HMAS Tasmania - Design and Construction

Design and Construction

Tasmania was built to the Admiralty design of the S class destroyer, which was designed and built as part of the British emergency war programme. The destroyer had a displacement of 1,075 tons, a length overall of 276 feet 10.625 inches (84.39468 m), and a beam of 26 feet 10 inches (8.18 m). The propulsion machiney consisted of three Yarrow boilers feeding Brown-Curtis turbines, which supplied 27,000 shaft horsepower (20,000 kW) to the ship's two propeller shafts. Although designed with a maximum speed of 36 knots (67 km/h; 41 mph), Tasmania was only able to achieve 32.93 knots (60.99 km/h; 37.90 mph) on power trails. The destroyer's economical speed of 13 knots (24 km/h; 15 mph) gave her a range of 2,589 nautical miles (4,795 km; 2,979 mi). The ship's company was made up of 6 officers and 93 sailors.

The destroyer's primary armament consisted of three QF 4-inch Mark IV guns. These were supplemented by a 2-pounder pom-pom, two 9.5-inch howitzer bomb throwers, five .303 inch machine guns (a mix of Lewis and Maxim guns), two twin 21-inch torpedo tube sets, two depth charge throwers, and two depth charge chutes.

Tasmania was laid down by William Beardmore and Company, Limited, at Dalmuir in Scotland on 18 December 1917. The destroyer was launched on 22 November 1918, and completed on 22 January 1919. The ship was commissioned into the Royal Navy in January 1919, but was not made operational, and was marked for transfer to the RAN, along with four sister ships. '"Tasmania was commissioned into the RAN on 27 January 1920.