HMAS Sydney (1912)

Sydney steaming for Rabaul, September 1914
History
Australia
Name	Sydney
Namesake	City of Sydney
Builder	London and Glasgow Engineering and Iron Shipbuilding Company
Laid down	11 February 1911
Launched	29 August 1912
Commissioned	26 June 1913
Decommissioned	8 May 1928
Motto	"Thorough and Ready"
Honours and awards	Battle honours: Rabaul 1914 Emden 1914 North Sea 1916–18
Fate	Broken up for scrap
General characteristics
Class and type	Town-class light cruiser Chatham subclass
Displacement	5,400 long tons (5,500 t)
Length	456 ft 10+3⁄8 in (139.25 m)
Beam	49 ft 10 in (15.19 m)
Draught	19 ft 7 in (5.97 m)
Propulsion	Parsons turbines, Yarrow boilers, 4 propellers
Speed	25.7 knots (47.6 km/h; 29.6 mph)
Complement	376 standard, 475 maximum
Armament	8 × BL 6-inch (152 mm) Mk XI guns 1 × 3-inch (76 mm) anti-aircraft gun 1 × 12-pounder (76 mm) 8-cwt field gun 10 × 0.303-inch machine guns 2 × 21-inch (530 mm) torpedo tubes 2 × depth charge chutes 4 × 3-pounder gun (47 mm) saluting guns
Armour	Belt: 1.5–3 in (38–76 mm) Deck: 0.4–1.5 in (10–38 mm) Gun Shields: 4 in (102 mm) Conning Tower: 4 in (102 mm)
Aircraft carried	1 Sopwith Pup

HMAS Sydney was a Chatham-class light cruiser of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). Laid down in 1911 and launched in 1912, the cruiser was commissioned into the RAN in 1913.

During the early stages of World War I, Sydney was involved in supporting the Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force, and escorting the first ANZAC convoy. On 9 November 1914, she defeated the German cruiser SMS Emden at the Battle of Cocos. During 1915 and 1916, Sydney operated on the North America and West Indies Station, before joining the 2nd Light Cruiser Squadron at Greenock, Scotland in November 1916. On 4 May 1917, the cruiser was involved in an inconclusive action against the German zeppelin L43; neither was damaged. During late 1917, Sydney became the first Australian warship to launch an aircraft, and the first warship to do so from a rotatable platform.

After the war's end, Sydney spent a year in reserve before being reactivated to serve as Flagship of the RAN. The cruiser was decommissioned in 1928 and broken up for scrap. Several sections of the ship, including her bow and foremast, have been preserved as monuments, and three of the ship's main guns saw later use in shore fortifications.