HMAS Swan (DE 50)

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For other ships of this name, see HMAS Swan.

Career (Australia)
HMAS Swan
Builder:	Williamstown Dockyard
Laid down:	16 February 1965
Launched:	16 December 1967
Commissioned:	20 January 1970
Decommissioned:	13 September 1996
Struck:	14 December 1997
Homeport:	Sydney
Motto:	"Forward"
Nickname:	Fluffy Duck
Fate:	Sunk as dive wreck
Badge:
General characteristics
Displacement:	2,700 tons
Length:	107m
Beam:	12.49m
Draught:	4.57m
Propulsion:	2 x English Electric steam turbines 2 shaft; 30,000shp
Speed:	30 knots
Sensors and processing systems:	1979: Mulloka sonar system AN/SPS-55 surface-search/navigation radar
Armament:	2x 4.5in Mk6 gun 2x Limbo Mk10 AS mortar re-fitted 1x quad Seacat SAM launcher 1x Ikara ASW system 2x Mark 32 torpedo tubes

The Royal Australian Navy's third HMAS Swan (DE 50) was a "River" class frigate laid down by the Williamstown Dockyard at Melbourne in Victoria on 16 February 1965. She was launched on 16 December 1967, by Mrs. Allen Fairhall, the wife of the then Minister for the Navy, and commissioned on 20 January 1970.

HMAS Swan was the third vessel in the Royal Australian Navy to be named so. Her Australian predecessors were a River Class Torpedo Boat Destroyer, commissioned in 1916 and a Grimsby class sloop, commissioned in 1937. She was the twenty-fifth Royal Swan, the twenty-two others having served in Her Majesty's Royal Navy.

She was constructed together with her sistership, HMAS Torrens, as a replacement for HMAS Voyager, which was lost on 10 February 1964 in a collision with the aircraft carrier HMAS Melbourne. Both vessels were derivations of the Royal Navy's Leander class general purpose frigate, which was in turn derived of the Type 12 frigate.

In 1974, HMAS Swan was in Hong Kong for Christmas, when it was announced that she had been awarded the Duke of Gloucester Cup for being the most efficient ship in the Royal Australian Navy. Seven years later, on September 4, 1981, she became the first Australian warship to visit China in thirty-two years. On the same deployment, Swan also became the first Australian warship to be involved in joint exercises with Japanese Maritime Self Defence Force.

HMAS Swan paid off on 13 September 1996 and was scuttled as a dive wreck in Geographe Bay off Dunsborough in Western Australia on 14 December 1997.

[edit] Wreck

When HMAS Swan was decommissioned on Friday 13 September 1996 (thirty years from the decommissioning of the second HMAS Swan), her future was still uncertain.

The Commonwealth Government then decided that she should be gifted to the state of Western Australia. The state government subsequently set up an independent committee, headed by the Western Australian Tourism Commission, to decide the ship's fate. Many applications were received from all across the state, with many different plans for the Swan. Ideas included converting her into a floating hotel, a floating church, a homeless shelter, or an artificial reef.

On Monday, 11 November 1996 it was announced by the Minister for Tourism, the Hon. Norman Moore MLC, that she should be gifted to the Geographe Bay Artificial Reef Society to be scuttled and made into an artificial reef and dive site.

With the help of the Artificial Reef Society of British Columbia, which had scuttled ships of similar size and class before, preparations for her scuttling were made. She was first towed to the nearby port of Bunbury, Western Australia. From there the preparations could take place for the next twelve months. Swan was made safe for the environment by removing all harmful materials (such as oil and plastics) from her. This was done in accordance with the London Convention, which Australia is a signatory to. She was also made safe for divers, by removing potentially tangling cabling and other diver safety hazards. Diver access holes were also cut into her hull.

She was finally scuttled on Sunday December 14, 1997. An estimated 10,000 spectators were present, as well as some 600 spectator craft. The explosives had been set by Roy Gabriel from Canada. The button was to be pressed by the winner of a raffle. Mr Famlonga, from Dunsborough was the winner of the raffle, but gave up his winnings to his six-year-old son, Tyson. After Tyson pressed the button to set off the ten explosions (six at the bow, four at the stern), she sank quickly to the bottom, ending up in a nearly perfectly upright position.

Outer walkway of HMAS Swan, underwater

Swan now sits 31 metres down on a previously uninhabited area of sandy seabed 1.3 nautical miles off Point Picquet (Meelup Beach), near Dunsborough, Western Australia. The site was selected for its sandy bottom, its depth (she was to be sunk upright, and a minimum clearance from the surface would be needed to satisfy Department of Transport regulations), and its calm and sheltered location on account of Cape Naturaliste.

She is now thriving and home to over 100 different species of marine life including Samson fish and Batfish (some of which have taken up permanent residence in the crow's nests, welcoming divers to Swan). The coral on the vessel is starting to grow and she is thriving more each year.