HMAS Yarra (D79)

HMAS Yarra
History
Australia
Namesake	Yarra River
Builder	William Denny and Brothers
Laid down	1909
Launched	9 April 1910
Commissioned	1 March 1911
Decommissioned	10 May 1928
Honours and awards	Battle honours: Rabaul 1914 Adriatic 1917–18
Fate	Sunk as target in 1932
General characteristics
Class and type	River-class torpedo-boat destroyer
Displacement	700 tons
Length	245.75 ft (74.90 m) length overall
Beam	24 ft 3.5 in (7.404 m)
Draught	8 ft 10 in (2.69 m)
Propulsion	3 × Yarrow boilers, Parsons turbines, 10,000 shp (7,500 kW), 3 shafts
Speed	26 knots (48 km/h; 30 mph)
Range	2,690 nautical miles (4,980 km; 3,100 mi) at 11.5 knots (21.3 km/h; 13.2 mph)
Complement	5 officers, 68 sailors
Armament	1 × BL 4-inch Mk VIII gun 3 × QF 12-pounder 12 cwt naval guns 3 × .303-inch machine guns 3 × 18-inch torpedo tubes (later reduced to 2) Depth charge chutes and throwers (installed later)

HMAS Yarra, named for the Yarra River, was a River-class torpedo-boat destroyer of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). Ordered in 1909 for the Commonwealth Naval Forces (the predecessor of the RAN), Yarra was temporarily commissioned into the Royal Navy on completion in 1910 and handed over to Australian control on arrival in Australia.

From 1914 to 1917, Yarra was involved in wartime patrols in the Pacific and South East Asian regions, before she and her sister ships were transferred to the Mediterranean for anti-submarine operations. She returned to Australia in 1919 and was used primarily to train naval reservists. Decommissioned into reserve then reactivated on five occasions between 1919 and 1928, Yarra was paid off for the final time in 1928, was taken to Cockatoo Island Dockyard for stripping, then was sunk in 1932 as a target ship.