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HMAS HOBART (D39) was a Perth class (modified “Charles F. Adams” class) Guided Missile Destroyer of the Royal Australian Navy. She was laid down by Defoe Shipbuilding Company at Bay City, Michigan, USA on 26 October 1962 and was launched on 9 January 1964 by Mrs David Hay, wife of the Australian Ambassador to the United Nations, and Commissioned at Boston in Massachusetts on 18 December 1965.
HOBART arrived in Tasmania on 1 September 1966,
however on 22 December 1966, Prime Minister Harold Holt announced that HOBART
would deploy to Vietnam. HOBART served as plane guard for carriers on Yankee
Station in the Tonkin Gulf, participated in Sea Dragon and Market Time
operations, patrolled on search and rescue duties and carried out gunfire
support missions during the conflict.
On June 17, 1968 while on the gun line with Yankee Station off the coast of
North Vietnam, HOBART was struck by three Sparrow missiles fired from a USAF 7th
Air Force aircraft (one of the three missiles failed to explode). Two crewmen
were killed and seven injured. HOBART and USS BOSTON had been in the vicinity of
two US Navy Swift Boats (PCF-12 & PCF-19) that were attacked and sunk after a
2-hour gun battle by North Vietnamese Helicopters. US jets arrived several hours
later (around midnight) but the enemy aircraft had departed. As the attack by
helicopter was unprecedented, the US aircraft attacked the BOSTON and HOBART
assuming they were the enemy who sunk the Swift Boats. The BOSTON suffered no
casualties, and was only slightly damaged. In all, HOBART served three tours of
duty, and was awarded the United States Navy Unit Commendation for the 1st and
3rd Tours in Vietnam.
HOBART was decommissioned on 12 May 2000 and was sunk as a
dive wreck four nautical miles west-north-west of Marina Vincent, Yankalilla
Bay, South Australia on 5 November 2002.
Launched: 9 January 1964
Type: Guided Missile Destroyer
Commissioned: 18 December 1965
Decommissioned: 12 May 2000
Displacement: 4,720 tonnes
Length: 133.2 m (437 ft)
Beam: 14.3 m (47 ft)
Armament: Mk 13 Mod 6 launcher for SM-1; 2 x 127 mm/54 (5 in/54)
Mk 42; 2 x 20
mm Mk 15 Vulcan Phalanx; 2 x triple 324 mm [Mark 32 Surface Vessel Torpedo Tubes
Main Machinery: 2 × General Electric steam turbines providing 70,000 hp (52 mW)
Speed: 30+ knots
Ship's Company: 332
More Information
Hobart arrived in Tasmania on 1 September, 1966, however on 22 December 1966, Prime Minister Harold Holt announced that Hobart would deploy to Vietnam. Hobart served as plane guard for carriers on Yankee Station in the Tonkin Gulf, participated in Sea Dragon and Market Time operations, patrolled on search and rescue duties and carried out gunfire support missions during the conflict.
On June 17, 1968 (the 2nd Tour) while on the gun line with Yankee Station, off the coast of North Vietnam, Hobart was struck by three Sparrow missiles fired from a USAF 7th Air Force aircraft (one of the three missiles failed to explode). Two crewmen were killed and seven injured. HMAS Hobart, in company with the heavy cruiser USS Boston (CAG-1), had been in the vicinity of two US Navy Swift Boats (PCF-12 & PCF-19) that were under attack by North Vietnamese Helicopters on 16 June 1968. The initially "unidentified hovering aircraft" had sunk PCF-19, and PCF-12 had been involved with a 2 hour running gun battle with other hovering aircraft. When US jet aircraft arrived on the scene, hours later, the enemy aircraft had departed, and the US jets attacked the Boston and Hobart. The USS Boston suffered no casualties, and was only slightly damaged in the attack. Due possibly to both attacks occurring around the hours of midnight, and the enemy's unprecedented use of hovering aircraft (helicopters) to attack allied forces during the war, the two events had somehow been combined into one action, with the concluding official report stating "Fractricide." [3]
In all, Hobart served three tours of duty, and was awarded the United States Navy Unit Commendation for the 1st and 3rd Tours in Vietnam.
In 1968, Hobart was fitted with the Ikara Anti Submarine Missile system. She completed a major modernisation at Garden Island Dockyard in April 1978, including updating the Tartar Guided Missile Fire Control System and radars. The Ikara was removed in 1991 and the ship was fitted for the 20 mm Mk 15 Vulcan Phalanx Close-In Weapons System (CIWS).
Hobart paid off on 12 May 2000 and was sunk as a dive wreck four nautical miles (7 km) west-north-west of Marina Vincent, Yankalilla Bay, South Australia on 5 November 2002.