HMAS Adelaide (1918) - Design and Construction

Design and Construction

The design of Adelaide was modified from the Chatham subclass of the Town class light cruisers, with similarities to the Birmingham subclass. The ship was 462 feet 6.5 inches (140.983 m) long overall and 430 feet (130 m) between perpendiculars, with a beam of 49 feet 9.5 inches (15.177 m), and a draught of 19.66 feet (5.99 m). The initial ship's company stood at 33 officers and 450 sailors, but by 1941, this had dropped to 26 officers and 436 sailors.

The propulsion system consisted of Parsons turbines providing 25,000 shaft horsepower to two propeller shafts. As designed, the ship had a maximum speed of 25 knots (46 km/h; 29 mph), but modifications during her career saw this increase to 25.5 knots (47.2 km/h; 29.3 mph) during the 1920s, then drop to 24.8 knots (45.9 km/h; 28.5 mph) by 1941. The cruiser was originally fuelled by both coal and oil, but the ship's refit in 1938–39 saw her converted to oil-only, along with the removal of the foremost funnel and boilers.

Adelaide was laid down by HMA Naval Dockyard at Cockatoo Island, Sydney on 20 November 1915. She was launched on 27 July 1918 by the wife of Sir Ronald Munro Ferguson, the serving Governor-General of Australia. Construction was not completed until 31 July 1922 because of wartime shortages, loss of machinery part forgings to enemy action, and modifications based on wartime experience: the ship was consequently nicknamed "HMAS Longdelayed". She was finally commissioned into the RAN on 5 August 1922. Adelaide cost 1,271,782 pounds to build.

The ship's badge was based on the municipal seal of the City of Adelaide. Her motto was "Ut Prosint Omnibus Conjuncti", Latin for "United for the Common Weal". Some incorrect versions of the ship's badge show the motto as "United We Stand", the motto for HMAS Anzac.