 900,000 nautical miles, Derwent was used for a series of Ship Survivability Enhancement experiments during which she was subjected to a series of blasts testing smoke behavior , temperature, clearance and velocities. The SSEP tests were jointly conducted by the Defence Science and Technology Organisation and the RAN.

The ship, initially designated F22, and then DE 49, was sunk as a 'fish attraction device' 28 miles west of Rottnest Island, WA, on December 21, 1994.

Ships data.

Builder: Williamstown Naval Dockyard, Melbourne.
Commissioned: April 30, 1964.
Fate: as above.

Other details are the same as for Yarra 111, Torrens 11, Stuart 11, and Parramatta 111 below.

[kookaburra]

THE END OF THE ROMANCE: Adelaide or ex-Oliver Hazard Perry Class FFGs

Today I'm leaving my personal comfort zone - The Past - and reluctantly turning to the Adelaide Class FFGs, ships that look like they were designed by Renzo Piano. The office block effect relieved only by a dramatically sharp bow.

Emerging, at last, from the most troubled, 4+ years overdue and expensive upgrades in the Navy's history ($1.4 billion, but that's just what they've told us so far ) they are suddenly claimed to be the most potent missile frigates in the world.

Well.. that's from the local arm of Thales, the French giant that is lead contractor for the mess, and of course the Navy.

In the course of this, were have had to forego two of our six Adelaide Class frigates, HMAS Canberra in 2005, and Adelaide itself last year, to offset the cost of the technological stuff-up.

Anyway, in a finer appreciation of warship aesthetics and technology, I'd like to ask you this: of two films, say Terminator 11 and Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid, which would you rather watch ?

Personally I prefer Butch Cassidy - but then I've never watch any of the Terminator series.


Another question. Can you get excited about this ?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v460/Bronteboy/HMAS_Sydney_VLS.jpg

It's one of the main new weapons systems on the upgraded FFG, HMAS Sydney: the Mk41 VLS for her Evolved Sea Sparrow missiles.

Sydney's upgrade was such that the RAN at first refused to accept her back from the contractors, and when it eventually did she was initially banned from entering operational areas such as the Gulf because her non-functioning combat control systems meant she was without self-protection.

These problems, Ian McPhedran has reported in Sydney's Daily Telegraph , are now resolved, and both HMAS Sydney and HMAS Darwin, the two ships whose virtual reconstructions are now finished, are ready for the Gulf: originally 1970s vessels, but now the most potent frigates in the world. The most powerful ships the RAN has ever had.

Good. As further evidence of how formidable they've become, the writer says that the RAN's FFG upgrades have now drawn the attention of the US, Canada, Greece and Turkey - to name a few - for possible similar upgrades of similar frigates, now that Thales's Sydney subsidiary has sorted out the problems on us, at the mere cost of one third of the Adelaide Class fleet, and $1.4 billion (as far as we've been told).

The Oliver Hazard Perry frigates - the RAN's second historical step away from British to US designs after the Charles F. Adams DDGs [ we've since turned to European designs with the Anzacs and the forthcoming AWDs and Canberra Class Helicopter Docks - were originally ordered in 1974, when Australia abandoned it's locally-designed Light Destroyer project.

They've since been lengthened by a re-confugation of the transom to accomodate a larger deck for the two helicopters carried, and virtually re-built from the main-deck up.

Well, I've been pretty hard on them - the usual mis-handling of the upgrade project, really, a financial scandal - but I'm too much of a romantic for modern ships anyway

Here's some good photos. They look best from quite high up in the air [in my most humble opinion, that is].

I'll come back with the ships data on them in the next post. The ships built were HMASs Adelaide, Canberra, Sydney, Melbourne, Newcastle, and Darwin, the last four still active. They are now 4,100 tonnes full load.

[kookaburra]

Oliver Hazard Perry- Adelaide Class FFGs, Post 2


Emerging in the 1970s, the 4100 ton full load Oliver Hazard Perry frigates were a class designed in the US for mass production, and 61 were built for the USN.

Of the six ordered for the RAN, in lieu of the locally-designed light destroyer project, four were built at the Todd shipyard at Seattle, Washington State: HMASs Adelaide 11 [comm. Nov 15, 1980]; Canberra 11[21/3/1981]; Darwin [21/7//84] and Sydney 1V[21/9/83].

The last two ships, Melbourne[15/2/1992] 111 and Newcastle [11/12/1993] were built at Williamstown Naval Dockyard in Melbourne.

Their initial armament was Mk 13 launcher for Harpoon and SM-1MR missiles; 1 × 3 in OTO Melara; 1 × 20 mm Mk 16 Mod 2 Phalanx CIWS; 2 x triple 324 mm Mk 32 torpedo tubes; 1 × MK75 76 mm rapid-fire naval artillery gun, and they carried: 2 x S-70B Seahawk.

Their initial capacity allowed a mixture of 40 different kinds of missles to be carried in their magazines.

The extensive upgrade has seen the main armament become the Evolved Sea Sparrow missile.

Of the two ships eventually sacrificed to help pay for the Thales upgrade, years behind schedule, Canberra, de-commissioned in 2005, is scheduled to be sunk as a dive wreck off Barwon Heads, Victoria, next month, and Adelaide, decommissioned last year, will be similarly sunk off the NSW central coast near Terrigal.

As I've mentioned, Thales and the Navy are claiming the four ships finally emerging from the upgrades are [presently] the most potent frigates in the world.

This is the last post on the Adelaide Class, and I will do a representative data post only for the eight ANZACS, as they too are still in service and are well displayed on the Contemporary RAN ships thread.

[astraltrader]

Jeff I think that your 7th picture is Melbourne [FFG05] and not Newcastle[FFG06].

[kookaburra]

Thanks Terry. Yet another captioning error in that acquired collection I've been using (at least six now I think) , but I should have checked the hull numbers. Can you knock that pic out, there's enough there anyway.

Don't worry if its a bother - seem to remember you saying it needs Kc's action to do that. The point of the correction's been made anyway. Cheers, K.

[astraltrader]

It has been done my friend. It is one of my jobs to remove, move and delete.

[harry.gibbon]

Kook, haven't been on the thread for ages .... sorry ... cracking good pics!!

Little h

[kookaburra]

Kook, haven't been on the thread for ages .... sorry ... cracking good pics!!

Little h

Thanks very much Little h: it's always good to have you around our Aussie forum, because your comments are always interested and encouraging.

I'm taking this chance to add in the HMAS Melbourne photo [pic2] Terry and I had removed because it was mis-labelled, but mainly to add the McConrads Adelaide Class drawing, as I feel modellers are sometimes interested in those.

Oddly enough the next pic of Melbourne here was also miscaptioned on the compilation I've been using - someone had a blind spot on FFG 05! Don't want to be too critical though, it's a big job and from various publication dates I think perhaps done by someone now far from young. Maybe the old eyesight's gone a bit wobbly - like mine!

Here they are:

[kookaburra]

ANZAC ClASS FRIGATES:

Built by Tenix at the privatised Williamstown Naval Dockyard the eight Anzac Class frigates are the core of Australia's present surface combat fleet, along with the four surviving Adelaide Class FFGs. With the latter now upgraded they will remain the key surface units until the Hobart Class AWDs and large Canberra Class LHDs come into service.

The ships are the name ship HMAS Anzac 111 [commissioned may 18, 1996]; Arunta [Dec 12, 1998]; Warramunga 11 [March 29 2001]; Stuart 111 [Aug 17, 2002]; Parramatta IV [Oct 4, 2003]; Ballarat 1I [June 26 2004]; Toowoomba [Oct 8 2005]; and Perth 111 [Aug 26, 2006].

Two of an originally planned four ships were also built for the RNZN, HMNZS Te Kaha [July 26, 1997] and HMNZS Te Mana [Dec 10, 1999]. The further NZ ships ordered were cancelled during an election period of protests against the ANZUS alliance and for other intra-party political considerations.

Based on the German Meko 200 design, the 3,600 ton Anzac Class represent a third stage of movement by the RAN away from its traditional design sources, first from the UK to US designed ships with the Charles F Adams DDGs and Oliver Hazard Perry FFGs, now to European designs, also represented in the Swedish-designed Collins Class submarines and to be continued with the AWDS and LHDs based on Spanish designs.

I've not found a good analysis of the considerations behind those movements [ which doesn't mean that none exists]but one assumes that it has been primarily economic. It would be interesting to see some informed discussion on it: at first glance they certainly suggest a defence procurement process and ADF establishment that is much now more independent-minded than at any time in the past.

As with other RAN postwar frigate acquisitions, the Anzac Class at first appeared lightly armed and were first classified as FFHs. Planning for RGM-84 Harpoon anti-ship and Evolved Sea Sparrow missile launch systems were initiated even as the ships were being built, however, and it's a process I think now completed for most ships.

They now carry one 5 in/54 (127 mm) Mk 45 Mod 2 gun, various machine guns and small arms, Mk 41 Mod 5 VLS for Sea Sparrow and Evolved Sea Sparrow, 2x4 Harpoon SSM ; two triple 324 mm Mk 32 Mod 5 torpedo tubes
and an SH-2G Super Seasprite or S-70B-2 Seahawk helicopter [actually I'm not sure what's happened with the Sea Sprites, a re-build of old airframes procurement that seems to have gone wrong and was to be cancelled].

The ships also carry an array of ESM and Subroc electronic warfare and decoy systems, and Thomson Sintra sensors. They have done tours of duty in the Persian Gulf and elsewhere. We have had quite a few images of them on the Contemporary RAN and 2009 Fleet Entry threads, so just a few good images and a couple of diagrams here for the moment to represent the Class.

I 'll add a few others as they catch my eye, as this is perhaps a bit light for eight main ships plus the Kiwis . A further comment: Through no fault of the RNZN, it is now widely thought, on both sides of the Tasman, that with heavy defence cutbacks New Zealand is now taking a bit of a free ride on Australia's defence capacity.

[kookaburra]

HMAS Condamine, Korean Winter 1952:

As someone who literally can't function in extreme cold, I think this would have been just awful. The last pic shows Condamine back in sunnier climes, paying off in Sydney, November 1955. She was sold in 1961 and scrapped in Japan the following year.

[kookaburra]

Out and About with Q Class Frigates:

In RN service called Type 15s - I don't remember the designation being used here. Pics 3 and 4 had me for a moment : so similar, and almost exactly the same cloud formation, but ...different hull numbers- F02 Queenborough, and F04 Quickmatch. They must have passed the same photographer at the same point within minutes of each other...

[harry.gibbon]

Hi again Kook,

Happened bye my routine visit and thought I would express appreciation at the variety of pics to view including 'a painting' I would guess!!

Re your post #34 HMAS Ballarat, both she who must be obeyed and I are just enthusing about the setting of that photograph so dramatic... magic yet again

Re your post #36 HMAS Queenborough from Melbourne ... I am drawn to the idea that because of the shadow cast by the Melbourne on the frigates' ships side, how much sleeker they would have looked with a dark paint job to the ships side!!!???:) ah la Royal Yacht'ish. I know its a bit of romanticising but what the hell.

Little h

[kookaburra]

Hi again Kook,

Happened bye my routine visit and thought I would express appreciation at the variety of pics to view including 'a painting' I would guess!!

Re your post #34 HMAS Ballarat, both she who must be obeyed and I are just enthusing about the setting of that photograph so dramatic... magic yet again

Re your post #36 HMAS Queenborough from Melbourne ... I am drawn to the idea that because of the shadow cast by the Melbourne on the frigates' ships side, how much sleeker they would have looked with a dark paint job to the ships side!!!???:) ah la Royal Yacht'ish. I know its a bit of romanticising but what the hell.

Little h

Thanks Little h: actually the pic of Anzac in the middle of Post #34 is a photo, one of a series, not a painting - but it does have that feel. I got it off the back of a somewhat knocked-around secondhand magazine, and the scan had some print-over originally.

Not a bad idea idea of yours that a dark hull paint job might have broken up the 'fat' hull look of the Qs from many angles. Hmmm - perhaps that an idea that could have been extended to the RN County Class DDGs. Anyway, here's several more pics that were somehow left over in my 'unposted' folder. The first one's rather nice, don't know how I overlooked it - but I think that'll be the last of the Qs from me.

A final reprise of the WW11 Rivers and Type 12s coming fairly soon.

[astraltrader]

This is a fine picture of HMAS Darwin that was sent on to me by our member Bill 19637. He was finding it difficult to upload it here so I said I would give it a go for him.

[Jackaroo]

HMAS Diamantina
Last existing RAN River Class Frigate [Museum]

Named for a river which was named for the wife of the first Governor of Queensland, HMAS Diamantina was commissioned on April 27, 1945. This allowed a brief but busy wartime career during which she carried out bombardments at Sohana Island, Bougainville, the Bonis Peninsula and points along the south side of Buka Passage.

In September the surrender ceremonies for Japanese forces on Nauru and Ocean Island were carried out on her.

Paid off into reserve in August 1946, she was recommissioned in 1959 as a survey and oceanographic research vessel based in Fremantle, and in February the following year scientists aboard discovered a fissure in the Indian Ocean floor west of Cape Leeuwin which dropped to depths of over 4,000 fathoms. Now known as the Diamantina Trench, it was then the deepest known part of the Indian Ocean, and part a research that was regarded as important for Cold War operations.

Decommissioned again in February 1980 she had steamed 615,755 miles since commissioning, and went under her own power to Brisbane to enter the historic South Brisbane Dry Dock (built 1876-1880) as the centrepiece for the Queensland Maritime Museum. In 1998 the caisson of the old dock was damaged during floods and she re-floated off her blocks, and was later taken out to a wharf while repairs were undertaken. The gates to the dock have since been replaced by a sea wall, and a tours go down into the dock to view her hull.

There's a photo tour of Diamantina below deck compartments here:

http://www.christianhomeschoolingresources.com/christianhomeschoolingresources/page123.html

Data:

Class: River
Builder: Walkers Ltd, Maryborough, Qld.
Commissioning:Laid down April 12, 1943,
commissioned April 27, 1945
Displacement: 1420 tons, 2120 FL
Armament:as frigate, class two single 4-inch (102mm)HA/LA; secondary varied by ship, six to 10 20mm and 4-6 40mm bofors carried later on some ships. One 'Hedgehog'.
Speed: 20 knots
Complement: 140
Fate: Museum, 1981.


Article:

http://www.navy.gov.au/HMAS_Diamantina_(I)


There is now available a DVD about HMAS Diamantina (1).
Anyone interested in wanting a copy or further information please let me know.

Cheers
Jack :cool:

[Jackaroo]

[quote=Jackaroo;77663]There is now available a DVD about HMAS Diamantina (1). Anyone interested in wanting a copy or further information please let me know.
Cheers
Jack cool:quote]


Since this DVD was released it is still selling well, a lot were bought for chrissy pressies. Still a few copies left of this professionally produced DVD.

Cheers
Jack :cool:

[Jackaroo]

HMAS Diamantina (I) last WW2 River Class Frigate

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mdi2T4BgkgY

[tipahmh]

kookaburra,
A very extensive write up on Australian Frigates which requires a lot of effort to put it in writing. I am most interested in the Type12 River Class Destroyer Escort because it resembles the RN Type 12 (Whitby and Rothesay), Leander , CAT and CATHEDERAL Class Frigates which brings a lot of memories of my younger days in the RMN during the Indonesian Confrontation back in the early sixties. I know YARRA used to be guardship in Tawau. The rest of the DEs were also very much involved in the confrontation. I must congratulate you for your fine effort in putting it together in this forum. With your permission, I may download a few photoes of the DEs for my own personal keep. Keep them coming. Thank you. sincerely. tipahmh

[kookaburra]

kookaburra,
A very extensive write up on Australian Frigates which requires a lot of effort to put it in writing. I am most interested in the Type12 River Class Destroyer Escort because it resembles the RN Type 12 (Whitby and Rothesay), Leander , CAT and CATHEDERAL Class Frigates which brings a lot of memories of my younger days in the RMN during the Indonesian Confrontation back in the early sixties. I know YARRA used to be guardship in Tawau. The rest of the DEs were also very much involved in the confrontation. I must congratulate you for your fine effort in putting it together in this forum. With your permission, I may download a few photoes of the DEs for my own personal keep. Keep them coming. Thank you. sincerely. tipahmh

Of course tipahmh, download any photos I post that you wish - most are scanned out of books, and I don't really regard them as 'mine.'

I'm afraid my efforts on the forum have fallen off rather badly in recent months as I have two other on-going projects, which are rather heavy - one being a long term writing work commitment, and the other the rather demanding hobby of my [unofficial] RAN Centenary photostream on Flickr. There's some Type 12 pics on that - it's the subject of its own thread here in the Australia section, and you'll find some links to it there.

Here are a couple of nice pics of HMAS Torrens, which the photographer Geoff Eastwood kindly sent to me with permissions for the RAN Centenary Photostream. I haven't uploaded them there yet, but will do so shortly. Also one of HMAS Yarra laid up in reserve, 1984, also sent by Geoff EWastwood.

That has been uploaded on the Centenary Photostream, which you can find starting here - just a warning its 80+ pages now:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/41311545@N05/page81/

Anyway, it makes two we've now have here on the dear old forums first - and in my case, about time! Thanks for your kind comments on the thread though. K.

[astraltrader]

Great pictures of Torrens Jeff.

[Old Salt]

HMAS Lachlan: River Class frigate, survey vessel, RNZN 1949-75

Commissioned in the last year of WW11, HMAS Lachlan had a brief but active war career as a hydrographic ship surveying approaches and laying marker buoys into the AIF landings at Tarakan and Brunei, the latter under covering fire from U.S. destroyers and other vessels.

Her first task on commissioning had been to carry the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester to a ceremonial entry and opening of the Captain Cook Graving Dock on March 24, 1945, although the dock was already in use - HMS Illustrious having been taken in for emergency repair.

In 1949 she was transferred, initially on loan, to the RNZN where she continued to serve as an oceanographic vessel, and underwent a number of appearance changes, getting a helicopter deck on her stern later in her career. Lachlan was paid off in 1975, and became a base accomodation ship at Devonport Naval Dockyard, HMNZS Philomel, for more than 10 years. She was finally disposed of c1986.

Data:

Type: River Class frigate.
Builder: Mort's Dock and Engineering Co. Sydney,
Commissioned Feb 2, 1945; to RNZN June 1949, acq. 1963, paid off 1975, used as base ship to c1986.
Displacement: 1420 tons standard, 2120 FL
Armament, as frigate: Two single 4-inch guns, class four bofors, Hedgehog and depth charges.
Speed: 20 knots
Complement: 140
Fate: Disposal c1986


Article:

The RAN official website entry with Lachlan's career (but which mistakenly identifies her as a Modified River or Bay Class vessel. She was River Class).

http://www.navy.gov.au/HMAS_Lachlan

Here are three more photos of Lachlan over the years :

[tipahmh]

kookaburra,
Thank you for your kind response and the three nice photoes. Best regards. tipahmh

[mstary1]

had to post this lovely picture of Torrens I have.
It's an original with the word river scribbled on the back.

[astraltrader]

A lovely photograph of Torrens and thank you very much for sharing this with us. Greatly appreciated! :):)

[mstary1]

Your very welcome :)

One more I have.

I believe this is Derwent from the same source.
These two photos were being "ditched" during a dismantling of Waterhen for the new base in the 90's. forgot i had them!:p
Also a pic of a Ton class HMS Crichton that doesn't belong in this thread

[sadsack324]

Your very welcome :)

One more I have.

I believe this is Derwent from the same source.
These two photos were being "ditched" during a dismantling of Waterhen for the new base in the 90's. forgot i had them!:p
Also a pic of a Ton class HMS Crichton that doesn't belong in this thread

G'day,
Definately DERWENT ( pre modernisation ) Beautiful lines for ANY ship. I served as an " OD" and then a "Stoker" on the "old girl". The only problem with her design was the location of the LWO2 radar atop the "mainmast". In heavy weather, and on the wheel, one had to let her have her way cos if you chased her the wheel movements transferred to the LWO2 causing some very interesting "lists" and violent movements incurring the wrath of all:D. This was "most obvious" when a young, inexperienced "OD" was on the wheel:mad: ( myself included ):D. It didn't help having the "wheel" located under the bridge with no view except a " strip repeat compass ":rolleyes:, of exactly what waves were coming and how she was behaving, particularly in the " roughers "!:confused:

I have a photo - black and white ( printed from somewhere on the net ) of Derwent "punching" through some very heavy weather. She is pictured from " fine on the starbord Bow" on "the up" after hitting "solid water" exposing her almost down to her keel and as far back as the 4.5" Turret. Kookaburra you may have this photo? I've seen it in many places all over Australia but can't get a hold of a copy as I would like to frame it? Would be grateful if anyone here has this photo and would be willing to "lend" it to me so I can have a copy made?:)

Cheers,

sadsack324:)

[culverin]

I must congratulate every one involved in the efforts to ensure that Diamantina has survived pretty unscathed during your recent deluge issues in Queensland.
Without doubt it implies the high regard that having her preserved is taken most seriously, and despite all those involved also having to attend to more personal issues too.

[harry.gibbon]

Out and About with Q Class Frigates:

In RN service called Type 15s - I don't remember the designation being used here. Pics 3 and 4 had me for a moment : so similar, and almost exactly the same cloud formation, but ...different hull numbers- F02 Queenborough, and F04 Quickmatch. They must have passed the same photographer at the same point within minutes of each other...

Re. post #36, Pic #5, 3rd row; what is that appendage which can be seen running almost all the length of the stbd side used for please??

Little h

[kookaburra]

Re. post #36, Pic #5, 3rd row; what is that appendage which can be seen running almost all the length of the stbd side used for please??

Little h

Good question little h. It looks like some degaussing arrangement doesn't it - but I don't really know. I don't think it's permanent [maybe some sullage storage while at the the dockyard].

[ludsie]

How did Dimantina fare in the latest brisbane floods is she ok??

[curleyone]

G'Day Ludsie

Bit late with this reply to your query re Diamantina during the Brisbane floods, she is normally sitting on the dry bottom of her resting place but during the flood the old girl floated for the first time in many years, all concerned were worried about her but she survived and proves the point you cannot sink the old River Class Frigates.

[curleyone]

Kookaburra

Thanks for your informative posts re the River Class Frigates, I served on HMAS Macquarie for the total duration of her second commissioning from August 1952 to March 1954.

She was re commissioned basically for patrol duties at the Monte Bello Islands Atomic Bomb testing site in October 1952. She also spent a good period of time on fisheries patrol in the Arafura Sea mainly baby sitting the Japanese Pearling Fleet.

[ASSAIL]

Oliver Hazard Perry- Adelaide Class FFGs, Post 2


Their initial armament was Mk 13 launcher for Harpoon and SM-1MR missiles; 1 × 3 in OTO Melara; 1 × 20 mm Mk 16 Mod 2 Phalanx CIWS; 2 x triple 324 mm Mk 32 torpedo tubes; 1 × MK75 76 mm rapid-fire naval artillery gun, and they carried: 2 x S-70B Seahawk.

Their initial capacity allowed a mixture of 40 different kinds of missles to be carried in their magazines.

[QUOTE]The extensive upgrade has seen the main armament become the Evolved Sea Sparrow missile.


As I've mentioned, Thales and the Navy are claiming the four ships finally emerging from the upgrades are [presently] the most potent frigates in the world.

The USN changed the design of the OHP's in 1981 and HMAS DARWIN, the third Aus frigate incorporated this change - extending the stern by about 20ft to allow operations of the S-70B-2 Seahawk helos. This was one of the most important considerations when the decision not to proceed with the modification of ADELAIDE and CANBERRA was made.

The main armament of the ships is now Standard Missile SM2 (Mach 3 /166kms - which is why Turkey and other current OHP operators are interested)
The other aspects of the PUP (Progressive Upgrade Programme) were; upgrade of the Mk92 FCS and associated radars, SM 2 but utilizing an upgraded single rail Mk 13 launcher, 1 x 8 cell Mk 41 VLS for ESSM ( Mach 4 / 50 kms), upgraded command and control systems, Link 16 data link and new subsurface warfare sonars. To enhance the 2 6 barrelled SBROC Mk 36 chaff and IR launchers NULKA systems have been fitted
The "frigate power" will be further enhanced when the CIWS Phalanx systems are updated between 2014 - 2016
These ships have proven to be enormously effective following extensive testing at the Pacific missile test facility in Hawaii

[BlackBat242]

The USN changed the design of the OHP's in 1981 and HMAS DARWIN, the third Aus frigate incorporated this change - extending the stern by about 20ft to allow operations of the S-70B-2 Seahawk helos. This was one of the most important considerations when the decision not to proceed with the modification of ADELAIDE and CANBERRA was made.


Not quite true.

Darwin was indeed the first "long-stern" Adelaide-class FFG, but she was the 4th... as her hull numnber of 04 shows.

HMAS Sydney FFG-03 was the 3rd, and she was a short-stern ship along with Adealide FFG-01 and Canberra FFG-02.

Additionally, all 3 were modified in the late 1980s-early 1990s to operate S-70s, including having their sterns lengthened!

Note the following pics... and the stern shapes.
1. Canberra on 14 July 1981, firing a Harpoon missile.
2. Canberra at Garden Island 1984.
3. Adelaide being scuttled.
4. a pic of both Adelaide and Canberra from Kookaburra's post. http://www.worldnavalships.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=51131&d=1247630700

[ASSAIL]

Not quite true.

Darwin was indeed the first "long-stern" Adelaide-class FFG, but she was the 4th... as her hull numnber of 04 shows.

HMAS Sydney FFG-03 was the 3rd, and she was a short-stern ship along with Adealide FFG-01 and Canberra FFG-02.

Additionally, all 3 were modified in the late 1980s-early 1990s to operate S-70s, including having their sterns lengthened!

Note the following pics... and the stern shapes.
1. Canberra on 14 July 1981, firing a Harpoon missile.
2. Canberra at Garden Island 1984.
3. Adelaide being scuttled.
4. a pic of both Adelaide and Canberra from Kookaburra's post. http://www.worldnavalships.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=51131&d=1247630700

Thanks Blackbat and off course you are correct. The perils of scanning and not reading!
My main point was to correct the Kooka misconception that they were not armed with any missile system other than ESSM.