HMAS Australia (1927)

HMAS Australia in October 1937
History
Australia
Namesake:	Commonwealth of Australia
Ordered:	1924
Builder:	John Brown and Company at Clydebank, Scotland
Cost:	1.9 million pounds
Laid down:	26 August 1925
Launched:	17 March 1927
Commissioned:	24 April 1928
Decommissioned:	31 August 1954
Honours and awards:	Battle honours: Atlantic 1940–41 Pacific 1941–43 Coral Sea 1942 Savo Island 1942 Guadalcanal 1942 New Guinea 1942–44 Leyte Gulf 1944 Lingayen Gulf 1945 Plus two inherited honours
Fate:	Sold for scrapping, 1955
Badge:	Note:
General characteristics
Class and type:	County-class heavy cruiser Kent subclass
Displacement:	10,000 tons standard
Length:	590 ft (180 m) between perpendiculars 630 ft 4 in (192.13 m) overall
Beam:	68 ft 3 in (20.80 m)
Draught:	21 ft 4 in (6.50 m)
Propulsion:	8 × Yarrow superheated boilers Curtis high-pressure and Parsons low-pressure geared turbines 80,000 shaft horsepower 4 × 3-bladed propellers
Speed:	31 knots (57 km/h; 36 mph)
Range:	2,270 nautical miles (4,200 km; 2,610 mi) at 31 knots (57 km/h; 36 mph) 10,000 nautical miles (19,000 km; 12,000 mi) at 11 knots (20 km/h; 13 mph)
Complement:	Up to 815
Armament:	At launch: 8 × 8-inch (203 mm) guns (4 twin turrets) 4 × 4-inch (102 mm) anti-aircraft guns 4 × 2-pounder (40 mm) pom-poms 16 × .303-inch machine guns 2 × quadruple 21-inch (533 mm) torpedo tube sets 4 × 3-pounder (47 mm) saluting guns In 1945: 6 × 8-inch guns (3 twin turrets) 8 × 4-inch guns (4 twin mounts) 8 × 40 mm Bofors guns 16 × .303-inch machine guns 4 × 3-pounder saluting guns
Armour:	Magazines and machinery spaces: 1.5 to 3 inches (38 to 76 mm) Turrets: 2 inches (51 mm) Conning tower: 3 inches (76 mm) Anti-torpedo bulges Belt armour: up to 4.5 inches (110 mm) (installed 1938–39)
Aircraft carried:	1 × Supermarine Seagull III (1928–1936) 1 × Supermarine Walrus (1936–1944)
Aviation facilities:	1 × aircraft catapult (1935–1944)

HMAS Australia (I84/D84/C01) was a County-class heavy cruiser of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). One of two Kent-subclass ships ordered for the RAN in 1924, Australia was laid down in Scotland in 1925, and entered service in 1928. Apart from an exchange deployment to the Mediterranean from 1934 to 1936, during which she became involved in the planned British response to the Abyssinia Crisis, Australia operated in local and South-West Pacific waters until World War II began.

The cruiser remained near Australia until mid-1940, when she was deployed for duties in the eastern Atlantic, including hunts for German ships and participation in Operation Menace. During 1941, Australia operated in home and Indian Ocean waters, but was reassigned as flagship of the ANZAC Squadron in early 1942. As part of this force (which was later redesignated Task Force 44, then Task Force 74), Australia operated in support of United States naval and amphibious operations throughout South-East Asia until the start of 1945, including involvement in the battles at the Coral Sea and Savo Island, the amphibious landings at Guadalcanal and Leyte Gulf, and numerous actions during the New Guinea campaign. She was forced to withdraw following a series of kamikaze attacks during the invasion of Lingayen Gulf. The prioritisation of shipyard work in Australia for British Pacific Fleet vessels saw the Australian cruiser sail to England for repairs, where she was at the end of the war.

During the late 1940s, Australia served with the British Commonwealth Occupation Force in Japan, and participated in several port visits to other nations, before being retasked as a training ship in 1950. The cruiser was decommissioned in 1954, and sold for scrapping in 1955.