Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

HMAS Australia (I) was one of three Indefatigable-class battlecruisers built for the defence of the British Empire in the early 20th century and the first RAN ship to bear the name.

Ordered by the Australian government in 1909, she was launched in 1911, and commissioned as flagship of the fledgling Royal Australian Navy (RAN) in 1913 leading the fleet into Sydney Harbour on arrival from the United Kingdom. Australia was the only capital ship ever to serve in the RAN.

While she served on various duties in WW1 her exposure in action was quit limited.

After the War the Washington Treaty limited cpaital ships and HMAS Australia became a casualty of this agreement and was scuttled off Sydney Heads in 1924.

As an aside her relatively short service career (11 years) and 'bang for the taxpayer's dollar' was in stark contrast to HMAS Protector (/explore/units/1437)

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