HMAS Стюарт: Британдық эсминецтің тарихы және Австралия флотындағы қызметі

Scott class flotilla leader

HMAS Stuart (formerly HMS Stuart) was a British Scott class flotilla leader. The ship was built by Hawthorn Leslie and Company for the Royal Navy during World War I, and entered service at the end of 1918. The majority of the destroyer's British service was performed in the Mediterranean, and in 1933 she was transferred to the Royal Australian Navy. Although placed in reserve in 1938, Stuart was reactivated at the start of World War II to lead the Australian destroyer force, nicknamed the "Scrap Iron Flotilla" by German propagandists. The flotilla operated in the Mediterranean, with Stuart participating in the Western Desert Campaign and the battles of Calabria and Cape Matapan, defeating the Italian submarine Gondar, evacuating Allied troops from Greece and Crete, and serving with the Tobruk Ferry Service. The destroyer returned to Australia for repairs and refit in late 1941, and spent most of 1942 and 1943 in Australian waters. Stuart was modified into a stores and troop transport in early 1944, and operated in this role around Australia and New Guinea until early 1946. Stuart was placed in reserve in 1946, and was sold for ship breaking in early 1947.

Stuart was one of nine Admiralty type (or Scott class) flotilla leaders constructed during World War I for the Royal Navy. The ship had a displacement of 1,530 tons standard and 2,053 tons at full load. The propulsion machinery consisted of four Yarrow boilers feeding two Brown Curtis turbines, which delivered to the two propeller shafts. When Stuart entered RAN service in 1933, the ship's armament consisted of five BL 4.7 inch /45 naval guns, a QF 3 inch 20 cwt anti aircraft gun, two QF 2 pounder naval guns (known as pom poms), five .303 inch machine guns (a mix of Lewis and Maxim guns), six 21 inch torpedo tubes (in two triple mountings), two depth charge chutes, and four depth charge throwers.

After being commissioned in December 1918, Stuart spent most of her Royal Navy career operating with British forces in the Mediterranean, operating out of various locations including Malta. In the immediate post war period, amidst the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire and civil war in Russia, Stuart was heavily involved in various operations. In 1919–20, Stuart saw service in the Black Sea as part of Royal Navy operations during the Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War, being dispatched to Yalta in April 1919 as fighting broke out in the Crimea, and later evacuating troops from the British military mission in March 1920 as Bolshevik forces advanced on Novorossiysk. She also provided assistance to the Greeks during operations against the Turks, reinforcing the Aegean Squadron and escorting troopships during the occupation of Smyrna in May 1919, and the during the landing at Panderma in July 1920. In early 1921, Stuart was operating out of Constantinople, where the Allied forces had established an occupation force at the end of the war. Royal Navy operations in the Mediterranean normalised after 1923, and in the latter part of the decade Stuart undertook various exercises and other routine duties as part of the Mediterranean Fleet. Between 1928 and 1931, the ship was commanded by William Whitworth. In May 1933, the ship was decommissioned. In July 1940, Stuart led the 10th Flotilla during the Battle of Calabria. Stuart was also involved in the Western Desert Campaign, providing gunfire support to army forces. and participated in the Battle of Cape Matapan in March 1941. She then assisted in the evacuation of Allied troops from Greece in April 1941 and the evacuation from Crete in May 1941. The ship earned eight battle honours for her wartime service: "Mediterranean 1940", "Calabria 1940", "Libya 1940–41", "Matapan 1941", "Greece 1941", "Crete 1941", "Pacific 1942–43", and "New Guinea 1942–44".

Stuart was decommissioned into reserve on 27 April 1946. The destroyer was sold to T. Carr and Company on 3 February 1947 for ship breaking, and was delivered to the breakers yard on 21 February.