HMAS Perth (D29)

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See also: HMAS Perth and List of World War II ships for other ships with this name

Career	Image:Naval Ensign of Australia.svg
Image:HMAS Perth (AWM 301166).jpg
Ordered:
Laid down:	26 June 1933
Launched:	27 July 1934
Commissioned:	RN as HMS Amphion 15 June 1936, RAN as HMAS Perth 29 June 1939
Fate:	Sunk in action with Japanese destroyers and cruisers, Sunda Strait 1 March 1942
Struck:
General Characteristics
Displacement:	6,890 tons, standard (9,130 tons, full load)
Length:	530 ft (161.5 m) between perpendiculars 559 ft 6 in (170.5 m) overall
Beam:	56 ft 6 in (17.2 m)
Draught:	15 ft 9 in (4.8 m) (mean)
Propulsion:	Parsons geared turbines Four-shafts, 72,000 shp
Speed:	32.5 knots
Range:	7,400 miles at 13 kt 1,920 at 30.5 kt
Complement:	646 (35 officers, 611 ratings) 681 at time of loss (includes 6 RAAF, 4 civilian)
Armament:	8 × 6 in MkXIII (4 × 2) 8 × 4 in MkXVI (4 × 2) 12 x .5 in Machine guns (3 × 4) 10 x .303 in machine guns (10 × 1) 8 × 21 in Torpedo tubes (2 × 4)
Aircraft:	one seaplane; Seagull V A2-4 & A2-17, Supermarine Walrus L2234, L2298, & L2319. (Seagull V A2-4 survives at RAF Museum, Hendon)
Motto:	Floreat (Let it flourish)

The HMAS Perth was a modified Leander class light cruiser which served with the Royal Australian Navy during World War II. The Perth, the first ship to be named after the city of Perth, was the first of its class to be modified for Australia.

[edit] History

The Perth was originally laid down by HM Dockyard at Portsmouth on 26 June 1933;, launched on 26 July 1934 by the Marchioness of Titchfield; completed in July 1936; and commissioned at Portsmouth on 15 June 1936 as HMS Amphion. The ship was purchased by the Australian government and commissioned into the Royal Australian Navy as HMAS Perth at Portsmouth on 29 June 1939.

The Perth served in the Mediterranean where she participated in the Battle of Cape Matapan and was involved in the evacuation of Greece in April 1941.

On 26 February 1942, Perth arrived at Surabaya from Tanjong Priok, under the command of Captain Hector Waller, along with the Royal Navy cruiser Exeter, the Netherlands light cruiser Java, and the destroyers HMS Electra, Jupiter, and Encounter. Dauntless, Danae, and Hobart remained at Tanjong Priok. On 27 February, Perth joined a group of ABDA cruisers and destroyers, commanded by Dutch Rear Admiral Karel Doorman onboard the heavy cruiser HNLMS De Ruyter, that left Surabaya to intercept a Japanese convoy approaching from the Makassar Strait. The ensuing action was the Battle of the Java Sea.

The Perth and USS Houston were two of only three cruisers to survive the of the Battle of the Java Sea, and they both attempted to move through the Sunda Strait to Tjilatjap. The Perth was torpedoed by Japanese destroyers during the Battle of Sunda Strait on 1 March 1942, and sank with the loss of 350 of her crew and three civilians. While 324 of the Perth's crew survived the sinking and were taken prisoner by the Japanese, 106 died in captivity before the end of the war.