HMAS Brisbane (D 41) - Design and Construction

Design and Construction

Brisbane was one of three Perth class guided missile destroyers built for the RAN. Based on the United States Navy's Charles F. Adams class, Brisbane had a displacement of 3,370 tons at standard load, and 4,551 tons at full load, a length of 437 feet (133 m) overall and 420 feet (130 m) between perpendiculars, a beam of 47 feet 1 inch (14.35 m), and a maximum draught of 15 feet 3 inches (4.65 m). Propulsion was provided by two General Electric turbines, which provided 70,000 shaft horsepower (52,000 kW) to the destroyer's two propeller shafts. Brisbane could achieve speeds of 35 knots (65 km/h; 40 mph). The ship's company consisted of 24 officers and 312 sailors.

As a guided missile destroyer, Brisbane's main armament consisted of a Mark 13 missile launcher firing Tartar missiles and two Ikara anti-submarine missile launchers. This was supplemented by two 5"/54 caliber Mark 42 guns and two Mark 32 triple torpedo tube sets. Over the course of the ship's career, the Mark 13 launcher was modified to fire Standard missiles, two Phalanx CIWS units were installed in 1990, and the Ikara launchers were removed in 1991.

Brisbane was laid down by the Defoe Shipbuilding Company at Bay City, Michigan on 15 February 1965. The ship was launched on 5 May 1966 by the wife of Fred Chaney, Sr., the Minister for the Navy. Brisbane was handed over to the RAN at Boston Navy Yard on 7 December 1967, and was commissioned into the RAN nine days later. The cost of the destroyer was approximately A$50 million. The ship was given the nicknames Steel Cat and Fighting Forty-One (references to her ship's badge and pennant number respectively). During construction, the ship was assigned the United States Navy hull number DDG-27.

Brisbane spent the first nine months of her career undergoing exercises in US waters, before sailing for Australia on 28 September 1968. After visits to Pearl Harbor and Suva, Brisbane arrived in her namesake city on 17 October.