HMAS Parramatta (III)
| |
 | |
| Type | River Class Destroyer Escort |
|---|---|
| Laid down | 3 January 1957 |
| Launched | 31 January 1959 by Lady Dowling, wife of the First Naval Member and Chief of Naval Staff |
| Builder | Cockatoo Docks and Engineering Co Ltd, Sydney |
| Commissioned | 4 July 1961 |
| Displacement | 2,700 tons |
| Length | 370 feet112.776 m 11,277.6 cm 0.113 km 0.0701 mi 4,440 in |
| Beam | 41 feet12.497 m 1,249.68 cm 0.0125 km 0.00777 mi 492 in |
| Draught | 15 feet4.572 m 457.2 cm 0.00457 km 0.00284 mi 180 in |
| Armament |
|
| Main Machinery |
|
| Horsepower | 30,000 shp |
| Speed | 30 knots15.433 m/s 55.56 km/h 0.0154 km/s 3,038.059 ft/min 50.634 ft/s |
| Complement | 250 |
HMAS PARRAMATTA commissioned at Sydney on 4 July 1961 under the command of CMDR G.R. Griffiths DSC RAN, the first of six River Class Destroyer Escorts.
PARRAMATTA completed several overseas deployments and spent many months on the Australia station. One of her early career highlights was the escort of the Royal Yacht BRITANNIA during the visit of Her Majesty the Queen in 1963.
PARRAMATTA had active service during the Vietnam War, escorting the fast troop transport HMAS Sydney (III) to Vung Tau, Vietnam, in 1965, 1968 and 1971. She also served on patrol duties between 1964 and 1966 during the Indonesian Confrontation.
In July 1976 PARRAMATTA was diverted to the Indonesian island of Bali to provide humanitarian relief following an earthquake which killed over 500 Balinese and injured another 3,000.
She was decommissioned on 3 June 1977 for modernisation and refit at Williamstown Naval Dockyard, and on completion recommissioned on 26 August 1981 under the command of CMDR K.H. MacGowan RAN.
Highlights of her second commission included a rare visit to the Peoples Republic of China in 1986 and participation in 1986 Royal Australian Navy 75th Anniversary Naval Review and the Bicentennial Naval Salute in 1988.
PARRAMATTA was decommissioned on 11 January 1991 as the River Class Destroyer Escorts were replaced by the Adelaide Class Guided Missile Frigates. She was sold to a Pakistani company and towed from Australia October 1991 to be broken up.
