HMAS Huon (D50) - Design and Construction

Design and Construction

Huon was one of the second batch of River class destroyers ordred for the RAN. She had a displacement of 700 tons, was 259 feet 9 inches (79.17 m) long overall and 245 feet (75 m) long between perpendiculars, had a beam of 24 feet 3.375 inches (7.40093 m), and a maximum draught of 8 feet 10 inches (2.69 m). Propulsion was provided by three Yarrow-made boilers connected to Parsons geared turbines, which supplied 10,000 shaft horsepower to the three propellers. Although designed to reach speeds of 26 knots (48 km/h; 30 mph), the destroyer could only achieve a mean speed of 25.775 knots (47.735 km/h; 29.661 mph) during high-speed trials. Her economical cruising speed was 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph). The ship's company consised of 5 officers and 60 sailors.

At launch, the ship's armament consisted of a single 4-inch Mark VIII gun, three 12-pounder guns, a .303-inch Maxim gun, two .303-inch Lewis guns, and three revolving torpedo tubes for 18-inch torpedoes. Four depth charge chutes were installed in 1917, although two were later removed in 1919. Two depth charge throwers were added during a 1918 refit; at the same time, one of the torpedo tubes was removed.

The ship was laid down at Cockatoo Island Dockyard on 25 January 1913. She was launched on 19 December 1914 by the wife of federal politician Jens Jensen. Huon was commissioned into the RAN on 14 December 1915, and completed on 4 February 1916. The ship was originally to be named HMAS Derwent, after the Derwent River, but this was changed after the British Admiralty complained that there would be easy confusion was the Royal Navy destroyer HMS Derwent.