During the 1960s, in a major departure from previous large naval asset acquisitions, the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) commissioned the building of three US designed and manufactured destroyers. These were the ‘Charles F. Adams’ Class DDG destroyers, HMAS Perth, HMAS Hobart and HMAS Brisbane. The US design, named for Charles Francis Adams, a yachtsman and winner of the Americas Cup in 1921, and subsequently the Secretary of the Navy from 1929 to 1933, was defined as an air warfare destroyer. As such, it included a bewildering array of sensors and detectors as well as a double rail Tartar anti-aircraft missile launcher near the stern. While a formidable air warfare ship, the Charles F Adams Class was also a very efficient gun platform. It mounted two 5-inch/54 automatic guns capable of a sustained fire rate of over 30 rounds per minute each, as well as anti-submarine weapons and torpedoes.

While the basic design was accepted by the RAN, many detail modifications were incorporated which led to the three ships being identified as ‘Perth Class’. These differences included installation of a single rail Tartar missile launcher, and the inclusion of two Australian designed and manufactured Ikara anti submarine missile systems.

The three ships were built by the Defoe Shipbuilding Company in Bay City Michigan, and entered RAN service progressively, with Perth and Hobart commissioned in 1965, followed by Brisbane in 1967. Powered by proven steam turbine technology, the Perth Class was sleek, fast and heavily armed. They were a significant milestone for the RAN. Not only were these the first US designed and built warships to enter RAN service, but they also launched the RAN into the age of self-loading main armament and the use of missiles, both for anti aircraft and anti submarine defence.

The entry of these ships into the RAN was also timely, given the Australian commitment to the war in South Vietnam from 1965. As a result, all three ships served in turn as part of the US Seventh Fleet in the waters off Vietnam. Hobart and Perth both served three six month tours, and Brisbane served two tours. The ships’ compatibility with the US supply system made replenishment and provisioning significantly easier during these deployments. Their main duty was in providing naval gunfire support from close inshore, where on a number of occasions, the ships were engaged by enemy shore batteries.

The first Gulf War saw the deployment of HMAS Brisbane to the Persian Gulf, where it again served as part of a US fleet.

All three Perth Class ships were decommissioned between late 1999, and late 2001, and all three have since been sunk as artificial reefs and diving wrecks. The ships that launched the RAN into the missile age were also the last RAN ships to be powered by steam, so their passing certainly represents the end of a significant era in Australian Naval history.

The Perth Class ships all saw active service during the Vietnam War as part of the US Seventh Fleet. One of their main tasks was in firing naval gunfire support for land-based units. The 5-inch/54 calibre guns could maintain a rate of fire in excess of 30 rounds per minute.

The Perth Class was a highly capable weapons platform, mounting a single 5-inch/54 calibre automatic gun in each forward and aft mounting. The bewildering array of sensors and radars carried on the Perth Class destroyers was also a significant step forward in technology for the RAN.

The Perth Class represented a significant leap forward in technology for the RAN, as they were the first ships in the fleet to be equipped with missiles. This is a Tartar anti-aircraft missile mounted near the stern of HMAS Brisbane. The single rail Tartar launcher was also a defining difference between the original US design and the Perth Class destroyers.