HMAS Stuart (D-00/100)

HMS "Stuart" (D-00/100) was a British "Scott" class destroyer, laid down by Hawthorn, Leslie and Company at Newcastle-on-Tyne in England on 18 October 1917, launched on 22 August 1918, commissioned into the Royal Navy on 21 December 1918, transferred to the Royal Australian Navy on 11 October 1933 and commissioned as HMAS "Stuart".

RAN career

HMAS "Stuart" paid off at Sydney on 1 June 1938 and was placed in commission from 29 September to 30 November 1938. She recommissioned on 1 September 1939 under the command of Commander H.M.L. Waller RAN, and served in the Mediterranean with the 19th Destroyer Division, the famous "Scrap Iron Flotilla". She took part in coastal bombardments of enemy strong points in Libya and led the 10th Destroyer Flotilla at the Battle of Calabria in July 1940. On 30 September 1940, she attacked and sank the Italian submarine "Gondar" while in company with a Royal Air Force Short Sunderland flying boat.

"Stuart" supported the 6th Australian Division when it captured Tobruk on 22 January 1941, and participated in the Battle of Cape Matapan in March 1941. She then assisted in the evacuation of Allied troops to Crete in April 1941 and the evacuation from Crete in May 1941, patrolled in support of the inshore bombarding forces in the Syrian campaign in June 1941, and served with the "Tobruk Ferry Service" for the supply and reinforcement of the beleaguered Australian garrison at Tobruk. She made 24 runs in June and July 1941, before returning to Australia in August 1941 for refit. "Stuart" conducted escort duties in New Guinea and Australian waters until January 1946.

HMAS "Stuart" paid off on 27 April 1946 and was sold for scrap to T. Carr and Company, Limited, of Sydney on 3 February 1947.

External links

* - HMAS "Stuart" I ship's history