HMAS Vampire (D68)

For other ships with the same name, see HMAS Vampire and HMS Vampire.

HMAS Vampire
History
United Kingdom
NameWallace
NamesakeWilliam Wallace
Ordered1916
BuilderJ. Samuel White & Co Ltd
Laid down10 October 1916
Launched21 May 1917
RenamedVampire 1917
Commissioned22 September 1917
Decommissioned11 November 1933
FateTransferred to Australia
History
Australia
NameVampire
NamesakeVampire (mythical creature)
Acquired11 November 1933
Commissioned11 November 1933
Decommissioned31 January 1934
Recommissioned11 May 1938
IdentificationPennant number D68/I68
Honours and
awards
FateBombed and sunk by Japanese aircraft on 9 April 1942
General characteristics (RAN service)
Class and typeV-class flotilla leader
Displacement
  • 1,188 tons standard
  • 1,489 tons deep
Length
  • 312 ft (95.1 m) overall
  • 300 ft (91.4 m) between perpendiculars
Beam29 ft 6 in (9.0 m)
Draught13 ft 9 in (4.2 m) maximum
Propulsion3 × White Forster boilers, 2 × Brown-Curtis turbines, twin screws, generating 27,000 shp (20,000 kW)
Speed34 knots (63 km/h; 39 mph)
Range3,500 nmi (6,500 km) at 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph)
Complement6 officers, 113 sailors
Armament
  • 4 × QF 4-inch (101.6 mm) Mk V guns
  • 1 × QF 2-pounder gun (increased to 2 in January 1942)
  • 4 × Lewis .303 guns (2 twin mountings)
  • 1 × Lewis .303 gun (later replaced by 1 × 4-barrel Vickers .303 gun)
  • 6 × 21 inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes (2 triple mounts, later increased to 2 quad mounts)
  • 2 × depth charge throwers (installed later)
  • 4 × depth charge chutes (installed later)
  • 50 depth charges

HMAS Vampire was a V-class destroyer of the Royal Navy (RN) and Royal Australian Navy (RAN). Launched in 1917 as HMS Wallace, the ship was renamed and commissioned into the RN later that year. Vampire was lent to the RAN in 1933, and operated as a depot tender until just before World War II. Reactivated for war service, the destroyer served in the Mediterranean as part of the Scrap Iron Flotilla, and was escorting the British warships HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Repulse during their loss to Japanese aircraft in the South China Sea in December 1941. Vampire was sunk on 9 April 1942 by Japanese aircraft while sailing with the aircraft carrier HMS Hermes from Trincomalee.