HMAS Duchess

Design and construction

Main article: Daring-class destroyer (1949)

The Daring class was an evolution of the Battle-class destroyer; larger and with a heavier armament built around three twin turrets. Sixteen Darings were provisionally ordered on 20 July 1944, as part of the 1944 wartime construction programme. Duchess was the last of eight to have her order confirmed, on 29 March 1945, the other eight were later cancelled as unnecessary due to the end of World War II. Their size and capability made the ships capable of performing duties previously restricted to light cruisers, and as the destroyer classification was initially considered inappropriate, they were referred to as "Daring-class warships" for the first part of their careers.

As designed, the Daring-class ships had a standard displacement of 2,950 tons, with a full load displacement of 3,580 tons. Length was 390 ft overall and 366 ft between perpendiculars, with a beam of 43 ft and a maximum draught of 17 ft. Propulsion machinery consisted of two oil-fuelled boilers (for Duchess, these were supplied by Foster Wheeler), connected to Parsons double reduction geared turbines from English Electric, which supplied 54,000 shp to the ship's two propeller shafts. Top speed was 30.5 kn, with an effective range of 1,700 nmi, while a cruising speed of 20 kn allowed the ship to cover 4,400 nmi. Duchess, along with three of her sister ships, were fitted with alternating current internal electrics; a break from Royal Navy practice. The intended ship's company for Duchess was 278.

The main armament of a Daring-class destroyer consisted of six QF 4.5-inch Mk I – V naval guns, arranged in three twin turrets, two located forward, the third aft. For anti-aircraft warfare, the ships were fitted with four to six 40 mm Bofors guns: a reduction from the wartime-intended eight. Both main and anti-aircraft guns were radar-controlled. Two 5-tube launchers for 21 inch (533 mm) torpedoes were installed, along with a Squid anti-submarine mortar.

Duchess was laid down by John I. Thornycroft and Company of Woolston at Southampton on 8 July 1948. Construction of the Daring class was a transition away from riveting as a method of hull fabrication: some ships had a mix of riveting and welding, while Duchesss hull was all-welded. She was launched on 9 April 1951 by the Countess Mountbatten of Burma, and commissioned into the Royal Navy on 23 October 1952.

Operational history

Royal Navy

1953–1956

Duchess was initially assigned to the British Home Fleet in January 1953. During January, the ship was involved in training exercises with other Home Fleet units. During the exercises, Duchess was plane guard for the carrier . Duchess returned to Portsmouth in July, underwent six weeks of maintenance, then sailed on 1 September to rejoin Eagle and other ships for exercises in the Denmark Strait. The exercise ended on 3 October, and after transporting personnel of 812 Naval Air Squadron to Loch Goyle, Duchess joined Eagle while the latter undertook flying training. On 6 October, a helicopter crashed while attempting to deliver mail to the destroyer: Duchess seaboat was able to rescue one of the two flight crew, while the other sank with the helicopter. Duchess continued to accompany Eagle until 24 October, when she detached to return to Portsmouth. The rest of 1953, along with most of January 1954, was spent in refit.

On 5 February, Duchess joined units of the Home Fleet on the Spring Training Cruise. The destroyer then proceeded to Invergordon for Home Fleet exercises. In early January 1955, Jamaica and Duchess made a formal visit to Algiers, which was then followed by more exercises. Duchess visited Istanbul, Alexandria, and Cyprus before returning to Malta's Grand Harbour on 22 June. Two days later, with her Mediterranean deployment at an end, Duchess departed for Portsmouth via Gibraltar. On her 1 July arrival, the destroyer was docked for maintenance.

Resuming operations on 28 September, Duchess sailed to Scottish waters for exercises: first anti-submarine and torpedo firing training off Clyde, then plane guard duties near Rosyth while Eagles aircraft practiced high-altitude intercepts. After a series of working up exercises, Duchess participated in the 60-ship Exercise Medflex Dragon in April. She returned to Malta in mid-July, and was in Grand Harbour when the Suez Canal was claimed and nationalised by Egypt.

Suez Crisis

The Mediterranean Fleet began gearing up to retaliate, with Duchess undertaking shore bombardment and convoy escort training during August and September, and also serving as plane guard to Eagle as the carrier worked up.

1957–1964

After spending Christmas at Grand Harbour, Duchess sailed from Malta on 1 January 1957 with sister ships and , bound for Portsmouth. On her return, the ship visited Liverpool for the 750th anniversary of King John's Charter founding the city, then proceeded to Portsmouth.

On 3 September, Duchess left Portsmouth to join the Mediterranean Fleet as leader of the 5th Destroyer Squadron. Workups were conducted at Silema Creek during September, followed by port visits to Tripoli and Civitavecchia in October, then self-maintenance and day sails from Malta for the rest of the year. Intentions at the time were to install a Sea Cat missile launcher on the roof of the new deckhouse during a later refit, but in 1964, the decision was made to fit the launcher to new-build ships only.

Duchess was recommissioned on 3 January 1961, with post-refit workups and maintenance dominating the ship's activities until early April. From April until July, she was involved in a program of anti-submarine warfare training and general exercises, interspersed with short maintenance periods. Exercises and port visits resumed in January 1962, and continued until 26 March, when the destroyer left Malta heading for Portsmouth. In addition to the schedule of Home Fleet exercises, Duchess made official visits to Stockholm and Helsinki with in May, underwent refit from July to October, as in November was part of the search for the helicopter that crashed off St David's Head carrying Lord Windlesham. On 17 December, the ship's fifth commission was paid off.

Duchess was recommissioned on 2 January 1963. The destroyer left Portsmouth on 8 April bound for Singapore, with visits en route to Gibraltar, Malta, Port Said, and Aden. Arriving on 12 June, the ship spent the next few weeks on day exercises, before being docked in the King George VI Graving Dock for three weeks of maintenance. Tactical exercises took up late July and early August, after which, Duchess was deployed to patrol off North Borneo and Sarawak. She resumed operations on 10 February 1964, transporting a contingent of Gurkhas to the Sarawak River, then visited Hong Kong.

Transfer

Following the loss of the Australian-built Daring-class destroyer in a collision with the aircraft carrier on 10 February 1964, both the United Kingdom and the United States offered to loan ships to the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) as a temporary replacement; the Royal Navy offering Duchess or while the United States Navy offered two destroyers: US Ships and .

The loan of Duchess to the RAN was offered on 18 February, and accepted on 25 February by the Australian government. Duchess concluded her exercise program on 9 March, and returned to Singapore for maintenance. She left Singapore for Australia on 6 April, visiting Darwin and Townsville before reaching Sydney on 19 April. The ship was handed over to the RAN that day.

The destroyer was then sailed to Williamstown Naval Dockyard for modification. Refits were completed in November, and the destroyer spent the rest of the year undertaking trials and working up exercises.

Royal Australian Navy

From January to March 1965, Duchess was deployed to the Far East, and undertook numerous patrols of the Malaysian and Borneo coasts. After a maintenance period, Duchess was deployed to the Far East Strategic Reserve (FESR) on 11 August. The three ships reached Vũng Tàu on 28 September, and departed two days later: after clearing the Market Time area, the two destroyers broke off and headed for Hong Kong. A brief period of maintenance concluded on 26 October, and Duchess resumed patrols until the end of the year. 1966 commenced with more Borneo patrols and a stint at guardship at Tawau. The destroyer returned to Darwin on 2 March, then sailed to Sydney for a seven-month refit. The rest of the year was spent exercising in eastern Australian waters.

In January 1967, the destroyer was again deployed to the FESR. On 18 November, Duchess met Sydney off Singapore, and accompanied the troopship to and from the warzone, before sailing to Hong Kong. After reaching Vũng Tàu on 28 November, then escorting the troopship from the warzone, Duchess peeled off to commence another FESR deployment. After a short maintenance period in Singapore, the destroyer visited Subic Bay, then headed to Hong Kong for the end of the year.

After participating in a week of fleet exercises in mid-January 1970, Duchess began a sequence of port visits: Port Swettenham, Kota Kinabalu, Manila, Bangkok, Hong Kong, Osaka (coinciding with Expo '70), Kobe, and Subic Bay before returning to Singapore. The two ships arrived in Vũng Tàu on 5 April, and returned to Hong Kong on 8 April. After a sequence of port visits, Duchess and met Sydney on 17 May for transportation run twenty. Duchess sailed to Hong Kong, then on 8 June departed for Australia, arriving on 25 May and commencing a mid-cycle docking which ran until 13 November. In January 1972, Duchess joined , , and for a task group deployment to Asian waters. The deployment included SEATO exercises and port visits to Port Klang and Surabaya, before the ships arrived in Fremantle on 14 April. After proceeding to Sydney for maintenance, Duchess resumed exercising in local waters. During a surface firing exercise on 25 July, a shell from B turret hit one of the elevated barrels of A turret. In August, with her loan period up, Duchess was purchased outright from the Royal Navy for £150,000. After a midshipman training cruise to Port Moresby in August, the ship spent the rest of the year on exercises and training.

On 5 January 1973, Duchess arrived at Williamstown Naval Dockyard for conversion into a training ship. This allowed for the installation of an extended aft superstructure, with classrooms, instructor offices, and additional accommodation for the embarked trainees. The former turret's loading bay was converted into library and study areas. A semi-enclosed charthouse was fitted above and behind the bridge for navigation training. The refit concluded on 14 August 1974, with Duchess replacing as the RAN's dedicated training vessel. From January 1975 to July 1976, Duchess operated on a sequence of training cruises, visiting ports along the eastern Australian coast, as well as New Zealand and the South Pacific. She was docked from July to October at Cockatoo Island Dockyard to combat hull corrosion, then resumed her training schedule. Her final training cruise ran during August and September 1977, after which, Duchess was replaced by .

Decommissioning and fate

Handover of training duties to Jervis Bay was done on 23 September 1977. On 23 October, Duchess was decommissioned. The ship was sold to Tung Ho Steel for breaking up as scrap on 7 May 1980, and departed Sydney under tow for Taiwan on 9 July.

Following a 2010 reorganisation of RAN battle honours, the destroyer's involvement in the Indonesia-Malaysia Confrontation while in RAN service was recognised with the battle honour "Malaysia 1965–66".

Footnotes

Citations

References

Books

Websites

References

1. McCart, ''Daring Class Destroyers'', pp. ix–x
2. McCart, ''Daring Class Destroyers'', p. 219
3. McCart, ''Daring Class Destroyers'', pp. ix, 219
4. McCart, ''Daring Class Destroyers'', p. x
5. McCart, ''Daring Class Destroyers'', p. ix
6. McCart, ''Daring Class Destroyers'', pp. 219–20
7. Cassells, ''The Destroyers'', p. 34
8. Cassells, ''The Destroyers'', p. 238
9. McCart, ''Daring Class Destroyers'', p. 220
10. Cassells, ''The Destroyers'', p. 35
11. McCart, ''Daring Class Destroyers'', p. 52
12. Daring. D05. 2, and {{HMS. Swiftsure. 08. Agincourt. D86
13. The cruise included multi-national exercises in the Mediterranean, a port visit to [[Oran]], and a joint Home-[[Mediterranean Fleet
14. On 19 June, ''Duchess'' and sister ship {{HMS. Diamond. D35. Jamaica. C44
15. On 24 March, while moored at [[Naples]], ''Duchess'' was rammed by the United States merchant ship [[USS Queens (APA-103)
16. After a visit to [[Hamburg]], the destroyer returned to Portland. Exercises and port visits continued into 1956, and on 21 February, ''Duchess'' paid off and recommissioned at [[Portsmouth Dockyard]]. On 3 March, the destroyer sailed to rejoin the Mediterranean Fleet.McCart, ''Daring Class Destroyers'', p. 57
17. During the exercise, the naval correspondent for ''[[The Daily Telegraph]]'' was convinced by the officers to place a small article in the paper jokingly asking for "any spare [[coronet]]s" to decorate the [[wardroom]] with. In response, [[Anne Grosvenor, Duchess of Westminster|Anne, Duchess of Westminster]], arranged to have her coronet supplied to the destroyer. Medflex Dragon concluded on 20 April, and ''Duchess'' underwent six weeks of maintenance. Port visits to Istanbul and [[Golcuck]] followed, along with a stint patrolling the Cyprus coastline to intercept Greek weapons smugglers.McCart, ''Daring Class Destroyers'', p. 58
18. On 29 October, ''Duchess'' left Malta to join the escort of the carriers ''Eagle'', {{HMS. Albion. R07. 2, and {{HMS. Bulwark. R08
19. Ark Royal. R09
20. On 27 August, ''Duchess'' paid off and was recommissioned.McCart, ''Daring Class Destroyers'', pp. 60–1
21. McCart, ''Daring Class Destroyers'', p. 61
22. 1958 commenced with a seven-week Cyprus patrol. By the end of the patrol on 21 February, the destroyer had developed a leak in her hull, but was able to reach Malta without difficulty. March consisted of participation in Exercise Marjex, followed by port visits to [[Taranto]] and [[Ancona]], joint exercises with the [[Italian Navy]], and a visit to [[Venice]] before returning to Malta. Major fleet exercises occurred in April and early May. ''Duchess'' was due to return to the United Kingdom in May, but unrest in [[Lebanon]] (which would escalate into the [[1958 Lebanon crisis]]) required the destroyer to join a response force off Cyprus, which she remained with until 4 July. The destroyer sailed to Malta, then Portsmouth, and was docked for maintenance after arriving on 11 July. Work concluded in September, and ''Duchess'' spent the next three months undertaking exercises and port visits in British, Dutch, and French waters. The destroyer reached [[Spithead]] on 9 December, and was paid off into reserve later that day. The destroyer was taken into [[Portsmouth Dockyard]] hands for a two-year refit. Modifications during this period included the deletion of the aft torpedo launcher and its replacement with a deckhouse for additional accommodation, introduction of centralised [[mess]]ing arrangements, and fitting of air-conditioning to the [[operations room]] and sickbay.McCart, ''Daring Class Destroyers'', pp. 61–2
23. McCart, ''Daring Class Destroyers'', p. 221
24. McCart, ''Daring Class Destroyers'', p. 62
25. On 24 July, ''Duchess'' sailed from Portsmouth, bound for Malta and the Mediterranean Fleet. On 7 August, while en route, a port visit to [[Ajaccio]] was almost cancelled when a possible mutiny aboard a British merchant ship was reported: the destroyer was to sail to assist, but was not required. ''Duchess'' reached Grand Harbour on 18 August, and was drydocked for maintenance. Returning to service in September, the rest of ''Duchess''{{'}} year was dominated by exercises and flag-showing port visits.McCart, ''Daring Class Destroyers'', pp. 62–3
26. McCart, ''Daring Class Destroyers'', p. 63
27. Originally intended to be deployed with the Mediterranean Fleet, the December 1962 [[Brunei Revolt]] and tensions in South East Asia that would shortly escalate into the [[Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation]] prompted a strengthening of British assets in the region, including the assignment of ''Duchess'' to the [[Far East Fleet]].McCart, ''Daring Class Destroyers'', pp. 63–4
28. McCart, ''Daring Class Destroyers'', pp. 64–5
29. McCart, ''Daring Class Destroyers'', p. 65
30. A visit to Hong Kong occurred in early September, followed by guardship duties off [[Sandakan]]. Further patrols of North Borneo occurred in October, and on 7 November, the destroyer was called to assist the British merchantman ''Woodburn'', which had run aground off Singapore's [[Horsburgh Lighthouse]]. Exercises continued until 23 December, when ''Duchess'' arrived at Singapore for maintenance and leave.McCart, ''Daring Class Destroyers'', p. 66
31. The Admiralty suggested ''Defender'' because she had just completed a major modernisation, and ''Duchess'' because her location in South East Asia meant she could be handed over quickly. ''Duchess'' was seen as the more favourable vessel for the British offer: in addition to the proximity, the ship was due to undergo refit in June, and doing so while in Australian hands meant the [[Royal Australian Navy]] (RAN) could make any modifications they felt necessary. Unlike ''Duchess'', ''Defender''{{'}}s internal electrics were configured for [[Direct current|DC]] power, and the ship lacked air-conditioning.Royal Australian Navy, ''HMAS Duchess''
32. In late May, ''Duchess'' was assigned to the escort screen for the troopship {{HMAS. Sydney. R17
33. After a short period of patrols, the destroyer and {{HMAS. Vendetta. D08
34. Grey, ''Up Top'', p. 106
35. Nott & Payne, ''The Vung Tau Ferry'', p. 176
36. Bastock, ''Australia's Ships of War'', p. 306
37. (1 March 2010). "Navy Marks 109th Birthday With Historic Changes To Battle Honours". Royal Australian Navy.
38. (1 March 2010). "Royal Australian Navy Ship/Unit Battle Honours". Royal Australian Navy.