HMAS Tasmania

Template:Infobox ship imageTemplate:Infobox ship careerTemplate:Infobox ship characteristics

HMAS Tasmania (H25) was an Admiralty S class destroyer of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). Built for the Royal Navy during World War I, the ship was not completed until 1919, and spent a year commissioned but not operational in British service before being transferred to the RAN at the start of 1920. The destroyer's career was uneventful, with almost all of it spent in Australian waters. Tasmania was decommissioned in 1930, and was sold for ship breaking in 1937.

Design and construction

Template:Main 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.<ref name=Cassells126.7>Cassells, The Destroyers, pp. 126–7</ref> The destroyer had a displacement of 1,075 tons, a length overall of Template:Convert, and a beam of Template:Convert.<ref name=Cassells126>Cassells, The Destroyers, p. 126</ref> The propulsion machinery consisted of three Yarrow boilers feeding Brown-Curtis turbines, which supplied Template:Convert to the ship's two propeller shafts.<ref name=Cassells127>Cassells, The Destroyers, p. 127</ref> Although designed with a maximum speed of Template:Convert, Tasmania was only able to achieve Template:Convert on power trails.<ref name=Cassells126/> The destroyer's economical speed of Template:Convert gave her a range of Template:Convert.<ref name=Cassells126.7/> The ship's company was made up of 6 officers and 93 sailors.<ref name=Cassells127/>

The destroyer's primary armament consisted of three QF 4-inch Mark IV guns.<ref name=Cassells126/> 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.<ref name=Cassells126/>

Tasmania was laid down by William Beardmore and Company, Limited, at Dalmuir in Scotland on 18 December 1917.<ref name=Cassells126/> The destroyer was launched on 22 November 1918, and completed on 22 January 1919.<ref name=Cassells114/> 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.<ref name=Cassells127/> Tasmania was commissioned into the RAN on 27 January 1920.<ref name=Cassells127/>

Operational history

Tasmania and three of her sister ships sailed for Australia on 20 February, visiting ports in the Mediterranean, India, Singapore, and the Netherlands East Indies before reaching Sydney on 29 April.<ref name=Cassells114>Cassells, The Destroyers, p. 114</ref> Tasmania was primarily used for training, and apart from a visit to New Guinea in 1924, remained in Australian waters.<ref name=Cassells127/>

Decommissioning and fate

Tasmania paid off into reserve on 9 January 1928.<ref name=Cassells127/> She was sold to Penguins Limited for ship breaking on 4 June 1937.<ref name=Cassells127/>

References

• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite Colledge2006
• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book