page_title: HMAS Yarra (U77)
section_title: Design and construction
hierarchical_section_title: HMAS Yarra (U77) / Design and construction
caption_attribution_description: English: Offered for sale by Abbott and Holder in February 2020 when it was described as "NORTON Frank (1916-1983) RAN Official War Artist. ‘Fitting Out H.M.A.S. Yarra at Sydney’. Pencil and gouache on grey paper. Signed, inscribed and dated, 1935. ‘Yarra’ was a Grimsby Class Sloop, one of four laid down at Cockatoo Island Dockyard, Sydney, Australia in 1934 and launched in 1935. She was sunk by the Japanese in March 1942. 9x10.5 inches."
context_page_description: HMAS Yarra (U77), named for the Yarra River, was a Grimsby-class sloop of the Royal Australian Navy that served during World War II. Commissioned in 1936, Yarra spent the early part of the war in Australian waters, then was transferred to the East Indies Station in 1940. The sloop operated in the Red Sea, then was involved in the Anglo-Iraqi War and the Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran. After operating as part of the Tobruk Ferry Service in the Mediterranean during November, Yarra was reassigned to Southeast Asia in response to Japanese attacks. On 4 March 1942, Yarra was attacked and sunk by a force of Japanese cruisers and destroyers while attempting to protect ships withdrawing to Australia.
context_section_description: The Grimsby class consisted of thirteen sloops, four of which were built in Australia for the RAN. Yarra, one of the first pair, had a displacement of 1,060 tons at standard load and 1,500 tons at full load, was 266 feet 3 inches (81.15 m) long, had a beam of 36 feet (11 m), and a draught of between 7.5 and 10 feet (2.3 and 3.0 m) depending on load. Propulsion machinery consisted of two Admiralty 3-drum boilers connected to Parsons geared turbines, which delivered 2,000 shaft horsepower (1,500 kW) to the sloop's two propeller shafts. Maximum speed was 16.5 knots (30.6 km/h; 19.0 mph). The ship's company in peacetime consisted of 135 officers and sailors; this increased to 160 during the war.
  Yarra's armament consisted of three QF 4-inch (101.6 mm) Mk V anti-aircraft guns along with small calibre weapons.
  Yarra was laid down by the Cockatoo Island Dockyard at Sydney, New South Wales on 24 May 1934, launched on 28 March 1935 by Florence Parkhill, the wife of Archdale Parkhill, Minister for Defence, and commissioned into the RAN on 21 January 1936.
caption: Fitting Out H.M.A.S. Yarra at Sydney (1935) by Frank Norton
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