This is a list of major classes of warship operated by 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...

. Included are capital ships, amphibious vessels, cruisers, destroyers and frigates.

Aircraft Carriers

Following the Second World War, the RAN began a policy of blue water operations built around an aircraft carrier. Two light fleet carriers were purchased from the Royal Navy, one of which, HMAS Melbourne, was modified with all the latest enhancements in carrier design. Melbourne continued as the RAN's flagship until 1982, when it was planned to replace her with a STOVL

STOVL

STOVL is an acronym for short take off and vertical landing.This is the ability of some aircraft to take off from a short runway or take off vertically if it does not have a very heavy payload and land vertically...

 carrier, again purchased from the Royal Navy. However, the sale of HMS Invincible

HMS Invincible (R05)

HMS Invincible was a British light aircraft carrier, the lead ship of three in her class in the Royal Navy. She was launched on 3 May 1977 and is the seventh ship to carry the name. She saw action in the Falklands War when she was deployed with , she took over as flagship of the British fleet when...

 was cancelled by the British Government after the Falklands War

Falklands War

The Falklands War , also called the Falklands Conflict or Falklands Crisis, was fought in 1982 between Argentina and the United Kingdom over the disputed Falkland Islands and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands...

. Soon after, the Australian Government decided to end aircraft carrier operations.

Conventional Aircraft Carriers

• Majestic class
  • HMAS Sydney
  • HMAS Melbourne
• Colossus class
  Colossus class aircraft carrier
  The 1942 Design Light Fleet Carrier, commonly referred to as the British Light Fleet Carrier, was a light aircraft carrier design created by the Royal Navy during World War II, and used by eight naval forces between 1944 and 2001...
  
  
  • HMAS Vengeance

Capital Ships

When the RAN was first founded, it was decided that a capital ship

Capital ship

The capital ships of a navy are its most important warships; they generally possess the heaviest firepower and armor and are traditionally much larger than other naval vessels...

 would be constructed to serve as the fleet flagship. Initially conceived as a unit of the Royal Navy, the second Indefatigable class battlecruiser

Battlecruiser

Battlecruisers were large capital ships built in the first half of the 20th century. They were developed in the first decade of the century as the successor to the armoured cruiser, but their evolution was more closely linked to that of the dreadnought battleship...

 was paid for and crewed by Australians, and was thus commissioned as HMAS Australia. Australia was the only true "capital ship" to serve in the RAN.

Battlecruiser

• Indefatigable class
  Indefatigable class battlecruiser
  The Indefatigable class were the second class built of British battlecruisersThe Indefatigable-class ships were formally known as armoured cruisers until 1911 when they were redesignated as battlecruisers by an Admiralty order of 24 November 1911. Unofficially a number of designations were used...
  
  
  • HMAS Australia
    HMAS Australia (1911)
    HMAS Australia was one of three s built for the defence of the British Empire. Ordered by the Australian government in 1909, she was launched in 1911, and commissioned as flagship of the fledgling Royal Australian Navy in 1913...
    
    

Amphibious Assault Shipping

• Landing Ship Infantry
  • HMAS Kanimbla
    HMAS Kanimbla (1936)
    HMAS Kanimbla was a passenger ship converted for use as an armed merchant cruiser and landing ship infantry during World War II. Built during the mid-1930s as the passenger liner MV Kanimbla for McIlwraith McEachern Limited, the ship operated in Australian waters until 1939, when she was...
    
    
  • HMAS Manoora
    HMAS Manoora (1935)
    HMAS Manoora was a motor vessel laid down for the Adelaide Steamship Company by Alex Stephen and Son at Govan in Scotland in July 1934, launched on 25 October 1935 and completed in 1935....
    
    
  • HMAS Westralia
    HMAS Westralia (1939)
    HMAS Westralia was an auxiliary cruiser of the Royal Australian Navy .-Construction and acquisition:Westralia was built at the Harland and Wolff shipyard in Glasgow for the Huddart Parker company as a twin screw motor vessel, being completed in 1929. Westralia was requisitioned for war service by...
    
    
• Mark III Landing Ship Tank
  Tank landing ship
  Landing Ship, Tank was the military designation for naval vessels created during World War II to support amphibious operations by carrying significant quantities of vehicles, cargo, and landing troops directly onto an unimproved shore....
  
   - six ships
• Landing Craft Heavy
  • Balikpapan class
    Balikpapan class LCH
    The Balikpapan class LCH are a class of eight vessels operated by the Australian Defence Force and the Papua New Guinea Defence Force . They were initially built for the Australian Army, but operational responsibility was transferred from the Army to the Royal Australian Navy during 1973 and 1974...
    
    - eight ships
• Heavy Landing Ship
  • HMAS Tobruk
• High Speed Catamaran
  • HMAS Jervis Bay
• Kanimbla class (1994)
  Kanimbla class landing platform amphibious
  The Kanimbla class is a class of amphibious transport ships operated by the Royal Australian Navy . Two ships were purchased by Australia in 1994 and modified...
  
  
  • HMAS Kanimbla
  • HMAS Manoora
• Bay class
  • HMAS Choules - to commission late 2011
• Canberra class
  Canberra class large amphibious ship
  The Canberra class is a ship class of two Landing Helicopter Dock ships being built for the Royal Australian Navy . Planning to upgrade the navy's amphibious fleet began in 2000, based on Australian experiences leading the International Force for East Timor peacekeeping operation...
  
   - two ships planned

Heavy Cruisers

• The RAN ordered two County class cruiser
  County class cruiser
  The County class was a class of heavy cruisers built for the British Royal Navy in the years between the First and Second World Wars. They were the first post-war cruiser construction for the Royal Navy and were designed within the limits of the Washington Naval Conference of 1922...
  
  s in 1924 which were included with the Royal Navy's order for five; the loss of Canberra during the Second World War. Shropshire was transferred from the RN to the RAN to replace the lost ship.
  • HMAS Canberra
    HMAS Canberra (1927)
    HMAS Canberra , named after the Australian capital city of Canberra, was a Royal Australian Navy heavy cruiser of the Kent subclass of County class cruisers...
    
    
  • HMAS Australia
    HMAS Australia (1927)
    HMAS Australia was a County-class heavy cruiser of the Royal Australian Navy . One of two Kent-subclass ships ordered for the RAN in 1924, Australia was laid down in Scotland in 1925, and entered service in 1928...
    
    
  • HMAS Shropshire
    HMS Shropshire (73)
    HMS Shropshire was a Royal Navy heavy cruiser of the London sub-class of County class cruisers. She is the only warship to have been named after Shropshire, England. Completed in 1929, Shropshire served with the RN until 1942, when she was transferred to the Royal Australian Navy following the...
    
    

Light Cruisers

• Pelorus class
  Pelorus class cruiser
  The Pelorus class cruiser was a "third-class" protected cruiser class of eleven Royal Navy warships designed by Sir William White , based on the earlier Pearl class cruisers. They were ordered in 1893 under the Spencer Program, and laid down 1896–1900...
  
   - two ships
• 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...
  
   - four ships
• Leander class
  Leander class cruiser (1931)
  The Leander class was a class of eight light cruisers built for the Royal Navy in the early 1930s that saw service in World War II. They were named after mythological figures, and all ships were commissioned between 1933 and 1936...
  
   - three ships

Destroyers

• "River" class
  River class torpedo boat destroyer
  The River class was a class of six torpedo-boat destroyers operated by the Royal Australian Navy. Three were ordered for the Commonwealth Naval Forces in 1909; two were built in the United Kingdom, while a third was partially built, disassembled, then transported to Australia for reassembly...
  
   - six ships
• "S" class
  S class destroyer (1916)
  The S class were a class of 67 destroyers built from 1917 for the Royal Navy. The design was based on the Admiralty modified R class and all ships had names beginning with S or T....
  
   - five ships
• Marksman class - one ship
• "V" class
  V and W class destroyer
  The V and W class was an amalgam of six similar classes of destroyer built for the Royal Navy under the War Emergency Programme of the First World War and generally treated as one class...
  
   - three ships
• "W" class
  V and W class destroyer
  The V and W class was an amalgam of six similar classes of destroyer built for the Royal Navy under the War Emergency Programme of the First World War and generally treated as one class...
  
   - one ship
• "Scott" class - one ship
• "N" class - five ships
• "Q" class
  Q and R class destroyer
  The Q and R class was a class of sixteen War Emergency Programme destroyers ordered for the British Royal Navy in 1940 as the 3rd and 4th Emergency Flotilla. They served as convoy escorts during World War II. Three Q class ships were transferred to the Royal Australian Navy upon completion, with...
  
   - five ships
• "Tribal" class
  Tribal class destroyer (1936)
  The Tribal class, or Afridi class, were a class of destroyers built for the Royal Navy, Royal Canadian Navy and Royal Australian Navy that saw service in World War II...
  
   - three ships
• Anzac class
  Battle class destroyer
  The Battle class were a class of destroyers of the British Royal Navy and Royal Australian Navy . Built in three groups, the first group were ordered under the 1942 naval estimates. A modified second and third group, together with two ships of an extended design were planned for the 1943 and 1944...
  
   - two ships
• Daring class
  Daring class destroyer (1949)
  The Daring class was a class of eleven destroyers built for the Royal Navy and Royal Australian Navy . Constructed after World War II, and entering service during the 1950s, eight ships were constructed for the RN, and three ships for the RAN. Two of the RN destroyers were subsequently sold to and...
  
   - four ships
• Perth class
  Perth class destroyer
  The Perth class destroyers were three modified Charles F. Adams class guided missile destroyers operated by the Royal Australian Navy . Ordered from Defoe Shipbuilding Company during 1962 and 1963, HMA Ships , , and were the first guided missiled-armed warships, and the first naval ships of United...
  
   - three ships
• Hobart class - three ships planned

Frigates

• "River" class (1941)
  River class frigate
  The River class frigate was a class of 151 frigates launched between 1941 and 1944 for use as anti-submarine convoy escorts in the North Atlantic....
  
   - twelve ships
• "River" class (1957)
  River class destroyer escort
  The River class was a class of six destroyer escorts operated by the Royal Australian Navy . Plans to acquire four vessels, based on the British Type 12M frigate, began in the 1950s. The first two vessels had some slight modifications to the design, while the next two underwent further changes...
  
   - six ships
• Adelaide class
  Adelaide class frigate
  The Adelaide class is a ship class of six guided missile frigates constructed in Australia and the United States of America for service in the Royal Australian Navy. The class is based on the United States Navy's Oliver Hazard Perry class frigates, but modified for Australian requirements...
  
   - six ships
• Anzac class
  Anzac class frigate
  The Anzac class is a ship class of ten frigates; eight operated by the Royal Australian Navy and two operated by the Royal New Zealand Navy...
  
   - eight ships

Sloops

• Flower class
  Flower class sloop
  The Flower class comprised five sub-classes of sloops built under the Emergency War Programme for the Royal Navy during World War I, all of which were named after various flowers...
  
   - three ships
• Grimsby class
  Grimsby class sloop
  With the realisation that war was approaching, 13 Grimsby class sloops were laid down in the mid to late 1930s. Of these eight were built in the United Kingdom for the Royal Navy, four in Australia for the Royal Australian Navy and one for India...
  
  - four ships

External links

• MaritimeQuest Royal Australian Navy Index
• Current Ships - Royal Australian Navy