page_title: HMAS Hobart (D 39)
section_title: 1970s–1980s
hierarchical_section_title: HMAS Hobart (D 39) / Operational history / 1970s–1980s
caption_attribution_description: An aerial view of the first U.S. Navy battleship battle group to deploy to the Western Pacific since the Korean War underway with Australian ships during a training exercise. The ships are, clockwise from left: USS Long Beach (CGN-9), USS Merrill (DD-976), HMAS Swan (DE 50), HMAS Stuart (DE 48), HMAS Parramatta (DE 46), USNS Passumpsic (T-AO-107), USS Wabash (AOR-5), HMAS Derwent (DE 49), USS Kirk (FF-1087), USS Thach (FFG-43), HMAS Hobart (D 39) and USS New Jersey (BB-62), center.
context_page_description: HMAS Hobart (D 39) was a Perth-class guided missile destroyer of the Royal Australian Navy. Built in the United States of America to a slight variant of the United States Navy Charles F. Adams class, she was commissioned into the RAN in 1965. In March 1967, Hobart became the first RAN combat ship deployed to fight in the Vietnam War. This marked the start of consistent six-month deployments to the warzone, which continued until late 1971; Hobart was redeployed in 1969 and 1970. During the 1968 tour, the destroyer was attacked by a United States Air Force aircraft.
  After the Vietnam War, Hobart saw service during Operation Navy Help Darwin; the RAN disaster relief effort following Cyclone Tracy, was the first RAN ship to dock at HMAS Stirling in Western Australia, and completed a round-the-world voyage in 1976. The ship was modernised during the late 1970s. Hobart was decommissioned in 2000, and sunk as a dive wreck off South Australia.
context_section_description: In 1972, Hobart underwent modernisation in the US. In June 1974, the destroyer was involved in the exercise Kangaroo One. On 15 October, Hobart departed from Sydney with HMAS Supply for a five-week tour of Australian and New Zealand ports. While in her namesake city, Hobart was visited by Charles, Prince of Wales; the first time the royal had boarded an Australian warship.
  On 27 December 1974, Hobart sailed from Sydney as one of thirteen RAN ships involved in Operation Navy Help Darwin; the RAN disaster relief effort following the destruction of Darwin by Cyclone Tracy on 24–25 December 1974. Later in the year, the destroyer participated in the multinational exercise RIMPAC 75, then embarked on a three-month deployment in the Indian Ocean, during which Hobart became the first RAN ship to visit Malé in the Maldives, and the first warship to dock at HMAS Stirling, the new naval base in Western Australia. Between May and September 1976, Hobart sailed on a round-the-world voyage; the 109-day deployment was named Exercise Phineas Fogg after the main character from Around the World in Eighty Days. During this voyage, the ship visited nineteen ports in twelve countries, and represented Australia at the fleet review off New York commemorating the United States Bicentennial.
  During 1977 and 1978, Hobart underwent a half-life modernisation, during which the propulsion system was converted from furnace oil to diesel fuel, and a Naval Combat Data System was installed. In July 1979, Hobart and the Antarctic Support Vessel Thala Dan were sent to Macquarie Island to retrieve a badly injured researcher and return him to Australia. In order to transfer the researcher to the ship, Hobart's personnel constructed a makeshift helipad, which was used by Thala Dan's helicopter to deliver the injured man to the destroyer. Hobart remained in Australian waters during the early 1980s, with the exception of deployments to Hawaii for RIMPAC, to the North West Indian Ocean for 6 months in 1981 and participation in Kangaroo exercises. The destroyer underwent refit in 1984. In 1985, Hobart sailed to Canada to represent Australia at a naval review recognising the 75th anniversary of the Royal Canadian Navy's founding. During 1986, the ship was deployed to South-east Asia, which was repeated in 1987. During early 1988, the destroyer participated in activities celebrating Australia's Bicentenary, then later in the year sailed to join the RIMPAC exercise. In 1989, the destroyer's Ikara launchers were removed during a refit.
caption: Hobart (second row from left, bottom) cruises as part of a joint US-Australian battle group around the US Navy battleship USS New Jersey
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