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HMAS Hobart (D-39) was a modified Charles F. Adams-class (RAN type is Perth-class) guided missile armed destroyer of the Royal Australian Navy. She was laid down by Defoe Shipbuilding at Bay City in Michigan on 26 October 1962, launched on 9 January 1964 and commissioned at Boston in Massachusetts on 18 December 1965.
Hobart served as plane guard for carriers on Yankee Station in the Tonkin Gulf, participated in Sea Dragon and Market Time operations, patrolled on search and rescue duties and carried out gunfire support missions during the conflict in Vietnam.
On June 17 1968 while on duty in Vietnamese waters, Hobart was struck by three Sparrow missles fired from a USAF 7th Air Force aircraft (one of the three missles failed to explode). Two crew were killed and several injured. Shrapnel holes were still evident in Hobart's AN/SPG-51C Missile Fire Control radar power supplies as late as the early-mid 1980s.
Hobart paid off on 12 May 2000 and was sunk as a dive wreck off South Australia 5 November 2002.
Hobart was awarded the United States Navy Unit Commendation for her service in Vietnam.
See HMAS Hobart for other ships of this name.
External links
- A detailed account (http://www.gunplot.net/vietnam/hobartvietnam.html) of the 17 June action can be found at the Gun Plot (http://www.gunplot.net/) website.
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