"1944" or "Australian Battle" Class
The original building programme for the 1943 ships included provision for the later ships, the third flotilla, to be armed with the new 4.5-inch Mark VI turret. Although these ships were cancelled by the Admiralty two ships of this type had been ordered by the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) in Australia in 1945. Neither of these ships were cancelled and both ships were laid down in 1946, although, like the building programme in Britain, progress was slow. The first of the two ships, HMAS Anzac, was not completed by HMA Dockyard at Williamstown until 1950, and sister ship HMAS Tobruk, built at Cockatoo Island Dockyard in Sydney, was not completed until the following year. The only difference between these ships and those planned for the Royal Navy was a distinctive funnel cowl fitted to both ships.
Tobruk remained in service until 1960 when she was placed in reserve after being damaged in a friendly-fire accident. Anzac had her STAAG mountings removed at about this time and continued in service as a training ship. She was further modified for this role in 1966 when 'B' turret was removed and replaced by a deckhouse. Another deckhouse was built aft. She was laid up in 1974. Both ships were broken up in 1975.
- Armament summary
- 2 × twin QF 4.5 inch /45 (113 mm) Mark V guns in 2 twin mountings UD Mark VI
- 3 × twin 40 mm Bofors mounts "STAAG" Mk. II
- 6-7 × single 40 mm Bofors mount Mk. VII
- 2 × pentuple tubes for 21 in torpedoes Mk. IX
- 1 × Squid A/S mortar
Read more about this topic: Battle Class Destroyer
Famous quotes containing the words australian, battle and/or class:
“Beyond the horizon, or even the knowledge, of the cities along the coast, a great, creative impulse is at work—the only thing, after all, that gives this continent meaning and a guarantee of the future. Every Australian ought to climb up here, once in a way, and glimpse the various, manifold life of which he is a part.”
—Vance Palmer (1885–1959)
“The battle for the mind of Ronald Reagan was like the trench warfare of World War I: never have so many fought so hard for such barren terrain.”
—Peggy Noonan (b. 1950)
“The enemy are no match for us in a fair fight.... The young men ... of the upper class are kind-hearted, good-natured fellows, who are unfit as possible for the business they are in. They have courage but no endurance, enterprise, or energy. The lower class are cowardly, cunning, and lazy. The height of their ambition is to shoot a Yankee from some place of safety.”
—Rutherford Birchard Hayes (1822–1893)