HMAS Sydney (1912)

Sydney steaming for Rabaul, September 1914
History
Australia
Namesake:	City of Sydney
Builder:	London and Glasgow Engineering and Iron Shipbuilding Company
Laid down:	11 February 1911
Launched:	29 August 1912
Commissioned:	26 June 1913
Decommissioned:	8 May 1928
Motto:	"Thorough and Ready"
Honours and awards:	Battle honours: Rabaul 1914 Emden 1914 North Sea 1916–18
Fate:	Broken up for scrap
General characteristics
Class and type:	Town class cruiser Chatham subclass
Displacement:	5,400 tons
Length:	456 ft 10 3⁄8 in (139.25 m)
Beam:	49 ft 10 in (15.19 m)
Draught:	19 ft 7 in (5.97 m)
Propulsion:	Parsons turbines, Yarrow boilers, 4 propellers
Speed:	25.7 knots (47.6 km/h; 29.6 mph)
Complement:	376 standard, 475 maximum
Armament:	8 × BL 6-inch (152 mm) Mk XI guns 1 × 3-inch (76 mm) anti-aircraft gun 1 × 12-pounder (76 mm) 8-cwt field gun 10 × 0.303-inch machine guns 2 × 21-inch (530 mm) torpedo tubes 2 × depth charge chutes 4 × 3-pounder (47 mm) saluting guns
Aircraft carried:	1 Sopwith Pup

HMAS Sydney was a Chatham class light cruiser of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). Laid down in 1911 and launched in 1912, the cruiser was commissioned into the RAN in 1913.

During the early stages of World War I, Sydney was involved in supporting the Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force, and escorting the first ANZAC convoy. On 9 November 1914, the cruiser defeated the German cruiser SMS Emden at the Battle of Cocos. During 1915 and 1916, Sydney operated on the North America and West Indies Station, before joining the 2nd Light Cruiser Squadron at Greenock, Scotland in November 1916. On 4 May 1917, the cruiser was involved in an inconclusive action against the German zeppelin L43; neither was damaged. During late 1917, Sydney became the first Australian warship to launch an aircraft, and the first warship to do so from a rotatable platform.

After the war's end, Sydney spent a year in reserve before being reactivated to serve as Flagship of the RAN. The cruiser was decommissioned in 1928 and broken up for scrap. Several sections of the ship, including her bow and foremast, have been preserved as monuments, and three of the ship's main guns saw later use in shore fortifications.

Sydney was a Town class light cruiser, of the Chatham subclass. She had a standard displacement of 5,400 tons. The cruiser was 456 feet 9.75 inches (139.2 m) long overall and 430 feet (130 m) long between perpendiculars, with a mean of 49 feet 10 inches (15.19 m), and a draught of 19 feet 8 inches (5.99 m). Coal- and oil-fuelled Yarrow boilers were connected to Parsons geared turbines, which provided 25,000 horsepower (19,000 kW) shaft horsepower to the ship's four propellers. Although designed with a maximum speed of 25 knots (46 km/h; 29 mph), Sydney achieved a mean maximum of 25.7 knots (47.6 km/h; 29.6 mph) during trials. Her economical cruising speed was rated at 11 knots (20 km/h; 13 mph) in 1921, and 11.5 knots (21.3 km/h; 13.2 mph) in 1926. The standard ship's company was 376 strong, but during wartime, this would increase to the maximum of 475; 31 officers and 454 sailors.