River class torpedo-boat destroyer

The River class was a class of torpedo-boat destroyer of the Royal Australian Navy built just prior to World War I. These ships were the first order of new ships for the infant Commonwealth Naval Forces, and were built as a part of a scheme for local naval defence incorporating destroyers and submarines. This scheme was overtaken by the Fleet Unit scheme at the 1909 Imperial conference. All six ships of the class were named after Australian rivers (one from each state), starting a tradition in the Royal Australian Navy of naming ships after the rivers of Australia.

Design and construction

The first two ships were ordered by the Commonwealth government from British shipyards to the same design as the Royal Navy Acheron-class destroyer. A third was ordered in parts for assembly at the Cockatoo Island dockyard in Sydney, NSW, and subsequently three more ships were ordered to be built at Cockatoo, and were completed during the war.

Ships of the class

References

• Lind, L J HMAS Parramatta 1910-1928 The Naval Historical Society of Australia, 1974.

See also

• Acheron-class destroyer for Royal Navy ships of this type.
• River-class destroyer escort for a post-World War II class of Royal Australian Navy ships.

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