.jpg) HMASAdelaide in her third armament configuration | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 Australia | |
| Name | Adelaide |
| Namesake | City of Adelaide |
| Builder | Cockatoo Island Dockyard |
| Laid down | 20 November 1915 |
| Launched | 27 July 1918 |
| Completed | 31 July 1922 |
| Commissioned | 5 August 1922 |
| Decommissioned | 27 June 1928 |
| Recommissioned | 13 March 1939 |
| Decommissioned | 17 May 1939 |
| Recommissioned | 1 September 1939 |
| Decommissioned | 26 February 1945 |
| Recommissioned | 19 May 1945 |
| Decommissioned | 13 May 1946 |
| Motto |
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| Nickname(s) | HMASLongdelayed |
| Honours and awards |
|
| Fate | Sold for scrap |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type | Town-classlight cruiser |
| Displacement | 5,560 long tons (5,650 t) |
| Length | 138.8 m (455 ft) |
| Beam | 14.9 m (49 ft) |
| Draught | 5.7 m (19 ft) |
| Propulsion | Parsons turbines, 2 shafts, 25,000 shp (19,000 kW) |
| Speed | 25 knots (46.3 km/h; 28.8 mph) |
| Complement |
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| Armament |
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| Armour | 3-inch (7.6 cm) side armour-belt over midships section |
HMASAdelaide was aTown-classlight cruiser of theRoyal Australian Navy (RAN), named afterAdelaide, the capital city ofSouth Australia. Laid down in 1915, wartime shortages and design modifications meant the ship was not completed until 1922, earning her the nickname "HMASLongdelayed".
Adelaide served with the Royal Navy'sSpecial Service Squadron during 1924 and 1925, and was involved in the 1927Malaita massacre. She was decommissioned in 1928, but was modernised and returned to service just beforeWorld War II began. During the war,Adelaide was involved in successful efforts to secure the colony ofNew Caledonia forFree France, was present during the Japanese midget submarineattack on Sydney Harbour, and intercepted the Germanblockade runnerRamses.
The cruiser was decommissioned in 1946, andbroken up for scrap in 1949.
The design ofAdelaide was modified from theChatham subclass of theTown-class light cruisers, with similarities to theBirmingham subclass.[1] The ship was 462 feet 6.5 inches (140.983 m)long overall and 430 feet (130 m)between perpendiculars, with abeam of 49 feet 9.5 inches (15.177 m), and adraught of 19.66 feet (5.99 m).[2] The initial ship's company stood at 33 officers and 450 sailors, but by 1941, this had dropped to 26 officers and 436 sailors.[1]
The propulsion system consisted ofParsons turbines providing 25,000shaft horsepower (19,000 kW) to two propeller shafts.[1] As designed, the ship had a maximum speed of 25knots (46 km/h; 29 mph), but modifications during her career saw this increase to 25.5 knots (47.2 km/h; 29.3 mph) during the 1920s, then drop to 24.8 knots (45.9 km/h; 28.5 mph) by 1941.[2] The cruiser was originally fuelled by both coal and oil, but the ship's refit in 1938–39 saw her converted to oil only, along with the removal of the foremost funnel and boilers.[1]
Adelaide waslaid down at theCockatoo Island Dockyard, Sydney on 20 November 1915.[3] She waslaunched on 27 July 1918 byLady Helen Munro Ferguson, the wife of theGovernor-General of Australia, SirRonald Munro Ferguson.[1][4] Construction was not completed until 31 July 1922 because of wartime shortages, loss of machinery part forgings for items that could not be made in Australia to enemy action, and modifications based on wartime experience: the ship was consequently nicknamed "HMASLongdelayed".[1][4] She was finally commissioned into the RAN on 5 August 1922.[1]Adelaide cost 1,271,782 pounds to build.[1]
Theship's badge was based on the municipal seal of the City of Adelaide.[5] Her motto was "Ut Prosint Omnibus Conjuncti", Latin for "United for the Common Weal".[6] Some incorrect versions of the ship's badge show the motto as "United We Stand", the motto forHMAS Anzac.[6]
At launch, the cruiser's armament consisted of nineBL 6-inch Mk XII naval guns, a singleQF 3-inch anti-aircraft gun, a singleOrdnance QF 12-pounder 8 cwt field gun, fourQF 3-pounder Hotchkiss saluting guns, ten.303-inch machine guns (a mix ofLewis andMaxim guns), two submerged broadside 21-inch torpedo tubes, and twodepth charge chutes.[2] The number of machine guns was increased to twelve in 1924.[2]
During a refit in 1938 and 1939,Adelaide's armament was altered.[1] One 6-inch gun, the field gun, the anti-aircraft gun, and the torpedo tubes were all removed. They were replaced with three 4-inch anti-aircraft guns.[1] Fire-control equipment was also upgraded at this time.[7] During May and June 1942, the anti-aircraft armament was supplemented by six20 mm Oerlikon guns.[1] Another refit lasting from June to September 1943 saw a second 6-inch gun removed, the 4-inch armament reduced to two guns, and four hydraulic depth charge throwers installed.[1]
After a brief sea-trials and working up period off Jervis Bay,Adelaide spent the period from commissioning until February 1924 operating on standard duties and exercises throughout theAustralia Station.[1][4] On 18 April 1924, following a brief refit, she joined the Royal Navy'sSpecial Service Squadron for aflag-showing cruise outside Australian waters.[1] During the voyage,Adelaide visited New Zealand, Fiji, Hawaii, the western coasts of Canada and the United States, the Panama Canal (becoming the first RAN ship to travel through), the Caribbean, and eastern Canada, before reaching Portsmouth on 28 September.[1] The cruiser left for home on 10 January 1925, sailing via the Mediterranean, Ceylon, Singapore, and Thursday Island, and reached Sydney on 7 April.[1][4]
In October 1927,Adelaide was called to the Solomon Islands in response to the killing of a district officer, a cadet, and fifteen native police byKwaio natives atMalaita.[1][4] Arriving atTulagi on 14 October, an officer and sixteen sailors were sent ashore to reinforce local law enforcement.[4] The ship then proceeded to Malaita to protect the landing of three platoons of troops on 17 October, then remained in the area to provide personnel support for the soldiers as they searched for the killers, in what became theMalaita massacre.[1][4]Adelaide returned to Australia on 23 November.[1] Over the next year,Adelaide continued a pattern of exercises and promotional visits to Australian ports.[4]
The cruiser was paid off into reserve on 27 June 1928.[1] During 1938 and 1939, the ship underwent a 60,000 pound modernisation, which included the conversion from both coal and oil as fuel to oil-only (requiring the removal of two boilers and an exhaust funnel), and alterations to the cruiser's armament.[1] The cruiser was recommissioned on 13 March 1939, and undertook exercises with the Australian andNew Zealand Squadrons.[7] The ship returned to Sydney in late April, and was paid off again on 17 May, so that the ship's company could be sent to England aboardSS Autolycus to commission the new light cruiserHMAS Perth.[7] With the threat of war in Europe imminent,Adelaide was prepared for a return to service, and was commissioned on 1 September.[8]
The ship was initially used for convoy escort and protection duties in Australian waters.[8]
In September 1940,Adelaide carried the French officialHenri Sautot from theNew Hebrides (later Vanuatu) toNouméa,New Caledonia. Sautot had been appointed governor byFree French leaderCharles de Gaulle, following attempts byVichy France to gain control of the French colony.[8][9] On 3 September, while en route,Adelaide collided with the merchant vessel SSCoptic. (Although both ships only suffered minor damage, theShaw, Savill & Albion Line sued the Australian government in 1947 for£35,000 in damages.[8]) After Sautot landed, on 25 September,Adelaide patrolled off the coast, to counter a perceived threat from the Vichy sloopDumont d'Urville.[8] The Australian cruiser remained in the area until the situation had stabilised, returning to Sydney on 8 October.[8]Adelaide resumed escort and patrol duties around Australia and New Guinea waters.[7]
During May to July 1942,Adelaide was docked at Garden Island for a refit, focused primarily on increasing the ship's anti-aircraft weapon outfit.[5][7] Consequently, the ship was one of several major Allied vessels in Sydney Harbour during theJapanese midget submarine attack of 31 May 1942.[10] After the refit,Adelaide was assigned to Fremantle for convoy escort work in the Indian Ocean.[5]
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In November 1942,Adelaide, along with the Dutch cruiserHNLMS Jacob van Heemskerk and the Australian corvettesCessnock andToowoomba, escorted a convoy across the southern Indian Ocean.[5] On 28 November, the ships spotted an unidentified vessel, which claimed to be the Norwegian merchantmanTaiyang.[5] Officers aboardAdelaide recognised the ship as the Germanblockade runnerRamses, but did not receive a response to their challenging until two boats were lowered from the ship, followed by the sound of an explosion from a scuttling charge.[5]Adelaide opened fire, hitting with the third salvo onwards, and continued shooting untilRamses sank eight minutes later, then recovered the Germans from the boats.[5]
Adelaide continued to operate fromFremantle until October 1944, apart from a refit atWilliamstown Naval Dockyard from June to September 1943, where further armament alterations were made.[5][7] On 8 October 1944, the cruiser made for Sydney.[5] On 26 February 1945,Adelaide was decommissioned, but then recommissioned on 19 May to serve as a tender to the naval baseHMAS Penguin.[5]Adelaide was awarded thebattle honours "Pacific 1941–43" and "East Indies 1942" for her wartime service.[11][12]
Adelaide was decommissioned for the final time on 13 May 1946.[5] The ship was stripped of equipment during 1947, and on 24 January 1949, the hulk was sold to Australian Iron and Steel forbreaking up.[5][7]Adelaide was towed by the tugHMAS Reserve toPort Kembla during 1 and 2 April, where she was scrapped.[5] The deck timber was used to build the ferry Radar forCharles Rosman.
As a memorial to the ship the main-mast was erected alongside the Sphynx Memorial inKu-ring-gai Chase National Park, Sydney, in about 1950.[13][citation needed] An information plaque with a diagram of the ship was installed nearby. One of the cruiser's 6-inch guns was found at a rubbish tip in Victoria; this was restored, then placed on display atHMASCerberus, Victoria.[13] Theship's bell came first to the Amazon Hotel inExeter, England,[13] removed to the Spice Lounge restaurant in Exmouth.[citation needed]
In 2014, a shield removed from HMASAdelaide during a refit in 1943 and dumped on a tip on theMornington Peninsula, Victoria, was transported to Perth for refurbishment. A member of the Royal Australian Artillery Historical Society of Western Australia, which had been searching for such a shield for 20 years as a match for a6-inch Mk XI naval gun it held fromHMASSydney, a ship scrapped in 1928, had spotted the shield at location.[14] The naval gun and shield were installed at theLeighton Battery in September 2015 to replicate the original 6-inch guns at site.[15]
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| Weymouth class |
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