HMAS Duchess was a destroyer that served in the Royal Navy as HMS Duchess from 1952 to 1964, and in the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) from 1964 to 1980. She was laid down by John I. Thornycroft and Company, and commissioned into the Royal Navy in 1952.
Initially assigned to the Home Fleet, Duchess spent her early career on exercises and port visits. She was involved in celebrations for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II during 1953, and escorted the royal yacht in 1954. The destroyer was reassigned to the Mediterranean Fleet in late 1954, and was involved in exercises, port visits, and anti-weapons-smuggling patrols of Cyprus. During the 1956 Suez Crisis, Duchess operated as plane guard and escort to the British carrier force, and was the last ship to leave Port Said after the British-French invasion failed. The destroyer was reassigned to the Home Fleet in early 1957, then was sent back to the Mediterranean as leader of the 5th Destroyer Squadron later that year. A modernisation refit ran from late 1958 to the start of 1961, after which, Duchess resumed operations with the Mediterranean Fleet. In 1963, tensions leading to the Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation resulted in Duchess being assigned to the Far East Fleet as part of a strengthening of British assets in South East Asia.
Following the 1964 Melbourne-Voyager collision, Duchess was loaned to the RAN as a temporary replacement for . The ship was deployed to the Far East Strategic Reserve throughout the 1960s, and operated as an escort for the Vietnam War troopship on several occasions. The original four-year loan was extended to 1972, at which point the ship was purchased outright by the Australian government. Duchess was converted into a training ship during 1973 and 1974, and spent the rest of her career operating on midshipman training cruises in Australian, New Zealand, and South Pacific waters. Duchess was replaced in the training role in 1977, and was decommissioned. The destroyer was sold for scrap in 1980.
Design and construction
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. 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. 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 . 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. 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.
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.
thumb|left|Duchess at the port city of Rotterdam in 1958
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. 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.
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. Refits were completed in November, and the destroyer spent the rest of the year undertaking trials and working up exercises. 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. 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. 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.