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HMAS Adelaide (1918)
Encyclopedia
HMAS Adelaide was a Town class
Town class cruiser (1910)
The Town class was a group of twenty-one light cruisers built for the Royal Navy and Royal Australian Navy . These vessels were long-range cruisers, suitable for patrolling the vast expanse covered by the British Empire...
light cruiser of the Royal Australian Navy
Royal Australian Navy
The Royal Australian Navy is the naval branch of the Australian Defence Force. Following the Federation of Australia in 1901, the ships and resources of the separate colonial navies were integrated into a national force: the Commonwealth Naval Forces...
(RAN), named after Adelaide
Adelaide
Adelaide is the capital city of South Australia and the fifth-largest city in Australia. Adelaide has an estimated population of more than 1.2 million...
, the capital city of South Australia
South Australia
South Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories.South Australia shares borders with all of the mainland...
. Laid down in 1915, wartime shortages and design modifications meant the ship was not completed until 1922, earning her the nickname "HMAS Longdelayed".
Adelaide served with the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
's Special Service Squadron during 1924 and 1925, and was involved in the 1927 Malaita massacre
Malaita massacre
The Malaita massacre inflicted a large number of deaths on the island of Malaita in the Solomon Islands in late 1927. William R. Bell, the District Officer of Malaita in the British Solomon Islands Protectorate, and many of his deputies were killed by Basiana and other Kwaio warriors as part of a...
. She was decommissioned in 1928, but was modernised and returned to service just before World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
began. During the war, Adelaide was involved in successful efforts to secure the colony of New Caledonia
New Caledonia
New Caledonia is a special collectivity of France located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, east of Australia and about from Metropolitan France. The archipelago, part of the Melanesia subregion, includes the main island of Grande Terre, the Loyalty Islands, the Belep archipelago, the Isle of...
for Free France, was present during the Japanese midget submarine attack on Sydney Harbour
Attack on Sydney Harbour
In late May and early June 1942, during World War II, submarines belonging to the Imperial Japanese Navy made a series of attacks on the cities of Sydney and Newcastle in New South Wales, Australia...
, and intercepted the German blockade runner
Blockade runner
A blockade runner is usually a lighter weight ship used for evading a naval blockade of a port or strait, as opposed to confronting the blockaders to break the blockade. Very often blockade running is done in order to transport cargo, for example to bring food or arms to a blockaded city...
Ramses.
The cruiser was decommissioned in 1946, and broken up for scrap
Ship breaking
Ship breaking or ship demolition is a type of ship disposal involving the breaking up of ships for scrap recycling. Most ships have a lifespan of a few decades before there is so much wear that refitting and repair becomes uneconomical. Ship breaking allows materials from the ship, especially...
in 1949.
Design and construction
The design of Adelaide was modified from the Chatham subclass of the Town classTown class cruiser (1910)
The Town class was a group of twenty-one light cruisers built for the Royal Navy and Royal Australian Navy . These vessels were long-range cruisers, suitable for patrolling the vast expanse covered by the British Empire...
light cruisers, with similarities to the Birmingham subclass. The ship was 462 foot long overall and 430 feet (131.1 m) between perpendiculars, with a beam of 49 foot, and a draught of 19.66 feet (6 m). The initial ship's company stood at 33 officers and 450 sailors, but by 1941, this had dropped to 26 officers and 436 sailors.
The propulsion system consisted of Parsons turbines providing 25,000 shaft horsepower to two propeller shafts. As designed, the ship had a maximum speed of 25 knots (13.6 m/s), but modifications during her career saw this increase to 25.5 knots (13.9 m/s) during the 1920s, then drop to 24.8 knots (13.5 m/s) by 1941. 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.
Adelaide was laid down by HMA Naval Dockyard at Cockatoo Island, Sydney on 20 November 1915. She was launched on 27 July 1918 by the wife of Sir Ronald Munro Ferguson, the serving Governor-General of Australia
Governor-General of Australia
The Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia is the representative in Australia at federal/national level of the Australian monarch . He or she exercises the supreme executive power of the Commonwealth...
. Construction was not completed until 31 July 1922 because of wartime shortages, loss of machinery part forgings to enemy action, and modifications based on wartime experience: the ship was consequently nicknamed "HMAS Longdelayed". She was finally commissioned into the RAN on 5 August 1922. Adelaide cost 1,271,782 pounds to build.
The ship's badge was based on the municipal seal of the City of Adelaide. Her motto was "Ut Prosint Omnibus Conjuncti", Latin for "United for the Common Weal". Some incorrect versions of the ship's badge show the motto as "United We Stand", the motto for .
Armament
At launch, the cruiser's armament consisted of nine BL 6 inch Mk XII naval gunBL 6 inch Mk XII naval gun
The BL 6 inch Gun Mark XII was a British 45 calibres naval gun which was mounted as primary armament on light cruisers and secondary armament on dreadnought battleships commissioned in the period 1914 - 1926, and remained in service on many warships until the end of World War II.-Design:This was a...
s, a single QF 3-inch anti-aircraft gun
QF 3 inch 20 cwt
The QF 3 inch 20 cwt anti-aircraft gun became the standard anti-aircraft gun used in the home defence of the United Kingdom against German airships and bombers and on the Western Front in World War I. It was also common on British warships in World War I and submarines in World War II...
, a single Ordnance QF 12 pounder 8 cwt
Ordnance QF 12 pounder 8 cwt
The Ordnance QF 12 pounder 8 cwt was a Royal Navy "landing gun" intended for navy use ashore. "8 cwt" refers to the weight of the gun and breech, approximately 8 cwt = 8 x = 896 lb. This was how the British often differentiated between guns of the same calibre or weight of shell...
field gun
Field gun
A field gun is an artillery piece. Originally the term referred to smaller guns that could accompany a field army on the march and when in combat could be moved about the battlefield in response to changing circumstances, as to opposed guns installed in a fort, or to siege cannon or mortars which...
, four QF 3 pounder Hotchkiss
QF 3 pounder Hotchkiss
The QF 3 pounder Hotchkiss was a light 47-mm naval gun introduced in 1886 to defend against new small fast vessels such as torpedo boats, and later submarines...
saluting guns, ten .303-inch
.303 British
.303 British, or 7.7x56mmR, is a .311 inch calibre rifle and machine gun cartridge first developed in Britain as a blackpowder round put into service in December 1888 for the Lee-Metford rifle, later adapted to use smokeless powders...
machine guns (a mix of Lewis
Lewis Gun
The Lewis Gun is a World War I–era light machine gun of American design that was perfected and widely used by the British Empire. It was first used in combat in World War I, and continued in service with a number of armed forces through to the end of the Korean War...
and Maxim
Maxim gun
The Maxim gun was the first self-powered machine gun, invented by the American-born British inventor Sir Hiram Maxim in 1884. It has been called "the weapon most associated with [British] imperial conquest".-Functionality:...
guns, two submerged broadside 21-inch torpedo tubes, and two depth charge
Depth charge
A depth charge is an anti-submarine warfare weapon intended to destroy or cripple a target submarine by the shock of exploding near it. Most use explosives and a fuze set to go off at a preselected depth in the ocean. Depth charges can be dropped by either surface ships, patrol aircraft, or from...
chutes. The number of machine guns was increased to twelve in 1924.
Following a refit during 1938 and 1939, Adelaides armament was altered: one of the 6-inch guns was removed, as were the field gun and torpedo tubes, while the number of 3-inch anti-aircraft guns was increased to four. During May and June 1942, the anti-aircraft armament was supplemented by six 20 mm Oerlikon guns. Another refit lasting from June to September 1943 saw a second 6-inch gun removed, the 3-inch armament reduced to two guns, and four hydraulic depth charge throwers installed.
1922–1939
From commissioning until February 1924, Adelaide operated within the Australia StationAustralia Station
The Australia Station was the British—and later Australian—naval command responsible for the waters around the Australian continent.-History:In the early years following the establishment of the colony of New South Wales, ships based in Australian waters came under the control of the East Indies...
. On 18 April 1924, following a brief refit, she joined the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
's Special Service Squadron for a flag-showing cruise outside of Australian waters. During the voyage, Adelaide visited New Zealand, Fiji, Hawaii, the western coasts of Canada and the United States, the Panama Canal
Panama Canal
The Panama Canal is a ship canal in Panama that joins the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean and is a key conduit for international maritime trade. Built from 1904 to 1914, the canal has seen annual traffic rise from about 1,000 ships early on to 14,702 vessels measuring a total of 309.6...
(becoming the first RAN ship to travel through), the Caribbean, and eastern Canada, before reaching Portsmouth on 28 September. The cruiser left for home on 10 January 1925, and reached Sydney on 7 April.
In October 1927, Adelaide was called to the Solomon Islands
Solomon Islands
Solomon Islands is a sovereign state in Oceania, east of Papua New Guinea, consisting of nearly one thousand islands. It covers a land mass of . The capital, Honiara, is located on the island of Guadalcanal...
in response to the killing of a district officer and sixteen others by Kwaio
Kwaio
Kwaio is an ethnic group found in central Malaita, in the Solomon Islands. According to Ethnologue, they numbered 13,249 in 1999. Much of what is known about the Kwaio is due to the work of the Marxian anthropologist Roger M...
natives at Malaita
Malaita
Malaita is the largest island of the Malaita Province in the Solomon Islands. A tropical and mountainous island, Malaita's pristine river systems and tropical forests have not been exploited. Malaita is the most populous island of the Solomon Islands, with 140,000 people or more than a third of the...
. Arriving at Tulagi on 14 October, the ship proceeded to Malaita to protect the landing of three platoons of troops, then remained in the area to provide personnel support for the soldiers as they searched for the killers, in what became the Malaita massacre
Malaita massacre
The Malaita massacre inflicted a large number of deaths on the island of Malaita in the Solomon Islands in late 1927. William R. Bell, the District Officer of Malaita in the British Solomon Islands Protectorate, and many of his deputies were killed by Basiana and other Kwaio warriors as part of a...
. Adelaide returned to Australia on 23 November.
Adelaide was paid off into reserve on 27 June 1928. 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. The cruiser was recommissioned on 13 March 1939, but was paid off again on 17 May, so the ship's company could be sent to England to commission the new light cruiser .
World War II
With the threat of war in Europe imminent, Adelaide was prepared for a return to service, and was commissioned on 1 September. She was initially used for convoy escort and protection duties in Australian waters.In September 1940, Adelaide was sent to New Caledonia
New Caledonia
New Caledonia is a special collectivity of France located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, east of Australia and about from Metropolitan France. The archipelago, part of the Melanesia subregion, includes the main island of Grande Terre, the Loyalty Islands, the Belep archipelago, the Isle of...
following attempts by Vichy France
Vichy France
Vichy France, Vichy Regime, or Vichy Government, are common terms used to describe the government of France that collaborated with the Axis powers from July 1940 to August 1944. This government succeeded the Third Republic and preceded the Provisional Government of the French Republic...
to gain control of the French colony. En route, on 3 September, the cruiser collided with the merchant vessel SS Coptic: although both ships only suffered minor damage, the Shaw, Savill & Albion Line sued the Australian government in 1947 for 35,000 pounds in damages. On arrival, the Vichy military governor permitted the temporary governor appointed by Free France leader Charles de Gaulle
Charles de Gaulle
Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle was a French general and statesman who led the Free French Forces during World War II. He later founded the French Fifth Republic in 1958 and served as its first President from 1959 to 1969....
to land from Adelaide, while the cruiser patrolled off the harbour as a counter to the Vichy sloop Dumont d'Urville. The Vichy governor left aboard the sloop on 25 September, and the Australian cruiser remained in the area until the situation had stabilised, returning to Sydney on 8 October.
During May to July 1942, Adelaide was docked at Garden Island for a refit. Consequently, the ship was one of several major Allied vessels in Sydney Harbour during the Japanese midget submarine attack
Attack on Sydney Harbour
In late May and early June 1942, during World War II, submarines belonging to the Imperial Japanese Navy made a series of attacks on the cities of Sydney and Newcastle in New South Wales, Australia...
of 31 May 1942. After the refit, Adelaide was assigned to Fremantle for convoy escort work in the Indian Ocean
Indian Ocean
The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering approximately 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by the Indian Subcontinent and Arabian Peninsula ; on the west by eastern Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and...
.
In November, Adelaide, along with the Dutch cruiser Jacob van Heemskerk
HNLMS Jacob van Heemskerk
HNLMS Jacob van Heemskerck was a Tromp-class light cruiser of the Royal Netherlands Navy, named after Admiral Jacob van Heemskerk ....
and the Australian corvettes and were escorting a convoy across the southern Indian Ocean. On 28 November, the ships spotted an unidentified vessel, which claimed to be the Norwegian merchantman Taiyang. Officers aboard Adelaide recognised the ship as the German blockade runner
Blockade runner
A blockade runner is usually a lighter weight ship used for evading a naval blockade of a port or strait, as opposed to confronting the blockaders to break the blockade. Very often blockade running is done in order to transport cargo, for example to bring food or arms to a blockaded city...
Ramses, 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. Adelaide opened fire, hitting with the third salvo onwards, and continued shooting until Ramses sank eight minutes later, then recovered the Germans from the boats.
Adelaide continued to operate from Fremantle until October 1944, apart from a refit at Williamstown Naval Dockyard from June to September 1943. On 8 October, the cruiser made for Sydney. On 26 February 1945, Adelaide was decommissioned, but then recommissioned on 19 May to serve as a tender to the naval base .
Adelaide was awarded the battle honour
Battle honour
A battle honour is an award of a right by a government or sovereign to a military unit to emblazon the name of a battle or operation on its flags , uniforms or other accessories where ornamentation is possible....
s "Pacific 1941–43" and "East Indies 1942" for her wartime service.
Decommissioning and fate
Ship breaking
Ship breaking or ship demolition is a type of ship disposal involving the breaking up of ships for scrap recycling. Most ships have a lifespan of a few decades before there is so much wear that refitting and repair becomes uneconomical. Ship breaking allows materials from the ship, especially...
. Adelaide was towed by the tug to Port Kembla during 1 and 2 April, where she was scrapped.
Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park
Ku-ring-gai Chase is a national park in New South Wales, Australia, 25 km north of Sydney located largely within the Ku-ring-gai, Hornsby, Warringah and Pittwater municipal areas. Ku-ring-gai Chase is also officially classed as a suburb by the Geographical Names Board of New South Wales...
, Sydney, in about 1950. An information plaque with a diagram of the ship and information about its history 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 at HMAS Cerberus
HMAS Cerberus, Victoria
HMAS Cerberus is the Royal Australian Navy's primary training establishment, located adjacent to Crib Point on the Mornington Peninsula, south of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It is also an official bounded locality of the Shire of Mornington Peninsula...
. The ship's bell ended up in the possession of the Amazon Hotel, a pub in Exeter
Exeter
Exeter is a historic city in Devon, England. It lies within the ceremonial county of Devon, of which it is the county town as well as the home of Devon County Council. Currently the administrative area has the status of a non-metropolitan district, and is therefore under the administration of the...
, England.