HMAS Yarra (DE 45)

History
Australia
Namesake:	The Yarra River
Builder:	Williamstown Naval Dockyard
Laid down:	9 April 1957
Launched:	30 September 1958
Commissioned:	27 July 1961
Decommissioned:	22 November 1985
Motto:	"Hunt and Strike"
Honours and awards:	Battle honours: Malaysia 1964–66 Plus four inherited 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:	30 knots (56 km/h; 35 mph)
Complement:	250
Sensors and processing systems:	LW-02 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 (110 mm) Mk 6 guns 2 × Limbo Mk 10 anti-submarine mortars (both later removed) 2 × 40-millimetre (1.6 in) Bofors (later removed) 1979 refit: 1 × quad Seacat SAM launcher 1 × Ikara ASW system
Notes:	Taken from:[1]

HMAS Yarra (F07/DE 45), named for the Yarra River, was a River class destroyer escort of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN).^[1] The antisubmarine warship operated from 1961 to 1985.

Construction

Yarra was laid down by the Williamstown Naval Dockyard at Melbourne, Victoria on 9 April 1957.^[1] An enhanced derivative of the Royal Navy's Type 12 frigate, Yarra was one of four ships constructed to provide an antisubmarine warfare capability for the RAN.^[2] She was launched on 30 September 1958 by Lady McBride, wife of the Minister for Defence, and commissioned into the RAN on 27 July 1961.^[1]

Operational history

Yarra operated during the Indonesia-Malaysia Confrontation; during a three-week patrol in June 1965, the ship fired on an Indonesian incursion force near Sabah.^[3] The ship's service was later recognised with the battle honour "Malaysia 1964–66".^[4][5]

In 1983, Yarra was accompanied by the patrol boats Warrnambool and Ipswich on a deployment to South-East Asia for the multinational Exercise Starfish.^[6]

Decommissioning and fate

Yarra paid off 22 November 1985.^[1] She was sold for scrap.

Citations

1. HMAS Yarra (III), Royal Australian Navy
2. Cooper, in Stevens, The Royal Australian Navy, p. 189
3. Cooper, in Stevens, The Royal Australian Navy, p. 199
4. "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.
5. "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.
6. Jones, in Stevens, The Royal Australian Navy, p. 259

References

• "HMAS Yarra (III)". Royal Australian Navy. Retrieved 28 October 2009.
• Stevens, David, ed. (2001). The Royal Australian Navy. The Australian Centenary History of Defence (vol III). South Melbourne, VIC: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-555542-2. OCLC 50418095.
  • Cooper, Alastair. "The Era of Forward Defence (pp. 181–210)". The Royal Australian Navy.
  • Jones, Peter. "Towards Self Reliance (pp. 211–238)". The Royal Australian Navy.