HMAS Adelaide (1918)

HMAS "Adelaide" was a "Town" class light cruiser of the Royal Australian Navy, named after Adelaide, the capital city of South Australia.

Construction

She was laid down by HMA Naval Dockyard at Cockatoo Island, Sydney on 20 November 1915 and launched on 27 July 1918 by Lady Helen Munro Ferguson, the wife of the Governor-General. Fitting out and completion were delayed due to the loss of important machinery parts as a result of enemy action, which gave rise to the nickname "Long Delayed". "Adelaide" was completed on 31 July 1922 and commissioned on 5 August 1922.

Although a sister ship to three other "Town" class cruisers serving in the RAN (HMA Ships "Melbourne", "Sydney", and "Brisbane"), these ships were built to the "Chatham" sub-class design while "Adelaide" was of the "Birmingham" sub-class. The most visible difference between the ships is that "Adelaide" has only three funnels.

Operational history

1922-1939

"Adelaide" was decommissioned and placed in reserve on 17 May 1939, her crew travelling to England to take possession of the recently-transferred HMAS "Perth". When World War II began on 1 September 1939, "Adelaide" was immediately re-commissioned and re-crewed.

World War II

Following the outbreak of World War II, "Adelaide" was dispatched in 1940 to the French colony of New Caledonia, to intervene if Vichy France was able to take control.Quote|"88 Lord Caldecote, UK Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs, to Sir Geoffrey Whiskard, UK High Commissioner in Australia [http://www.info.dfat.gov.au/info/historical/HistDocs.nsf/(LookupVolNoNumber)/4~88] Cablegram 291 LONDON, 30 August 1940, 11.10 p.m.""sloop DUMONT D'URVILLE was ordered by the Vichy Government to proceed from Papeete to New Caledonia."

"130 Captain H. A. Showers, Commanding Officer of H.M.A.S. Adelaide, to Commonwealth Naval Board Naval signal 0357Z/21 NOUMEA, 21 September 1940, 3.57 a.m. Received 21 September 1940, 6.21 a.m. [http://www.info.dfat.gov.au/info/historical/HistDocs.nsf/(LookupVolNoNumber)/4~130] "Situation ashore still unstable mainly due to presence of 'DUMONT D'URVILLE' and lack of any military officer above rank of Lieutenant to give active assistance to SAUTOT."

"Adelaide" was one of several major Allied vessels in Sydney Harbour during the Japanese midget submarine attack of 31 May 1942. [cite book |last=Jenkins |first=David |title=Battle Surface! Japan's Submarine War Against Australia 1942–44 |year=1992 |publisher=Random House Australia |location=Milsons Point |isbn=0-09-182638-1 |pages=pp 193–194 |chapter=]

On 28 November 1942, "Adelaide", in company with the Dutch cruiser "Jacob van Heemskerk", identified and damaged the German supply vessel and blockade runner "Ramses", which then scuttled itself, in the Indian Ocean.

"Adelaide" was paid off on 13 May 1946 and was sold to Australian Iron and Steel Pty Ltd 24 January 1949. On 2 April 1949 the hulk was towed to Port Kembla, NSW and broken up for scrap.

Memorial

As a memorial to HMAS Adelaide, the ships main-mast was erected alongside the [http://www.warmemorialsnsw.asn.au/Details.cfm?MemNo=327 Sphynx Memorial] in Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park, Sydney, in about 1950. An information plaque with a diagram of the ship and information about it's history was installed nearby.

References

*"Warships of Australia," Ross Gillett, Illustrations Colin Graham, Rigby Limited, 1977, ISBN 0-7270-0472-7
* [http://www.navy.gov.au/HMAS_Adelaide_%28I%29 Australian Navy history of HMAS "Adelaide" I]