they were designed to be the best they
met enemies face to face endured
tragedies and enjoyed victories they
went down in history due to the bravery
of their crews they are the ships that
deserve to be called naval legends
in this episode australia's daring
destroyers
the first colonists of Australia had to
fight all the time they faced heat lack
of water flies snakes and even ostriches
and today the Australian still cannot
live without fighting every day they
fight border trying to conquer the waves
they created ac/dc whose rock swept the
world like a hurricane
it was nothing disturb the country no
Wars no aggresses the Germans French and
Russians were nowhere around so they
basically focused on making their lives
better the first time the Australians
really felt a threat to their way of
life was when World War 2 began it was a
so-called Japanese blitzkrieg when
within half a year or maybe a year Japan
advanced from their home islands to the
coast of Australia
in February 1942 Japanese aircraft
attacked the city of Darwin in Australia
Japan was expanding its empire mainly by
occupying territories in Southeast Asia
though Australia was not part of their
plan military bases of the United States
and the Allies stationed on the green
continent were undermining Japan's
intentions to dominate the Pacific and
the Royal Australian Navy was actively
involved in the Pacific War until the
very end of World War two
following the end of the Second World
War
moving into the Cold War Australia still
realized that it needed to have a
defensive asset and it's Navy so it
moved to bringing in a new generation of
vessels of which the daring class
destroyers remember
the darién class was essentially
designed as the royal navy's super
destroyer Australia decided to build
three bearings being vampire vendetta
and Voyager
the British designed the daring class
relying on their experience of using
destroyers in World War two and the
progress in arms development the
Australian built destroyers were
somewhat different from their British
counterparts in terms of their
specifications the Daring's were similar
to light cruisers total displacement
about 3800 tonnes length about 390 feet
theme about 43 feet draft 13 feet
armament when Commission the Daring's
were equipped with versatile guns
featuring the best rate of fire in the
world six four point four five inch mark
five guns mounted in three jewel tones
as for small caliber anti-aircraft guns
the ships had six 1.5 seven-inch bow
falls autocannons torpedo armament one
five tube 21 inch torpedo launcher
anti-submarine armament one three barrel
twelve inch mark ten anti-submarine
mortar the powerplant consisted of two
foster wheeler boilers and two english
electric turbines and provided 54,000
horsepower
maximum speed over 30 knots cruising
range 3,700 nautical miles at 20 knots
the australian-built bearings were the
first all welded construction vessels
warships built in Australia
the ship incorporated all the best
design features developed during World
War two speed manoeuvrability artillery
guns a fire control system radars
everything was there all these systems
were researched and implemented in the
Daring's in a way this was a perfect
ship which is one exception she was
built after the first missiles were
already produced in the early 1970s the
Daring's were fitted with surface-to-air
missiles despite this they remained
mainly artillery ships and they were the
last ones of their kind that destroys
main turrets were their pride 4.45 inch
versatile guns could fire 24 rounds per
minute and showed themselves to be
advantageous during world war ii the
Daring's were equipped with a qf mark 5
version of these guns which was a
post-war upgrade the turrets had a
distinctive shape and made the
Destroyers easy to recognize
this is the gun Bay or gun turret a on
the daring class destroyers this is
where the shells and the cartridges were
assembled before being sent up to the
guns this is an incredibly challenging
and very dangerous place to work on the
ship was confined and as you can imagine
you've got high explosives being sent
into this room so there was the danger
of explosion or fire and if that weren't
difficult enough this Bay actually
rotated as the gun above rotated
sometimes the rotation would occur
without any warning and indeed any
indication of where it was going to go
so you could be in the middle of trying
to assemble a shell and all of a sudden
the entire Bay would move and you'd have
to shift with it
today Marouane apostate world war ii
created the communist threat for Western
civilization the Western Way of thinking
and communism was already nearby the
United States created the domino theory
in this regard what does this mean it
means that Vietnam falls into communism
then layoffs Falls Thailand Falls
Indonesia Falls in Australia Falls - and
the people in Australia believe this
after World War Two the Soviet Union
rapidly built up its influence which
spread from Western Europe and China to
the Caribbean Sea and some exotic
monarchies in the Indian Asian
archipelago military coos and
revolutions were shattering tropical
islands in the Pacific and the
Australians who led their quiet life
felt quite concerned about this now they
needed protection not from their bombs
and kamikazes but from vigorous
revolutionaries who could destroy their
Australian serenity
the ship's essentially served around
Southeast Asia under the Southeast Asian
Treaty Organization and often spent a
lot of time in Singapore essentially the
only vessel which which saw service out
of the class was the vendetta which did
a short period of time in in Vietnam
an Australian contingent of about 50,000
men participated in combat operations in
Vietnam and Australia got involved in
this war several years before the United
States interfered in the conflict at
first 30 Australian military advisers
were sent to South Vietnam but a couple
of years later a several thousand strong
military force was deployed there they
required supplies which were brought by
transport convoys from Australia
Daring's were among the ships protecting
them
despite the fact that Australia was
officially at war
it was hardly felt aboard escort ships
of course the service wasn't anything
like a pleasure trip however one of the
major concerns for the destroyer cruise
was to win the Gloucester cup the main
award for naval exercises
I think the amazing thing about vampire
was that it was an extremely happy ship
and I think that was because there was a
lot of trainees on board and the
atmosphere there was yeah give
everything a go you know don't worry
about it just just get in there and do
your best
but
you
so standing in HMS vampires Operations
Center it's directly below the
wheelhouse the nickname for this room is
called the Batcave
that's because HMAS vampires nickname
was the bat it looked a lot like a cave
and at the time that vampire was
operational Batman a particularly TV
show was a very popular thing so it was
given the nickname based on our
information the dealings with a talk
show very friendly should it all
especially been dead it was everyone in
the crew used to get along together it's
hardly any air before
however any joyful existence can be
darkened by tragedy this is a fact of
life but cheerful Australian sailors
didn't manage to escape it unfortunately
the Australian Navy lost the Voyager in
1964 with a large loss of life
on the 10th of February 1964 HMAS
Voyager one of the daring class
destroyers was struck by the aircraft
carrier HMS Melbourne
during maneuvers off Jervis Bay New
South Wales Australia the ship was hit
just after the bridge and it broke in
half and rolled over
yeah you do missile but I don't think
that the Voyageurs crew was poorly
organized Daniel Lumis I don't think
that the Melbourne's crew was poorly
organized it it was an accident
something got overlooked in a sequence
of errors led to this collision
sitting there being on a bit of vendetta
they set there and will always tell deny
there is a point one escape point to go
there in this way we get sliced in half
or and you start going down go up you
know there now where were we escape
quite cool and let's here we done
one of those two died aboard the ship
was Chief Petty Officer Jonathan Rogers
who was too big to fit through the
escape hatch but helped other crewmen
get through the escape hatch before he
led those who are still stuck in the
ship in hymns and prayers as the ship
sank
this tragedy left a deep wound in the
hearts of Australian sailors that soon
their life returned to normal
exercises regattas and patrol duties
many veterans remember their years of
service aboard the Australian Daring's
as the best and most carefree time in
their life
though the destroyers went on serious
combat missions a couple of times in
other respects the most dangerous
challenges that the Daren's crews faced
were visits to local bars and the
consequences were comical rather than
sad friendly and well knit crews of the
daring class destroyers were very highly
trained and were rewarded by the command
of the Royal Australian Navy on multiple
occasions well it's not easy to serve in
the Navy
but they were young they were happy they
accomplished some tasks yes he swamps a
tack but then he will go ashore he'll be
a sailor he'll be in the spotlight
as a junior recruit like working school
hunter morning doing an AV in the
afternoon and in center Lewin or than
the same day the rule Australian over
the movie was life-changing
51 sit me on the career man don't never
look back
the best 12 years and the earth either
spend all actually we shall done in 20
all in want of it the crew on Vendetta
at the time it was all one crew
it didn't matter with you a Stoke or a
greeny a cook I did did you know leaving
some of the officers and chiefs they'd
all jump together
you know we all go on the bar and read
by you by God you know which hardly ever
happened another ship it was just such a
good camaraderie on the ship that's what
we you know life is great on no wait
in the 1980s when New Wave music began
conquering the world
the Australian destroyers from the rock
and roll era became history Voyager and
83 members of her crew rested at the
bottom of the sea
vendetta was scrapped she was scratched
Jebus appearance into toy one and
basically ended up as a razor black you
know all the steel
yellow obviously set there inside was a
roof but I wouldn't think and ships back
then proofs he was still money in still
luck was kind of vampire alone
she was decommissioned in 1986 but
remained intact this museum ship located
in Sydney's Darling Harbour has the
right to be considered a memorial to all
Australian Daring's she is the last of
them and all the parts of went off
vendetta the neon vampire at which the
museum should be just looking these
public roads outside is a good 40% of
vendetta still flight on the airport
so I'm very glad that they say HMS
vampire from the scrappy because she
does represent an ear of the Navy which
I'm very proud
the probations of steamships and and the
great spirit of the cruise
you