Perth-class destroyer

HMAS Perth at sea in 1980
Class overview
Name:	Perth class
Builders:	Defoe Shipbuilding Company, Bay City, Michigan
Operators:	Royal Australian Navy
Preceded by:	Daring class
Succeeded by:	Hobart class
Subclasses:	Charles F. Adams class (parent)
In commission:	1965–2001
Completed:	3
Preserved:	3 (as dive wrecks)
General characteristics
Type:	Guided missile destroyer
Displacement:	3,370 tons standard 4,500 tons full load (at launch) 4,618 tons full load (in 1998)
Length:	440.8 ft (134.4 m) at waterline 437 ft (133 m) length overall
Beam:	47.1 ft (14.4 m)
Draught:	20.1 ft (6.1 m)
Propulsion:	4 × Foster Wheeler D-type boilers 2 × General Electric double reduction steam turbines 70,000 shp (52,000 kW) 2 shafts
Speed:	35 knots (65 km/h; 40 mph)
Range:	6,000 nautical miles (11,000 km; 6,900 mi) at 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph) 2,000 nautical miles (3,700 km; 2,300 mi) at 30 knots (56 km/h; 35 mph)
Complement:	21 officers, 312 sailors (at launch) 25 officers, 285 sailors (in 1998)
Sensors and processing systems:	Hughes SPS-52C air search radar Lockheed SPS-40C air search radar Norden SPS-67V surface search radar 2 × Raytheon SPG-516 fire control radars (Mark 13 launcher) Western Electric SPG-53F fire control radar (5-inch guns) Sangamo SQS-23KL hull-mounted sonar
Electronic warfare & decoys:	2 × SRBOC Mark 36 units Nulka decoy launcher SQL-25 towed decoy
Armament:	1 × Mark 13 missile launcher (initially firing Tartar, replaced in mid-late 1970s by Standard, fitted for but not with Harpoon) 2 × 5-inch/54 caliber Mark 42 guns (two single turrets) 2 × Ikara anti-submarine missile launchers (removed 1990–91) 2 × Mark 32 Surface Vessel Torpedo Tube sets (Mark 46 torpedoes) 2 × Vulcan Phalanx CIWS (fitted 1990–91, not permanently carried

The Perth-class destroyers were three modified Charles F. Adams-class guided missile destroyers operated by the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). Ordered from Defoe Shipbuilding Company during 1962 and 1963, HMA Ships Perth, Hobart, and Brisbane were the first guided missiled-armed warships, and the first naval ships of United States design, to enter service with the RAN. All three ships operated during the Vietnam War, while Brisbane also participated in the Gulf War. The class was decommissioned between 1999 and 2001, with all three vessels later sunk as dive wrecks.

During the late 1950s, the RAN announced a requirement for guided missile-armed warships; along with plans to install guided missiles aboard currently active escort vessels, plans were made to acquire two purpose-built destroyers. Although traditionally, Australian warships were based on British designs, the RAN chose to study the United States Nay's Charles F. Adams class along with the Royal Navy's County class. The American design was favoured because the Tartar missile carried was seen as superior to the British Sea Slug. There were risks in operating American-designed vessels for a navy using predominately British-designed ships, and the RAN proposed fitting the Tartar to County-class vessels. However, another RAN proposal – to redesign the County's standard combined steam and gas propulsion system as a purely steam-powered system – was knocked back by the British.

In 1960, the decision was made to instead acquire Charles F. Adams-class ships, and on 6 January 1962, two destroyers of a slightly modified design were ordered from Defoe Shipbuilding Company of Bay City, Michigan. Plans to refit Tartar missiles to the Battle and Daring classes were later cancelled because of cost, and on 22 January 1963, a third destroyer was ordered from Defoe. The Australian ships were referred to as the Perth class after lead ship HMAS Perth; the other two destroyers were HMA Ships Hobart and Brisbane. Thought was given to acquiring a fourth ship of the class, but this did not go ahead.