HMAS Swordsman#Decommissioning and fate
{{Short description|Australian warship}}{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2018}}
{{Use Australian English|date=April 2018}}
| {{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship image |Ship image=File:HMAS Swordsman SLV Green.jpg |Ship caption= }} {{Infobox ship career |Ship country=Australia |Ship flag={{shipboxflag|Australia|naval-1913}} |Ship builder=Scott's Shipbuilding and Engineering Company |Ship laid down=1917 |Ship launched=28 December 1918 |Ship completed=March 1919 |Ship commissioned=27 January 1920 |Ship decommissioned=21 December 1929 |Ship motto= |Ship nickname= |Ship honours= |Ship fate=Scuttled off Sydney, 8 February 1939 |Ship notes= |Ship badge= }} {{Infobox ship characteristics |Ship class=Admiralty S-class destroyer |Ship displacement=1,075 tons |Ship length=*{{convert|276|ft|abbr=on}} length overall
|Ship beam={{convert|26|ft|10|in|abbr=on}} |Ship propulsion=3 × Yarrow boilers, Brown-Curtis turbines, {{convert|27,000|shp|abbr=on}}, 2 shafts |Ship speed={{convert|33|kn}} |Ship range={{convert|2990|nmi}} at {{convert|11.5|kn}} |Ship complement=6 officers, 93 sailors |Ship sensors= |Ship EW= |Ship armament=
|Ship armour= |Ship notes= }} |
HMAS Swordsman (H11) was an Admiralty S-class destroyer of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). Built for the Royal Navy during World War I, the ship was not completed until 1919, and was transferred to the RAN at the start of 1920. The destroyer's career was uneventful, with most of it spent moored in Sydney. Swordsman was decommissioned in 1929, and scuttled off Sydney in 1939.{{cite web |title=HMAS Swordsman (H 11) (+1939) |url=https://www.wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?51363 |website=wrecksite.eu |access-date=8 November 2024}}
Design and construction
{{Main|S-class destroyer (1917)}}
Swordsman was built to the Admiralty design of the S class destroyer, which was designed and built as part of the British emergency war programme.Cassells, The Destroyers, pp. 122–3 The destroyer had a displacement of 1,075 tons, a length of {{convert|276|ft}} overall and {{convert|265|ft}} between perpendiculars, and a beam of {{convert|26|ft|10|in}}.Cassells, The Destroyers, p. 122 The propulsion machinery consisted of three Yarrow boilers feeding Brown-Curtis turbines, which supplied {{convert|27000|shp}} to the ship's two propeller shafts.Cassells, The Destroyers, p. 123 Swordsman had a maximum speed of {{convert|33|kn}}, and a range of {{convert|2990|nmi}} at {{convert|11.5|kn}}. The ship's company was made up of 6 officers and 93 sailors.
The destroyer's primary armament consisted of three QF 4-inch Mark IV guns. These were supplemented by a 2-pounder pom-pom, two 9.5-inch howitzer bomb throwers, five .303 inch machine guns (a mix of Lewis and Maxim guns), two twin 21-inch torpedo tube sets, two depth charge throwers, and two depth charge chutes.
Swordsman was laid down by Scott's Shipbuilding and Engineering Company at their Greenock shipyard in 1917. The destroyer was launched on 28 December 1918, and completed during March 1919. In June 1919, the destroyer was marked for transfer to the RAN, along with four sister ships.Dittmar & Colledge, British Warships 1914–1919, p. 74 Swordsman was commissioned into the RAN on 27 January 1920.
Operational history
Decommissioning and fate
Swordsman was paid off into reserve on 21 December 1929. She was sold to Penguins Limited of Balmain, New South Wales for ship breaking on 4 June 1937. Her hull (with engines removed) was scuttled off Sydney on 8 February 1939 in location {{Coord|34|11|S |151|31|E |type:landmark |name=HMAS Swordsman}}.
Citations
{{reflist}}
References
- {{cite book |last=Cassells |first=Vic |title=The Destroyers: Their Battles and Their Badges |year=2000 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |location=East Roseville, NSW |isbn=0-7318-0893-2 |oclc=46829686}}
- {{Cite Colledge2006}}
- {{cite book |last1=Dittmar |first1=F.J. |last2=Colledge |first2=J.J. |title=British Warships 1914–1919 |year=1972 |publisher=Ian Allan |location=Shepperton, UK| isbn=0-7110-0380-7 }}
- {{cite book|last=Friedman|first=Norman|title=British Destroyers: From Earliest Days to the Second World War|year=2009|publisher=Seaforth Publishing|location=Barnsley, UK|isbn=978-1-84832-049-9}}
- {{cite book|editor1-last=Gardiner|editor1-first=Robert|editor2-last=Gray|editor2-first=Randal|title=Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921|year=1985|publisher=Conway Maritime Press|location=London|isbn=0-85177-245-5|name-list-style=amp}}
- {{cite book|last=March|first=Edgar J.|title=British Destroyers: A History of Development, 1892–1953; Drawn by Admiralty Permission From Official Records & Returns, Ships' Covers & Building Plans|year=1966|publisher=Seeley Service|location=London |oclc=164893555}}
{{Commons category|HMAS Swordsman}}
{{S class destroyers (1917)}}
{{February 1939 shipwrecks}}
{{Navbox shipwrecks of New South Wales|Scuttlednsw}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Swordsman}}
Category:S-class destroyers (1917) of the Royal Australian Navy
Category:Ships built on the River Clyde