HMAS Vampire (D68)

HMAS Vampire
History
United Kingdom
Name:	Wallace
Ordered:	1916
Builder:	J. Samuel White & Co Ltd
Laid down:	10 October 1916
Launched:	21 May 1917
Renamed:	Vampire 1917
Commissioned:	22 September 1917
Decommissioned:	11 November 1933
Fate:	Transferred to Australia
History
Australia
Name:	Vampire
Acquired:	11 November 1933
Commissioned:	11 November 1933
Decommissioned:	31 January 1934
Recommissioned:	11 May 1938
Identification:	pennant number D68/I68
Honours and awards:	Battle honours: Calabria 1940 Libya 1940–41 Greece 1941 Crete 1941 Indian Ocean 1941–42
Fate:	Bombed and sunk by Japanese aircraft on 9 April 1942
General characteristics (RAN service)
Class and type:	V-class destroyer
Displacement:	1,188 tons standard 1,489 tons deep
Length:	312 ft (95.1 m) overall 300 ft (91.4 m) between perpendiculars
Beam:	29 ft 6 in (9.0 m)
Draught:	13 ft 9 in (4.2 m) maximum
Propulsion:	3 × White Forster boilers, 2 × Brown-Curtis turbines, twin screws, generating 27,000 shp (20,000 kW)
Speed:	34 knots (63 km/h; 39 mph)
Range:	3,500 nmi (6,500 km) at 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph)
Complement:	6 officers, 113 sailors
Armament:	4 × QF 4-inch (101.6 mm) Mk V guns 1 × QF 2-pounder gun (increased to 2 in January 1942) 4 × Lewis .303 guns (2 twin mountings) 1 × Lewis .303 gun (later replaced by 1 × 4-barrel Vickers .303 gun) 6 × 21-inch torpedo tubes (2 triple mounts, later increased to 2 quad mounts) 2 × depth charge throwers (installed later) 4 × depth charge chutes (installed later) 50 depth charges

HMAS Vampire was a V-class destroyer of the Royal Navy (RN) and Royal Australian Navy (RAN). Launched in 1917 as HMS Wallace, the ship was renamed and commissioned into the RN later that year. Vampire was loaned to the RAN in 1933, and operated as a depot tender until just before World War II. Reactivated for war service, the destroyer served in the Mediterranean as part of the Scrap Iron Flotilla, and was escorting the British warships HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Repulse during their loss to Japanese aircraft in the South China Sea in December 1941. Vampire was sunk on 9 April 1942 by Japanese aircraft while sailing with the aircraft carrier HMS Hermes from Trincomalee.

The destroyer was one of five Admiralty V-class flotilla leaders ordered by the RN in the 1916–17 construction program. Originally, there were to be differences in design between the V class leaders and the rest of the V-class destroyers, but in order to save time in designing the destroyers, changes were limited to the layout of the bridge and accommodation areas.

Vampire had a standard displacement of 1,188 tons, and a deep load displacement of 1,489 tons. She was 312 feet 0.75 inches (95.1167 m) in length overall and 300 feet (91 m) long between perpendiculars, with a beam of 29 feet 6.25 inches (8.9980 m), and a maximum draught of 13 feet 8.75 inches (4.1847 m). Propulsion machinery consisted of three White Forster boilers supplying two Brown-Curtis steam turbines, which provided 27,000 shaft horsepower (20,000 kW) to the destroyer's two propellers. Maximum speed was 34 knots (63 km/h; 39 mph), and Vampire could sail 3,500 nautical miles (6,500 km; 4,000 mi) at 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph). The standard ship's company was made up of 6 officers and 113 sailors.

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