Design and Construction
Swordsman was built to the Admiralty design of the S class destroyer, which was designed and built as part of the British emergency war programme. The destroyer had a displacement of 1,075 tons, a length of 276 feet (84 m) overall and 265 feet (81 m) between perpendiculars, and a beam of 26 feet 10 inches (8.18 m). The propulsion machiney consisted of three Yarrow boilers feeding Brown-Curtis turbines, which supplied 27,000 shaft horsepower (20,000 kW) to the ship's two propeller shafts. Success a maximum speed of 33 knots (61 km/h; 38 mph), and a range of 2,990 nautical miles (5,540 km; 3,440 mi) at 11.5 knots (21.3 km/h; 13.2 mph). The ship's company was made up of 6 officers and 93 sailors.
The destroyer's primary armament consisted of three QF 4-inch Mark IV guns. These were supplemented by a 2-pounder pom-pom, two 9.5-inch howitzer bomb throwers, five .303 inch machine guns (a mix of Lewis and Maxim guns), two twin 21-inch torpedo tube sets, two depth charge throwers, and two depth charge chutes.
Swordsman was laid down by Scott's Shipbuilding and Engineering Company at their Greenock shipyard in 1917. The destroyer was launched on 28 December 1918, and completed during March 1919. After completion, the destroyer was marked for transfer to the RAN, along with four sister ships. Swordsman was commissioned into the RAN on 27 January 1920.
Read more about this topic: HMAS Swordsman
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