&sq=&lang=&file=File:HMAS_Parramatta_1910.jpg) Parramatta in 1918
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| History | |
|---|---|
 Australia | |
| Name | Parramatta |
| Namesake | Parramatta River |
| Ordered | 13 March 1909 |
| Builder | Fairfield Shipbuilding & Engineering Company, Govan |
| Laid down | 17 March 1909 |
| Launched | 9 February 1910 |
| Commissioned | 10 September 1910 |
| Decommissioned | 20 April 1928 |
| Honours and awards |
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| Fate | Sold for scrap, some components later converted into memorials |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type | River-class torpedo-boat destroyer |
| Displacement | 750 long tons (760 t) |
| Length | 245 ft (74.7 m) (o/a) |
| Beam | 24 ft 3 in (7.4 m) |
| Draught | 8 ft 6 in (2.59 m) |
| Installed power |
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| Propulsion | 3 shafts; Parsons steam turbine set |
| Speed | 26 knots (48 km/h; 30 mph) |
| Range | 2,690 nmi (4,980 km; 3,100 mi) at 11.5 knots (21.3 km/h; 13.2 mph) |
| Complement | 66–73 |
| Armament |
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HMAS Parramatta, named after the Parramatta River, was a River-class torpedo-boat destroyer of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). Ordered in 1909 for the Commonwealth Naval Forces (the predecessor of the RAN), Parramatta was the first ship launched for the RAN. Temporarily commissioned into the Royal Navy for the delivery voyage to Australia, the destroyer came under Australian naval control in 1910, and was recommissioned into the RAN on 1 March 1911, shortly before the latter's formal creation.
After the beginning of the First World War in 1914 until 1917, Parramatta conducted patrols in the Pacific and South-East Asia, before she and her sister ships were transferred to the Mediterranean for anti-submarine operations. She returned to Australia in 1919 and was placed in reserve. Apart from a brief period of full commission during the visit of the Prince of Wales in 1920, Parramatta remained in reserve until 1928. She was fully decommissioned in 1928, stripped of parts, and sold for use as prisoner accommodation on the Hawkesbury River. After changing hands several times, the hull ran aground during a gale in 1933, and was left to rust. In 1973, the bow and stern sections were salvaged, and converted into memorials.