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Destroyer escort HMAS Swan (DE 50)

Destroyer escort HMAS Swan (DE 50) 0Destroyer escort HMAS Swan (DE 50) 1Destroyer escort HMAS Swan (DE 50) 2Destroyer escort HMAS Swan (DE 50) 3Destroyer escort HMAS Swan (DE 50) 4

Classification

Ship class:
River-class destroyer escort
Type:
Destroyer escort

Basic information

Namesake:
The Swan River is a river in the south west of Western Australia.
Operator:
Royal Australian NavyRoyal Australian Navy
Country of build:
Builder:
Williamstown Dockyard
Laid down:
Launched:
Commissioned (service):
Decommissioned (out):
Status:
Decommissioned
Fate:
Sunk as dive wreck in 1997

Ship measurements

Displacement:
2,700 t
Length:
113 m
Beam (waterline):
12.49 m
Draft:
4.6 m

Machine

Propulsion:
  • 2 * English Electric steam turbines
  • 2 * shaft
  • 30,000 shp
Speed:
30 knots
Range:
4,500 nautical miles (8,300 km; 5,200 mi) at 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph)

Personnel

Complement:
250

Combat assets

Electronics:
  • Mulloka sonar system
  • AN/SPS-55 surface-search/navigation radar
Armament:
  • 2 * 4.5 inch Mark 6 guns (1 twin turret)
  • 1 * Limbo Mark 10 anti-submarine mortar (removed 1984)
  • 1 * quad Seacat SAM launcher
  • 1 * Ikara ASW system (added 1973)
  • 2 * Mark 32 torpedo tubes

HMAS Swan (DE 50), named for the Swan River, was a River-class destroyer escort (a licence-built Type 12I frigate) of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). Constructed in Melbourne following the loss of HMAS Voyager, Swan entered service in 1970.

During her career, the ship was deployed to South East Asia on several occasions as part of ANZUK forces. She was modernised in the mid-1980s, then was assigned to the recently opened west coast naval base HMAS Stirling. Following the integration of women into the RAN, Swan was the site of sexual harassment and discrimination claims, leading to an Australian Defence Force-wide inquiry.

Swan paid off in 1996, and was sunk as a dive wreck off the coast of Dunsborough, Western Australia at the end of 1997.

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