HMAS Swan (D61) - Decommissioning and Fate

Decommissioning and Fate

Swan was paid off for the final time at Sydney on 15 May 1928 and sold to Cockatoo Island Dockyard for scrapping in 1930. Swan and sister ship Parramatta were stripped down, and their hulks were sold to New South Wales Penal Department and towed to Cowan Creek, where they were used to house prisoner labourers working on roads along the Hawkesbury River. Public outcry opposed this use of prison labour, so two hulks were sold in 1933 for 12 pounds each to George Rhodes of Cowan, New South Wales, who intended to use them as accommodation for fishers. Rhodes' plan did not gain government approval, and the ships were sold on to a pair of fishermen, who used them to transport blue metal to Milson and Peat Islands.

On 2 February 1934, Swan and Parramatta were being towed down the Hawkesbury River for final breaking in Sydney, when gale conditions caused both hulls to break their tows. While Parramatta ran aground, Swan filled with rainwater and capsized at Tumbledown, near Croppy Point and Wobbly Beach. The exact location of the wreck was forgotten until 2001, when a RAN hydrography team came across the wreck while updating charts. Diving the wreck is not advised, as while Swan sits in only 20 metres (66 ft) of water, the currents in the area flow at around 4 knots (7.4 km/h; 4.6 mph), and visibility is less than 1 inch (25 mm).