HMAS ADELAIDE
Model Maker
Oriental Industry Company
Date1987
Object number00000159
NameModel
MediumBrass, glass fibre
DimensionsOverall: 570 x 1570 x 342 mm
ClassificationsModels
Credit LineANMM Collection
DescriptionHMAS ADELAIDE is represented in this model at a scale of 1:50 and belonged to the Adelaide class of guided missile frigates (FFGs) built for the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) in the United States. As a long-range escort it took on many roles including air defence, anti-submarine warfare, surveillance and reconnaissance and was able to counter threats from the air, surface and sub-surface simultaneously.HistoryHMAS ADELAIDE (FFG 01) was the lead ship of the Adelaide class of guided missile frigates (FFGs) in use in the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) from 1980 to 2007. It was named after the former RAN light cruiser HMAS ADELAIDE which was in service from 1922 to 1945. With the ability to counter air, surface and sub-surface threats simultaneously, the FFG operated as a long-range escort with roles in air defence, anti-submarine warfare, coastal surveillance, reconnaisance and interdiction.
The Adelaide class design was based on the United States Navy (USN) Oliver Hazard Perry class of frigates and was constructed at the Todd Pacific Shipyard Corporation in Seattle between 1977 and 1980. The RAN's other five FFGs were HMA Ships CANBERRA, SYDNEY, DARWIN, MELBOURNE and NEWCASTLE. The FFGs were progressively replaced by the ANZAC class from 1995 onwards.
HMAS ADELAIDE took part in the 1990-1991 Gulf War, the 1999 peacekeeping operations in East Timor and was deployed to the Arabian Gulf as part of the international coalition against terrorism from 2001. Most notably, the ADELAIDE was involved in the headline-grabbing rescues in the Southern Ocean of lone around-the-world yachtsmen Thierry Dubois and Tony Bullimore and was at the centre of the infamous 'children overboard' affair in 2001.
On 8 February 2007, the Minister for Defence announced that HMAS ADELAIDE would be decommissioned and gifted to the government of New South Wales to be scuttled as a recreational dive site and artificial reef in waters off the central coast near Terrigal.
SignificanceThis model represents the Adelaide class of frigates, the elite workhorses of the RAN used from the 1980s until the first decades of the 21st century.
