HMAS Derwent (DE 49)

Silhouette of HMAS Derwent
History
Australia
Namesake:	The Derwent River
Builder:	Williamstown Naval Dockyard
Laid down:	16 June 1959
Launched:	8 April 1961
Commissioned:	30 April 1964
Decommissioned:	8 August 1994
Motto:	"Swift and Deadly"
Honours and awards:	Battle honours: Malaysia 1964–66
Fate:	Scuttled 21 December 1994
Badge:
General characteristics
Class and 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 Mulloka sonar system SPS-55 surface-search/navigation radar Mark 22 fire control radar
Armament:	2 × 4.5-inch (113 mm) Mark 6 guns 2 × Limbo Mark 10 anti-submarine mortars (removed 1985) 1 × quad Seacat SAM launcher 1 × Ikara ASW system (added 1965) 2 × Mark 32 torpedo tubes (added 1985)

HMAS Derwent (F22/DE 22/DE 49), named for the Derwent River, was a River-class destroyer escort of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). She was laid down by Williamstown Naval Dockyard in 1959, and commissioned into the RAN in 1964. During the ship's career, she was deployed to South East Asia on 23 occasions, including operations during the Indonesia-Malaysia Confrontation, and escort of the troopship HMAS Sydney to and from the Vietnam War. Multiple flag-showing cruises were also embarked upon, with port visits throughout Asia, the Indian Ocean, and the Pacific Ocean. Derwent was also briefly used to portray a fictional vessel for the British drama series Warship.

A major modernisation occurred between 1981 and 1985. In 1987, the ship's home port was changed to HMAS Stirling (Fleet Base West). In addition to usual exercises and operations, Derwent assisted with the 1987 America's Cup and the First Fleet Re-enactment Voyage. Between 1992 and 1993, the ship was used for pilotage training cruises. Derwent was paid off in 1994, and used by the Defence Science and Technology Organisation (DSTO) for ship survivability testing. Although it was originally intended to sink the ship as a dive wreck, the nature of the damage from the DSTO program made it unaffordable to render the ship diver-safe, so Derwent was towed to deep water off Rottnest Island and scuttled.