HMAS Brisbane (D 41) was one of three Perth-class guided missile destroyers to serve in the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). The United States-designed ship was laid down at Bay City, Michigan in 1965, launched in 1966 and commissioned into the RAN in 1967. She is named after the city of Brisbane, Queensland.
During her career, Brisbane made two deployments to the Vietnam War, was involved in the post-Cyclone Tracy disaster relief operation Navy Help Darwin, and deployed to the Persian Gulf during the first Gulf War. Brisbane was decommissioned in 2001, and was sunk as a dive wreck off the Queensland coast in 2005.
Design and construction Brisbane was one of three Perth-class guided missile destroyers built for the RAN.Cassells, The Destroyers, p. 30 Based on the United States Navy's Charles F. Adams class, Brisbane had a displacement of 3,370 tons at standard load, and 4,551 tons at full load, a length of overall and between perpendiculars, a beam of , and a maximum draught of . Propulsion was provided by two General Electric turbines, which provided to the destroyer's two propeller shafts. Brisbane could achieve speeds of . The ship's company consisted of 24 officers and 312 sailors.
As a guided missile destroyer, Brisbanes main armament consisted of a Mark 13 missile launcher firing Tartar missiles and two Ikara anti-submarine missile launchers. This was supplemented by two 5"/54 calibre Mark 42 guns and two Mark 32 triple torpedo tube sets.Chant, A compendium of armaments and military hardware, p. 208 Over the course of the ship's career, the Mark 13 launcher was modified to fire Standard missiles, two Phalanx CIWS units were installed in 1990, and the Ikara launchers were removed in 1991.
Brisbane was laid down by the Defoe Shipbuilding Company at Bay City, Michigan on 15 February 1965. The ship was launched on 5 May 1966 by the wife of Fred Chaney, Sr., the Minister for the Navy. Brisbane was handed over to the RAN at Boston Navy Yard on 7 December 1967, and was commissioned into the RAN nine days later. The cost of the destroyer was approximately A$50 million. The ship was given the nicknames Steel Cat and Fighting Forty-One (references to her ship's badge and pennant number respectively).Cassells, The Destroyers, p. 31 During construction, the ship was assigned the United States Navy hull number DDG-27.Sea Power Centre-Australia, AWD, Hobart, MFU or DDGH – What's in a name?
Brisbane spent the first nine months of her career undergoing exercises in US waters, before sailing for Australia on 28 September 1968. After visits to Pearl Harbor and Suva, Brisbane arrived in her namesake city on 17 October.
Operational history
Vietnam deployments
During the mid-1960s, the United States government pressured Australia to increase the resources it was committing to the Vietnam War; one of the requests was for a combat vessel to help the USN meet the demand for naval gunfire support operations.Grey, Up Top, pgs. 132, 138–9 The idea of deploying a RAN combat ship to the Vietnam War was initially hampered by the number of ships available, particularly with commitments to the Far East Strategic Reserve and involvement in the Indonesia-Malaysia Confrontation, along with the difficulty of operating and maintaining British-designed ships with USN resources.Grey, Up Top, pgs. 76, 80 On 14 December 1966, the Australian Cabinet approved the deployment of Hobart as part of increases to Australian military commitment to the conflict.Grey, Up Top, p. 81 Brisbane operated in one of three roles: Naval gunfire support operations to assist ground forces, particularly the United States Marine Corps units operating closest to the North Vietnam border.Grey, Up Top, pp. 130–5 Seven ships were usually stationed on the 'gunline', and attacks fell into two categories: 'unspotted' shelling of areas where North Vietnamese or Viet Cong forces and facilities were known or believed to be, and 'spotted' fire missions in direct support of ground troops.Grey, Up Top, p. 132 In this role, Brisbane operated under the callsign "Flamboyant".Grey, Up Top, p. 155 Anti-infiltration operations under Operation Market Time, which aimed to stop the logistic supply and reinforcement of Viet Cong units operating in South Vietnam by tracking, intercepting, and searching coastal shipping.Grey, Up Top, pp. 135–8 RAN destroyers were never formally assigned to Market Time, but the overlap of the gunline and Market Time operational areas meant the ships were often called on to assist by tracking suspicious ships or participating in raids.Grey, Up Top, p. 135 Escort of USN aircraft carriers involved in Operation Rolling Thunder airstrikes.Grey, Up Top, p. 125 Sister ships Hobart and had also been involved in shipping interdiction patrols along the coast of North Vietnam as part of Operation Sea Dragon, but this operation had ended by the time of Brisbanes first deployment.Grey, Up Top, pp. 125–30, 204 Although RAN ships on deployment were expected to fulfil all duties of an equivalent American destroyer, they were forbidden by the Australian government from operating outside the Vietnam theatre on unrelated Seventh Fleet duties (such as the Taiwan Patrol Force, guard ship duties at Hong Kong, or the Space Recovery Program).Grey, Up Top, pp. 140–1 After the invasion of Cambodia in 1970, RAN ships were also prohibited from entering Cambodian waters.Grey, Up Top, p. 141
While deployed to Vietnam, the destroyers were placed under the administrative control of Commander Australian Forces Vietnam in addition to that of the Flag Officer Commanding Australian Fleet.Grey, Up Top, pp. 82–3 Operationally, the RAN vessels were under the command of the United States Seventh Fleet.Grey, Up Top, p. 82 Arrangements were made to provide logistic support through the United States Pacific Fleet. A USN lieutenant was assigned to each ship during deployments to act as a liaison with the Seventh Fleet.Grey, Up Top, p. 144 The deployment of in March 1967 began a pattern of six-month deployments for RAN destroyers, with a constant RAN presence with the Seventh Fleet.Cooper, in Stevens, The Royal Australian Navy, p. 204 Australia was the only allied nation to provide naval support to the United States Navy during the Vietnam War.Grey, Up Top, pp. 94–5
First deployment After time in Australian waters to prepare for wartime service, Brisbane arrived in Subic on 28 March 1969 to be deployed to the Vietnam War. Responsibility was handed over from Perth on 31 March, and the ship spent the first two weeks of April undergoing familiarisation exercises and having both gun turrets repaired following equipment failures early on.Grey, Up Top, p. 197 The destroyer was first deployed to naval gunfire support duties, and arrived off the IV Corps operating area on 15 April. During this period, there was a surge in Market Time activity, and although Brisbane was not assigned to that operation, she was asked to provide gunfire assistance on several occasions.Grey, Up Top, pp. 198–9 On 5 May, Brisbane was ordered to the Gulf of Thailand to provide support for South Vietnamese forces operating near the Cambodian border.Grey, Up Top, p. 199 The destroyer was relieved on 18 May by , and sailed to Subic for maintenance.Grey, Up Top, p. 200 On 10 June, the Australian ship relieved and commenced gunline duties in the II Corps Area. After four days, during which Brisbane and completed a combined 189 fire missions, the Australian ship was ordered north to I Corps to relieve the American cruiser . Here, the Australian ship provided support for 3rd Battalion 3rd Marines during Operation Virginia Ridge. Brisbane returned to the II Corps area on 24 June, but only remained in the area for four days; on 29 June, the ship was relieved by , and sailed to Singapore for maintenance and refit.Fairfax, Navy in Vietnam, p. 74 En route to Singapore, the destroyer encountered the merchant vessel , which was on fire. After unsuccessfully attempting to extinguish the fire, Brisbane evacuated Sinceres crew, and remained in the area until the salvage vessel Salvana arrived to take the stricken vessel in tow.
Brisbane returned to operations in II Corps on 15 July.Grey, Up Top, p. 202 On 22 July, near the end of a shore bombardment operation, a premature explosion occurred in the barrel of the forward gun turret; casualties were limited to one sailor with a fractured wrist, but the turret was unusable.Grey, Up Top, pp. 202–3 On the ship's return to Subic on 3 August, the damaged turret was removed, but as the replacement turret would not arrive until September, Brisbane would complete the deployment with only a single gun turret.Grey, Up Top, p. 203 After the completion of maintenance, Brisbane returned to duty on 23 August, but instead of gunline duties, was assigned as the head of the escort screen for the aircraft carrier . The ships were deployed to Yankee Station, with Brisbane and (plus other destroyers on occasion) performing escort and plane guard duties. On 12 September, Oriskany and Perkins departed, and were replaced by and respectively. On 14 September, Brisbane sailed to Subic for maintenance and fitting of the replacement turret, then departed on 1 October for Sydney, having been relieved by the Daring-class destroyer two days earlier.Grey, Up Top, pgs. 203, 208 Arriving on 13 October, Brisbane was almost immediately docked for a major refit, which lasted until 15 July 1970.
Brisbanes tour was considered quieter than those experienced previously by Australian ships.Grey, Up Top, p. 204 This, combined with the damage to the forward gun turret and other defects, meant that the destroyer only fired 7,891 shells during the six-month deployment. Two officers from the ship were Mentioned in Despatches, while other personnel awards included a British Empire Medal and 25 Naval Board commendations.
Second deployment On 29 March 1971, Brisbane relieved Perth of Vietnam duties.Grey, Up Top, p. 228 The ship was assigned to Military Region 3 for gunfire support duties, and arrived on 5 April. Shortly after, the destroyer was moved south to Military Region 4. She returned to Military Region 3 on 15 April. The first period on the gunline during that time concluded on 20 April, during which gunfire support operations had occurred on only 11 of the 16 days. The destroyer returned to the gunline on 15 May, with Brisbanes commanding officer tasked as the overall commander of gunfire operations; the only time the position was held by a RAN officer.Grey, Up Top, p. 229 Brisbane was assigned to operate near the Demilitarized Zone. The ship was relieved on 31 May and sailed to Danang. The destroyer was then assigned to escort the carrier .Grey, Up Top, p. 230 During 3 and 4 May, Brisbane was detached to provide cover for the repatriation of prisoners-of-war to North Vietnam. The operation did not go ahead, as only 13 of the 570 prisoners wanted to return to North Vietnam, and the North Vietnamese government refused to accept them. Brisbane returned to carrier escort duties, where she remained until sailing to Hong Kong for maintenance on 12 June.