- Yes - In the Tech Tree.
- Yes - Event/BP.
- Yes - Premium.
- No - I would not like to see HMAS Torrens in game.
Description:
HMAS Torrens was one of six river-class Torpedo Boat Destroyers operated by the Royal Australian Navy in the First World War.
Ordered in two lots of three, the Australian operated River-class were a slightly modified version of the Royal Navies River-class. Two were built in the UK, the other four were built in Australia as to build up their weak maritime industry. They also provided the base for the Australian Fleet unit, allowing for the RAN to operate a full fleet with Capital ships, Cruisers, and Destroyers.
The first three would be ordered in 1909, and would be the first ships ordered specially for the RAN, all other ships previously being either old ex-RN vessels, or inherited from the separate colonial navies pre Australian federation. The final three would be ordered in 1912 to bolster the fleet numbers.
This suggestion is for HMAS Torrens in her 1917 fit.
History:
Ordered in the second batch of the RIver-class, HMAS Torrens would be laid down by the Cockatoo Dockyard, Sydney, on the 25th of January 1913. She would launch on the 28th of August 1915 , fitting out and commissioning on the 3rd of July 1916.
Upon commissioning, she would join the British Far East Fleet Patrol, departing Sydney on the 28th of August 1916 with her sister HMAS Swan, bound for Sandakan, Borneo. Her time here would mostly consist of patrol, convoy escort, and stopping and searching local vessels. She would patrol the Malayan Archipelago until May 1917, where she would sail for refit in Singapore.
This would finish on the 2nd of July 1917, where she and her sisters HMAS Warrego, Parramatta and Yarra would sail for the Mediterranean under the Australian Destroyer Flotilla. They would arrive at Port Said on the 9th of August. From here they would again mostly conduct fleet screening and convoy escort duty. On the 16th of August, Parramatta and the Torrens would detect periscopes in the water, and would engage with the 4" gun. No hits were scored and the submarines escaped.
She would again be in refit at Malta, but would move with the rest of the Australian Destroyer Flotilla to Brindisi, Italy. From October she would patrol the strait of Otranto for enemy submarines. They would be joined there by a French Squadron sometime in December. This allowed the worn out Australian Ships to move to Malta for a large refit. Torrens specifically had her turbines stripped, and completely replaced. This work would finish in late February 1918, returning to patrol work on the 20th.
The Australian Destroyer Flotilla would be amalgamated into the 5th British Destroyer Flotilla, as part of the Adriatic Blocking Forces. In April 1918 she would assist two Italian Destroyers which had rammed each other in the night and sunk. Later on the 22nd of April, the destroyers HMS Alarm, Comet, Jackal, Hornet, HMAS Torrens, and the French Cimiterre, would be patrolling in three groups of two, when five modern Austrian Destroyers engaged Jackal and Hornet, then were chased off by Jackal, Comet, and Torrens. No hits on the Austrians were scored, but the Jackal and Hornet were damaged.
Torrens would continue these patrols until the 7th of September 1918, and would be in further refit from September to October at Messina. On the 11th of October she and the rest of the 5th Flotilla Destroyers would sail for Lemnos Island to join the Allied Fleet. After the Ottoman surrender, she would visit Russian ports in the Black Sea before proceeding to Malta on the 29th of December. She would sail further onto England on the 3rd of January 1919. They would leave for Australia on the 21st of May 1919, after 1067 days on war service.
She would then be placed on the Australia Station, patrolling the Australian Coast. She would pay off on the 19th of July 1920 into reserve. From June 1924 to March 1925 she was used as a training ship for the RANR, but would not commission. She would finally be fully decommissioned on the 12th of May 1926. On the 24th of November 1930, she would be towed to sea as a gunnery target vessel. She withstood enough shelling as to be needed to be scuttled by a gelignite charge, rather than sinking outright from the gunfire.
| General Characteristics: | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Name: HMAS Torrens | |||||
| Country: Australia | |||||
| Type: Torpedo Boat Destroyer | |||||
| Class name: River | |||||
| Year of commission: 1916 | |||||
| Refit: 1917 | |||||
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | |||||
| Dimensions: | |||||
| Length: 250 ft 9 in (76.43 m) | |||||
| Beam: 24 ft 3 in (7.4 m) | |||||
| Draught: 8ft 6in ( 2.5m) | |||||
| Displacement: 700t Standard, 750t maximum | |||||
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | |||||
| Propulsion: | |||||
| Powerplant: 3x Oil fired boilers driving steam turbines @ 10,000shp (7,500kW) across 3 shafts | |||||
| Speed: 26kt | |||||
| Endurance: 2,410 nmi @ 15kt | |||||
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | |||||
| Armament & sensors: | |||||
| Compliment: 66 | |||||
| Primary armament: 1x1 BL 4-inch Mk. VIII | |||||
| Secondary armament: 3x1 QF 12pdr 12cwt | |||||
| Tertiary armament: 3x1 18" torpedo tubes, 3x .303 Lewis, DC, DCT | |||||
| Radar: - nil | |||||
| Sonar: - nil |
Sources
Gillett, R. (1983). Australian and New Zealand Warships 1914-1945 (pp.35-38)
N.Friedman. (2009). British Destroyers from Earliest Days to the Second World War. (pp 96-99)
HMAS Torrens (D67) - Wikipedia
https://seapower.navy.gov.au/history/units/hmas-torrens-i
Occasional Paper 159: River Class Torpedo Boat Destroyers - Naval Historical Society of Australia
The RAN's Destroyers - Naval Historical Society of Australia