HMAS ANZAC (D 59) [Pre Modernisation]

HMAS Anzac (D-59) was a Battle-class destroyer of the Royal Australian Navy, laid down by the Williamstown Naval Dockyard at Melbourne in Victoria on 23 September 1946, launched on 20 August 1948 and commissioned on 14 March 1951 but not accepted by the Royal Australian Navy until 22 March 1951.

Following a period of working up and exercises in eastern Australian waters, ANZAC departed Sydney on 30 July 1951 for Korean War service, arriving at Sasebo, Japan, on 14 August via Hong Kong.

On 24 August 1951 ANZAC departed Sasebo as a unit of Task Element 95.11 screening USS SICILY during aircraft carrier operations off the Korean west coast. On 2 September HMS GLORY relieved SICILY as the operational carrier. ANZAC detached on 6 September to proceed to the vicinity Haiju in western Korea with orders to bombard selected targets.  At 1815 on 6 September 1951 the Commonwealth Ensign was broken at the fore and ‘for the first time the guns of ANZAC opened fire on the enemy’.

On 3 July 1953 ANZAC returned to Sydney after an absence of 305 days. Of these, 228 were spent at sea, 40 of them on patrol in the combat areas. During the entire period she steamed 57,865 miles.

ANZAC had a very distinguished career, she conducted operations in Korea, offensive actions during the Malayan Emergency, escort duties on the occasion of the visit of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh and the Royal Yacht BRITANNIA on the occasion of the Royal Visit in February and March 1963, escort duties to Vietnam and served as a training ship for Officers and Sailors.

Anzac paid off at Sydney on 4 October 1974, she had steamed 693,582.1 miles since her commissioning in 1951.

Launched: 20 August 1948
Type: Battle Class Destroyer
Commissioned: 14 March 1951
Decommissioned: 4 October 1974
Displacement: 2,440 tons (standard), 3,450 tons (full load)
Length: 379 feet (overall), 355 feet (between perpendiculars)
Beam: 41 feet
Armament: 4 x 4.5-inch guns (in two twin turrets) – B Turret removed in 1965, 12 x 40mm Bofors guns, 10 x 21-inch torpedo tubes, Squid triple barrelled anti-submarine depth charge mortar
Main Machinery: Parsons geared turbines (50,000 hoursepower)
Speed: 35 knots (designed), 31 knots (sea speed)
Ship's Company: 290

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