HMAS Swan (DE-50)

History
Australia
Namesake:	The Swan River
Builder:	Williamstown Dockyard
Laid down:	16 February 1965
Launched:	16 December 1967
Commissioned:	20 January 1970
Decommissioned:	13 September 1996
Motto:	"Forward"
Nickname(s):	"Fluffy Duck" or "Duck", "Swarrens"
Honours and awards:	Four inherited battle honours
Fate:	Sunk as dive wreck in 1997
Badge:
General characteristics
Class and type:	River-class destroyer escort
Displacement:	2,700 tons
Length:	372 ft (113 m)
Beam:	41 ft (12 m)
Draught:	15 ft (4.6 m)
Propulsion:	2 × English Electric steam turbines 2 shafts; 30,000 shp (22,000 kW)
Speed:	30 knots (56 km/h; 35 mph)
Sensors and processing systems:	1979: Mulloka sonar system AN/SPS-55 surface-search/navigation radar
Armament:	2 × 4.5-inch (110 mm) Mk 6 gun 1 × Limbo Mk 10 anti-submarine mortar (removed 1984) 1 × quad Seacat surface-to-air launcher 1 × Ikara anti-submarine warfare system (installed 1973) 2 × triple-barrel Mk 32 torpedo tubes

HMAS Swan (DE 50), named for the Swan River, was a River-class destroyer escort of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). Constructed in Melbourne following the loss of HMAS Voyager, Swan entered service in 1970.

During her career, the ship was deployed to South East Asia on several occasions as part of ANZUK forces. She was modernised in the mid-1980s, then was assigned to the recently opened west coast naval base HMAS Stirling. Following the integration of women into the RAN, Swan was the site of sexual harassment and discrimination claims, leading to an Australian Defence Force-wide inquiry.

Swan paid off in 1996, and was sunk as a dive wreck off the coast of Dunsborough, Western Australia at the end of 1997.

Swan and sister ship HMAS Torrens were ordered in 1964 as replacements for HMAS Voyager, a destroyer lost following a collision with the aircraft carrier HMAS Melbourne in 1964. Although intended to be the same as the previous River-class ships (themselves based on the British Type 12 frigate), the design was changed from 1965 to incorporate many of the improvements of the British Leander-class frigates. Work on the two vessels started without specifications or a contract, and the evolving design meant changes were being made as the ships were being constructed, with resulting delays and cost increases attributed to a lack of planning.

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