HMAS Anzac (D59)

HMAS ''Anzac'' (D59) was a of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). Named after the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps, the destroyer was commissioned in 1951. The ship served on two tours of duty during the Korean War, and attempts to distinguish herself from British ships led to the practice of red kangaroo symbols on Australian warships. During 1956, ''Anzac'' served during the Malayan Emergency. In 1960, a malfunction in the destroyer's gun direction equipment caused ''Anzac'' to fire directly on sister ship during a gunnery exercise, with ''Tobruk'' left unrepairable. In 1961, the destroyer was reclassified as a training vessel. ''Anzac'' remained in service until 1974, and was sold for breaking a year later.

Design and construction

''Anzac'' was built to the British design.Cassells, ''The Destroyers'', p. 10 The ship had a displacement of 2,436 tons as designed, although this displacement increased to 3,450 tons after her 1963 reclassification as a training ship. She was long overall and long between perpendiculars, with a beam of , and a draught of . Propulsion was provided by two Admiralty 3-drum boilers supplying steam to Parsons geared turbines; these generated for the destroyer's two propeller shafts. ''Anzac'' was designed to reach , but could usually only reach . The ship's company originally consisted of 320 personnel, but after conversion into a training ship, this changed to 169 ship's company plus 109 trainees.

The main armament of ''Anzac'' consisted of four Mark VI guns in two twin turrets. This was supplemented by twelve Bofors 40 mm guns for air defence, (three twin mountings and six single mountings, a Squid anti-submarine mortar, and two sets of 5-tube Pentad torpedo launchers.

''Anzac'' was laid down by the Williamstown Naval Dockyard at Melbourne, Victoria on 23 September 1946. The ship was originally to be named ''Matapan'', for the Battle of Cape Matapan, but this was changed to ''Anzac'', for the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps prior to launch. She was launched on 20 August 1948 by the wife of John Augustine Collins, the Chief of the Naval Staff and a former commanding officer of the previous HMAS ''Anzac''.Perryman & Djokovic, ''Ships Named Anzac'' ''Anzac'' was commissioned as a ship of the RAN on 14 March 1951. Acceptance from dockyard hands occurred on 22 March.

Operational history

On 30 July 1951, ''Anzac'' left Australian waters for her first deployment to the Korean War. Arriving in Japan on 14 August, the destroyer was assigned as an escort to the United States Navy (USN) escort carrier and operated off the west coast of Korea. ''Sicily'' was replaced by the Royal Navy (RN) light carrier on 2 September, and on 6 September, ''Anzac'' was ordered to shell a suspected communist position near Haeju, and fired in anger for the first time at 18:15.Cassells, ''The Destroyers'', p. 11 During 12–26 September, ''Anzac'' led US Ships and in a blockade of Wosan, before returning to Japanese waters at the end of the month.

Her first Korean tour completed, ''Anzac'' escorted HMS ''Glory'' to Sydney, where they arrived on 20 October. The destroyer then proceeded to Melbourne for a refit, which lasted until the end of 1951, and remained in Australian waters until deploying with the cruiser in April 1952 for a training cruise through Maritime Southeast Asia. After undergoing another, brief refit, ''Anzac'' rejoined the Korean War effort, and spent most of September patrolling the west coast of Korea, then joined the escort screen of the RN light carrier at the start of October. After a short break in Kure, the destroyer was assigned to patrols and shore bombardments on the west coast until 19 December, when she relieved and assumed responsibility for the defence of Yongdo Island. Herself relieved on 3 January 1953, ''Anzac'' returned to the west coast of Korea, where she resumed patrols and bombardments. Apart from a brief stint on the east coast shelling supply lines and a visit to Tokyo to celebrate the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, ''Anzac'' operated off the west coast until 13 June; the conclusion of her second Korean tour. ''Anzac'' arrived in Sydney on 3 July.

For her two tours, ''Anzac'' was awarded the battle honour "Korea 1951–53". During these tours, the ship's company often found themselves mistaken for British warships, as the RAN ensign at the time was identical to the British White Ensign, and the Battle class was a British design. To counteract this, the executive officer acquired the largest sheet of brass he could find, and had the kangaroo design from the reverse of the Australian penny cut from the sheet, which was then mounted to the top of the mainmast as a 'weathervane'. This method of identification was later adopted across the RAN: all major fleet units now bear a red kangaroo symbol on each side of their exhaust funnels or superstructure.Perryman, ''The Origin of RAN Squadron and National Insignia''

During late 1953 and early 1954, ''Anzac'' was assigned to Queen Elizabeth II's coronation tour. The destroyer carried the Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh, and other members of the Royal Party during visits to locations in Queensland, then Papua and New Guinea.

''Anzac'' operated during the Malayan Emergency. Following an overhaul of the RAN battle honours system, the destroyer was retroactively awarded a second honour to recognise this: "Malaya 1956".

Between 1956 and 1959, the destroyer was deployed on several occasions to serve with the Far East Strategic Reserve.

In September 1960, ''Anzac'' was performing gunnery exercises with sister ship .Frame, ''Where Fate Calls'', pp 36–7 A malfunction in ''Anzac''s gun direction equipment negated the deliberate 6° mis-aiming of her guns, with the resulting shell hitting ''Tobruk'' and doing enough damage to the destroyer to make repairs uneconomical. Two of ''Anzac''s personnel were charged by the Naval Board, while ''Tobruk'' was decommissioned a month later.

In March 1961, ''Anzac'' completed conversion into a training ship. This conversion included the removal of several weapons systems, including the second 4.5-inch turret, and the conversion of the freed space to classrooms and training spaces. Cadet midshipmen from the RAN training facility at and supplementary list midshipmen (and in later years, trainees from the RAN's Papua New Guinea Division and from the Singapore Armed Forces) were embarked on three-month stints to receive practical experience and training in naval operations and duties. Training cruises typically occurred through the South Pacific, with several port visits to broaden the trainees' cultural horizons.

During February and March 1963, ''Anzac'' served as escort for Queen Elizabeth II and the Royal Yacht ''Britannia'' during the royal tour of Australia. In October, ''Anzac'' accompanied the troop transport on a training cruise in northern Queensland waters.Frame, ''Where Fate Calls'', p. 37 During May and June 1964, the destroyer embarked the Governor-General, Viscount De L'Isle for a visit to the territories of Papua and New Guinea. In September 1965, ''Anzac'' and the carrier escorted ''Sydney'' on the outbound leg of her second troop-transport voyage to Vietnam.Nott & Payne, ''The Vung Tau Ferry'', p. 170Grey, ''Up Top'', p. 106 On 21 May 1968, ''Anzac'' and ''Sydney'' left Brisbane on the latter's eleventh of twenty-five Vietnam voyages.Nott & Payne, ''The Vung Tau Ferry'', p. 173 The ships arrived at Vũng Tàu on 1 June, and returned to Brisbane on 13 June. During 1969, ''Anzac'' visited Tahiti and Western Samoa, and was in New Zealand for the bicentenary of James Cook's landing at Poverty Bay. In 1970, the destroyer was part of another bicentenary celebration of Cook's first voyage of discovery; this time at Cook's last Australian landfall at Possession Island. During the training cruises of the ship's final years, ''Anzac'' visited Papua New Guinea, Fiji, and New Zealand.
HMAS Anzac escorted HMS Britannia during the Commonwealth Games held in Christchurch NZ during 1974 berthing at Lyttleton Harbour.

Decommissioning and fate

''Anzac'' was berthed at Garden Island on 11 August, in preparation for paying off. She was decommissioned on 4 October 1974, after travelling . She was sold for A$41,780 to the Hifirm Corporation Limited of Hong Kong on 26 November 1975, and departed Sydney on 30 December 1975 under tow by the Japanese tug ''Herakuresu''.Cassells, ''The Destroyers'', p. 12

Citations

References

Books
*
*
*
*

Journal and news articles
*

Websites
*

Further reading

*

External links

Royal Australian Navy webpage for HMAS ''Anzac'' II

{{DEFAULTSORT:Anzac
Battle-class destroyers of the Royal Australian Navy
Ships built in Victoria (state)
1948 ships
Korean War destroyers of Australia