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The River class was a class of six torpedo-boat destroyers operated by the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). Based on the British ''Acheron'' class, a batch of three ships was ordered for the Commonwealth Naval Forces in 1909, followed later by a second batch of three. All six vessels are named after Australian rivers. The Rivers saw service during World War I. Ships of the class participated in the Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force capture of German New Guinea, and performed patrols in Australian and Malayan waters. In 1917, the class was deployed as a single unit to the Mediterranean, and assigned to anti-submarine patrols of the Adriatic. The destroyers returned to Australia in 1919, and were placed in reserve. All six ships of the class were disposed of by the 1930s. Three were sold for use as accommodation hulks (two to the NSW Penal Department, the third to Cockatoo Island Dockyard) and later sank. The other three were sunk as target ships. The bow and stern sections of were recovered in 1973 and are preserved as memorials. ==Design and construction== Based on the British Acheron class, the destroyers of this class had a displacement of 750 tons.〔 The first three had a length overall of , while the second three were longer at .〔Cassells, ''The Destroyers'', p. 74〕〔Cassells, ''The Destroyers'', p. 138〕 They were powered by three Yarrow oil-burning boilers connected to Parsons turbines, which delivered to three propeller shafts.〔Cassells, ''The Destroyers'', p. 75〕 Cruising speed was , giving the ship a range of , and maximum speed was .〔Cassells, ''The Destroyers'', pp. 74–5〕 Each ship's company consisted of between 66 and 73 personnel, including five officers.〔 The destroyers' main armament consisted of a single BL 4-inch Mark VIII naval gun, supplemented by three QF 12 pounder 12 cwt naval guns.〔Cassells, ''The Destroyers'', p. 190〕 They were also fitted with three .303-inch machine guns and three single 18-inch torpedo tubes.〔 The first three ships, , and , were ordered for the Commonwealth Naval Forces (the post-Federation amalgamation of the Australian colonial navies) on 6 February 1909.〔Stevens, in Stevens, ''The Royal Australian Navy'', p. 18〕 Another three ships, , , and , were ordered later. On the advice of the British Admiralty, the ships were named after Australian rivers (one from each state), although the original intention of using rivers with Aboriginal name origins did not carry through to the second batch.〔Perryman, ''Naming of RAN ships''〕 Senator George Pearce requested that they instead be named after famous navigators, but was overruled by Prime Minister Alfred Deakin.〔 ''Huon'' was originally to be named ''Derwent'', but this was changed before launch to avoid confusion with the British E-class (formerly River-class) destroyer .〔Cassells, ''The Destroyers'', p. 46〕 ''Parramatta'' and ''Yarra'' were the first new ships launched for the Australian navy.〔〔Stevens, in Stevens, ''The Royal Australian Navy'', p. 19〕 After completion, the two vessels were temporarily commissioned into the Royal Navy for the delivery voyage to Australia, although they reverted to the control of the Commonwealth Naval Forces on arrival in Broome.〔 ''Warrego'', however, was built up to launch condition, then disassembled, transported to Australia by ship, and rebuilt at Cockatoo Island Dockyard: the reasoning behind this was to raise the standard of the Australian shipbuilding industry by giving Cockatoo Island hands-on experience in warship construction.〔Clark, in Stevens & Reeve, ''The Navy and the Nation'', pp. 313–4〕〔Cassells, ''The Destroyers'', p. 191〕 The second batch of three warships were all built at Cockatoo Island.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「River-class torpedo-boat destroyer」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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