HMAS Anzac (G90) - Design and Construction

Design and Construction

Anzac was a Parker-class destroyer leader, based on the Marksman or Lightfoot class. The ship had a displacement of 1,660 tons, was 327 feet 7 inches (99.85 m) long overall and 314 feet 11.25 inches (95.9930 m) long between perpendiculars, had a beam of 31 feet 10 inches (9.70 m), and a draught of 13 feet 9.75 inches (4.2101 m) at maximum load. Propulsion was provided by four Yarrow boilers providing steam to Brown-Curtis geared turbines, which delivered 37,060 shaft horsepower to the destroyer's three propellers. The ship was designed to reach 34 knots (63 km/h; 39 mph), but could only achieve an avearge of 32.9 knots (60.9 km/h; 37.9 mph) during full-power trials. Maximum range was 3,360 nautical miles (6,220 km; 3,870 mi) at 11.5 knots (21.3 km/h; 13.2 mph). The ship's company consisted of 8 officers and 114 sailors.

The primary armament for Anzac consisted of four single QF 4-inch Mark IV guns. This was supplemented by two 2-pounder "pom-pom" guns for air defence, a single .303-inch Maxim machine gun, four .303-inch Lewis machine guns (two single guns and a twin-mount), two twin 21-inch torpedo tube sets, two depth charge throwers, and four depth charge chutes.

The order to build Anzac was placed with William Denny and Brothers in December 1915, and the ship was laid down at their shipyard in Dumbarton, Scotland on 31 January 1916. The destroyer was launched on 11 January 1917, and commissioned into the Royal Navy on 24 April 1917, the day of her completion. The destroyer went through a rapid succession of penant numbers during her British service; although assigned the pennant F6 during construction, this was changed three days before launch to G80, then became G50 at the start of 1918, before changing again to G70 in April.