''Adele'' was a steel screw steamer that was built in 1906 as a yacht. She was twice commissioned into the
Royal Australian Navy
The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) is the principal naval force of the Australian Defence Force (ADF). The professional head of the RAN is Chief of Navy (CN) Vice Admiral Mark Hammond AM, RAN. CN is also jointly responsible to the Minister of ...
(RAN), firstly as HMAS ''Franklin'' and later as HMAS ''Adele''. She was wrecked at
Port Kembla, New South Wales
Port Kembla is a suburb of Wollongong 8 km south of the CBD and part of the Illawarra region of New South Wales. The suburb comprises a seaport, industrial complex (one of the largest in Australia), a small harbour foreshore nature reserve ...
on 7 May 1943.
Design and construction
''Adele'' was built in 1906 by Hawthorns & Co Ltd,
Leith
Leith (; gd, Lìte) is a port area in the north of the city of Edinburgh, Scotland, founded at the mouth of the Water of Leith. In 2021, it was ranked by ''Time Out'' as one of the top five neighbourhoods to live in the world.
The earliest ...
,
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...
as yard number 116. She was launched on 18 October 1906 and completed in November 1906.
Originally built as a
yacht
A yacht is a sailing or power vessel used for pleasure, cruising, or racing. There is no standard definition, though the term generally applies to vessels with a cabin intended for overnight use. To be termed a , as opposed to a , such a pleasu ...
, she was later converted to steam power.
Propulsion
By 1930, ''Adele'' was powered by a
triple expansion steam engine
A compound steam engine unit is a type of steam engine where steam is expanded in two or more stages.
A typical arrangement for a compound engine is that the steam is first expanded in a high-pressure ''(HP)'' cylinder, then having given up he ...
with cylinders of , and bore by stroke. The engine was manufactured by Hawthorns & Co Ltd. ''Adele'' was capable of .
Official Number and Code Letters
Official numbers were a forerunner to IMO Numbers. In 1930, ''Adele'' had the UK Official Number 123022 and used the Code Letters HJRW.
Operational history
In 1915, ''Adele'' was purchased by the Australia Government for £21,500 from the estate of Henry Dutton of
Kapunda, South Australia
Kapunda is a town on the Light River and near the Barossa Valley in South Australia. It was established after a discovery in 1842 of significant copper deposits. The population was 2,917 at the 2016 Australian census.
The southern entrance t ...
. On 14 September 1915 she was commissioned into the RAN as HMAS ''Franklin''. HMAS ''Franklin'' served as a tender to the
Royal Australian Naval College
The Royal Australian Naval College (RANC), commonly known as HMAS Creswell, is the naval academy of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). It consists of the RAN School of Survivability and Ship's Safety, Kalkara Flight, the Beecroft Weapons Range an ...
.
''Franklin'' collided with the Sydney Harbour ferry, ''
Vaucluse
Vaucluse (; oc, Vauclusa, label= Provençal or ) is a department in the southeastern French region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. It had a population of 561,469 as of 2019.Garden Island where the dock's pumps kept her afloat.
''Franklin'' was paid off on 31 March 1921 only to be recommissioned on 21 September.
''Franklin'' was decommissioned on 18 September 1922 and gifted to the Administrator of Papua-New Guinea, serving there until 1929. By 1930, she had reverted to the name ''Adele'' and was owned by the Commonwealth Government of Australia and operated by the Department of Home & Territories. At the time she was homeported at Port Adelaide under the British Flag. In 1932, ''Adele'' was laid up at Rabaul. She was sold for £1,652 on 7 December of that year to W L Buckland of
Melbourne
Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
, Australia who refitted her as a private yacht and used her for cruising. ''Adele'' was later sold to C H Relph of Sydney and was laid up for some years at Rose Bay
Port Jackson
Port Jackson, consisting of the waters of Sydney Harbour, Middle Harbour, North Harbour and the Lane Cove and Parramatta Rivers, is the ria or natural harbour of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The harbour is an inlet of the Tasman Sea ...
, Sydney.
On 24 October 1939, ''Adele'' was requisitioned by the Royal Australian Navy as HMAS ''Adele''. She was armed with two .303-in Vickers machine guns and employed as an
examination vessel
An examination vessel is a vessel used to inspect ships and boats entering a port during wartime.
An examination vessel would typically be responsible for examining and verifying all merchant ships and small craft entering or departing a port. T ...
. From December 1941, HMAS ''Adele'' was attached to .
Loss
On 7 May 1943, ''Adele'' struck the breakwater at
Port Kembla
A port is a maritime law, maritime facility comprising one or more Wharf, wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge Affreightment, cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can a ...
and was subsequently declared a total loss. The wreck of ''Adele'' is protected under the New South Wales Heritage Act, 1977.
Legacy
Franklin is remembered in the naming of two other sail training yachts associated with the RAN College:
* a yacht in the 1960s and 1970s, which took part in several Sydney to Hobart races;
* a Hunter yacht acquired in 2005.New fleet addition RAN "Navy News" paper, edition V48, No22, 2005-12-01, accessed 2009-10-18