Design and Construction
Perth was the lead ship of three Perth class guided missile destroyers built for the RAN. Based on the United States Navy's Charles F. Adams class, Perth had a displacement of 3,370 tons at standard load, and 4,618 tons at full load, a length of 134 metres (440 ft) overall and 128 metres (420 ft) between perpendiculars, a beam of 14 metres (46 ft), and a maximum draught of 6 metres (20 ft). Propulsion was provided by four Foster Wheeler boilers feeding two General Electric turbines, which provided 70,000 shaft horsepower (52,000 kW) to the destroyer's two propeller shafts. Perth could achieve speeds of 35 knots (65 km/h; 40 mph). The ship's company consisted of 22 officers and 311 sailors.
As a guided missile destroyer, Perth's main armament consisted of a Mark 13 missile launcher firing Tartar missiles. 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, two Ikara anti-submarine missile launchers were installed during a refit in 1966–67, then removed in 1991, the Mark 13 launcher was modified to fire Standard missiles, and two Phalanx CIWS units were installed.
Perth was laid down at the Defoe Shipbuilding Company shipyard in Bay City, Michigan on 21 September 1962. She was launched on 26 September 1963 by the wife of Howard Beale, the Australian Ambassador to the United States. Perth was completed on 22 May 1965, having cost $45 million to construct, and was commissioned into the RAN on 17 July. During the month leading up to the commissioning, the ship's company volunteered to help create hiking trails in the forests of Rhode Island's George Washington Management Area. The destroyer spent eight months in American waters on trials and exercises before sailing for her namesake city, via Pearl Harbor and Suva, on 12 February 1966. During construction, the ship was assigned the United States Navy hull number DDG-25.
Read more about this topic: HMAS Perth (D 38)
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