HMAS Parramatta (DE 46)

Paramatta circa 1974
History
Australia
Namesake:	The Parramatta River
Builder:	Cockatoo Island Dockyard
Laid down:	31 January 1957
Launched:	31 January 1959
Commissioned:	14 July 1961
Decommissioned:	11 January 1991
Motto:	"Strike Deep"
Honours and awards:	Battle honours: Indonesia-Malaysia Confrontation Plus three inherited battle honours
Fate:	Broken up for scrap
Badge:
General characteristics
Class & type:	River class destroyer escort
Displacement:	2,750 tons full load
Length:	112.8 m (370 ft)
Beam:	12.49 m (41.0 ft)
Draught:	5.18 m (17.0 ft)
Propulsion:	2 × English Electric steam turbines 2 shafts; 30,000 shp total
Speed:	31.9 knots (59.1 km/h; 36.7 mph)
Sensors and processing systems:	LW02 long range air warning radar 1979: Mulloka sonar system SPS-55 surface-search/navigation radar Mark 22 fire control radar
Armament:	Original: 2 × 4.5 inch Mark 6 guns (1 twin turret) 2 × Limbo Mark 10 anti-submarine mortar 1979 refit: 1 × quad Seacat SAM launcher 1 × Ikara ASW system 2 × Mark 32 torpedo tubes

HMAS Parramatta (F05/DE 46), named for the Parramatta River, was a River class destroyer escort (a licence-built Type 12 frigate) of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN).

Construction

Parramatta was laid down by Cockatoo Island Dockyard at Sydney, New South Wales on 31 January 1957. She was launched on 31 January 1959 by Lady Dowling, wife of the First Naval Member and Chief of Naval Staff, and commissioned into the RAN on 14 July 1961.

Operational history

Parramatta escorted Royal Yacht Britannia during the visit of Queen Elizabeth II in 1963.

The ship served on patrol duties during the Indonesia-Malaysia Confrontation during the mid-1960s. On 3 June 1964, Parramatta and sister ship Yarra met the troop transport HMAS Sydney off the Philippines and escorted her to Kota Kinabalu, Singapore, and Penang to deliver Australian military units and supplies.^[1] Parramatta escorted the former aircraft carrier back to Fremantle: the return voyage to Australia was interrupted on the morning of 23 June by the detection of a suspected Indonesian submarine: the two Australian ships performed evasion tactics for eighteen hours before resuming the voyage.^[2] Other deployments were made during 1965 and 1966, with this service later recognised by the battle honour "Malaysia 1964–66".^[3][4]

During late May and early June 1965, Parramatta was one of several ships escorting Sydney on her first troop transport voyage to Vietnam.^[5] Parramatta and Sydney worked together on the latter's tenth Vietnam voyage during March and April 1968.^[6] Parramatta's third escort run with Sydney occurred in May 1971; the former carrier's twentieth Vietnam voyage.^[7]

On 17 July 1976, Parramatta was en route to Singapore when she was diverted to Bali in response to the 1976 Bali earthquake.^[8]

Parramatta underwent a modernisation refit at Williamstown Naval Dockyard between 3 June 1977 and 26 August 1981, and visited the People's Republic of China in 1986.

Decommissioning and fate

Parramatta' paid off on 11 January 1991. She was sold in August 1991, and broken up for scrap in Pakistan.

The ship's twin 4.5 inch Mark 6 gun turret, along with the captain's cabin from time of the ship's decommissioning, are preserved at the RAN Naval Heritage Collection Repository on Spectacle Island, Sydney.^[9]

Citations

1. Pfennigwerth, Tiger Territory, pp. 159–61
2. Pfennigwerth, Tiger Territory, p. 161
3. "Navy Marks 109th Birthday With Historic Changes To Battle Honours". Royal Australian Navy. 1 March 2010. Archived from the original on 13 June 2011. Retrieved 23 December 2012.
4. "Royal Australian Navy Ship/Unit Battle Honours" (PDF). Royal Australian Navy. 1 March 2010. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 June 2011. Retrieved 23 December 2012.
5. Nott & Payne, The Vung Tau Ferry, p. 169
6. Nott & Payne, The Vung Tau Ferry, p. 173
7. Nott & Payne, The Vung Tau Ferry, pp. 176–7
8. "HMAS Parramatta (III)". navy.gov.au. Royal Australian Navy. Retrieved 13 June 2015.
9. Paroz, Des. "Spectacle Island - the guardian of Navy's heart and soul". Navy Daily. Royal Australian Navy. Retrieved 24 October 2014.

References

• Nott, Rodney; Payne, Noel (2008) [1994]. The Vung Tau Ferry: HMAS Sydney and Escort Ships (4th ed.). Dural, NSW: Rosenberg. ISBN 978-1-877058-72-1. OCLC 254773862.
• Pfennigwerth, Ian (2008). Tiger Territory: The untold story of the Royal Australian Navy in Southeast Asia from 1948 to 1971. Kenthurst, NSW: Rosenberg. ISBN 978-1-877058-65-3. OCLC 191754413.