HMAS Quadrant (G11/D11/F01), named for the navigational instrument

Quadrant (instrument)

A quadrant is an instrument that is used to measure angles up to 90°. It was originally proposed by Ptolemy as a better kind of astrolabe. Several different variations of the instrument were later produced by medieval Muslim astronomers.-Types of quadrants:...

, was a Q class

Q and R class destroyer

The Q and R class was a class of sixteen War Emergency Programme destroyers ordered for the British Royal Navy in 1940 as the 3rd and 4th Emergency Flotilla. They served as convoy escorts during World War II. Three Q class ships were transferred to the Royal Australian Navy upon completion, with...

 destroyer operated by the Royal Navy

Royal Navy

The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

 as HMS Quadrant (G67/D17) during World War II, and the Royal Australian Navy

Royal Australian Navy

The Royal Australian Navy is the naval branch of the Australian Defence Force. Following the Federation of Australia in 1901, the ships and resources of the separate colonial navies were integrated into a national force: the Commonwealth Naval Forces...

 (RAN) from 1945 to 1957. The ship was built during the early 1940s as one of the War Emergency Programme destroyers

War Emergency Programme destroyers

The War Emergency Programme destroyers were 112 destroyers built for the British Royal Navy during World War II. They were based on the hull and machinery of the earlier J, K and N class destroyer. Due to supply problems and the persistent failure by the Royal Navy to develop a suitable...

, and entered service in 1942.

During World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, Quadrant served as a convoy escort in the Arctic, South Atlantic, and Indian Oceans, and operated with the British Eastern

British Eastern Fleet

The British Eastern Fleet was a fleet of the Royal Navy which existed from 1941 to 1971...

 and British Pacific

British Pacific Fleet

The British Pacific Fleet was a British Commonwealth naval force which saw action against Japan during World War II. The fleet was composed of British Commonwealth naval vessels. The BPF formally came into being on 22 November 1944...

 Fleets. At the war's end, the ship was decommissioned and transferred to the RAN, which operated her for two years before placing her in reserve. In 1950, the ship was docked for conversion into an anti-submarine frigate. Quadrant was recommissioned in 1953, and operated with the RAN until 1957, when she was paid off. The ship was sold for breaking

Ship breaking

Ship breaking or ship demolition is a type of ship disposal involving the breaking up of ships for scrap recycling. Most ships have a lifespan of a few decades before there is so much wear that refitting and repair becomes uneconomical. Ship breaking allows materials from the ship, especially...

 in 1963.

Design and construction

Quadrant was built to the wartime Q class

Q and R class destroyer

The Q and R class was a class of sixteen War Emergency Programme destroyers ordered for the British Royal Navy in 1940 as the 3rd and 4th Emergency Flotilla. They served as convoy escorts during World War II. Three Q class ships were transferred to the Royal Australian Navy upon completion, with...

 design; the third flotilla of War Emergency Programme destroyers

War Emergency Programme destroyers

The War Emergency Programme destroyers were 112 destroyers built for the British Royal Navy during World War II. They were based on the hull and machinery of the earlier J, K and N class destroyer. Due to supply problems and the persistent failure by the Royal Navy to develop a suitable...

. These ships had a displacement of 1,750 tons at standard load, and 2,388 tons at full load. The destroyer was 358 in 3 in (109.19 m) in length overall, 339 in 6 in (103.48 m) long between perpendiculars, and had a beam of 35 in 8 in (10.87 m). Propulsion was provided by two Admiralty 3-drum boilers connected to Parsons geared turbines; these provided 40,000 shaft horsepower to the destoyer's two propellers. Quadrant could reach speeds of 31.5 knots (17.1 m/s). The ship's company consisted of 220 officers and sailors.

Quadrants armament (at the end of World War II) consisted of four single 4.7-inch QF Mark XI**

4.7 inch QF Mark XII

The 4.7 inch QF Mark IX and Mark XII were 120-mm 45-calibre naval guns which armed the majority of Royal Navy and Commonwealth destroyers in World War II, and were exported to many countries after World War II as the destroyers they were mounted on were sold off.-Description and history:These guns...

 guns, a quadruple 2-pounder "pom-pom"

QF 2 pounder naval gun

The 2-pounder gun, officially designated the QF 2-pounder and universally known as the pom-pom, was a 1.575 inch British autocannon, used famously as an anti-aircraft gun by the Royal Navy. The name came from the sound that the original models make when firing...

, six single 20 mm Oerlikon

Oerlikon 20 mm cannon

The Oerlikon 20 mm cannon is a series of autocannons, based on an original design by Reinhold Becker of Germany, very early in World War I, and widely produced by Oerlikon Contraves and others...

 anti-aircraft guns, and two quadruple torpedo tube sets for 21-inch torpedoes. The ship was also fitted with four depth charge throwers, with up to 70 depth charges carried.

The destroyer was laid down at laid down by R. and W. Hawthorn, Leslie and Company Limited at Hebburn-on-Tyne, England on 24 September 1940. She was launched on 28 February 1942 by the wife of one of the shipyard's directors. Quadrant was commissioned into the Royal Navy on 26 November 1942.

Royal Navy service

During World War II, Quadrant served with the British Eastern

British Eastern Fleet

The British Eastern Fleet was a fleet of the Royal Navy which existed from 1941 to 1971...

 and British Pacific

British Pacific Fleet

The British Pacific Fleet was a British Commonwealth naval force which saw action against Japan during World War II. The fleet was composed of British Commonwealth naval vessels. The BPF formally came into being on 22 November 1944...

 Fleets.

Quadrant was engaged in convoy escort duties in the Arctic, South Atlantic, and Indian Oceans. She took part in the North African landings, aircraft carrier strikes against Surabaya

Surabaya

Surabaya is Indonesia's second-largest city with a population of over 2.7 million , and the capital of the province of East Java...

 and bombardment of the Nicobar Islands

Nicobar Islands

The Nicobar Islands are an archipelagic island chain in the eastern Indian Ocean...

. She served with the British Pacific Fleet in 1945 where she took part in operations against Formosa

Taiwan

Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...

 (Taiwan), Okinawa, and the Japanese home islands.

Transfer to RAN

Quadrant was loaned to the Royal Australian Navy

Royal Australian Navy

The Royal Australian Navy is the naval branch of the Australian Defence Force. Following the Federation of Australia in 1901, the ships and resources of the separate colonial navies were integrated into a national force: the Commonwealth Naval Forces...

 (RAN) in exchange for the return of one of the N class destroyers. Quadrant commissioned into the RAN on 18 October 1945, and was used to transport soldiers from New Guinea home to Australia. On 16 August 1947, the destoyer was paid off into reserve.

Frigate conversion

On 15 February 1950, the heavy cruiser departed Sydney for Melbourne with Quadrant in tow. The vessels arrived at Melbourne on 18 February. Conversion of Quadrant to a fast anti-submarine frigate began at the Williamstown Naval Dockyard in Melbourne during April 1950.

During the conversion; all of Quadrants previous armament was stripped off, and replaced with two 4-inch guns, two 40 mm Bofors cannons, and two Squids

Squid (weapon)

Squid was a British World War II ship-mounted anti-submarine weapon. It consisted of a three-barrelled mortar which launched depth charges. It replaced the Hedgehog system, and was in turn replaced by the Limbo system....

 (ahead throwing anti-submarine weapons). The conversion was completed in mid 1953, and the ship recommissioned into the RAN on 16 July.

RAN service

After recommissioning, Quadrants service was mainly in Australian waters. Quadrant escorted the Royal Yacht during the visit to Australia of Queen Elizabeth II

Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom

Elizabeth II is the constitutional monarch of 16 sovereign states known as the Commonwealth realms: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize,...

 and the Duke of Edinburgh

Duke of Edinburgh

The Duke of Edinburgh is a British royal title, named after the city of Edinburgh, Scotland, which has been conferred upon members of the British royal family only four times times since its creation in 1726...

 in February 1954. Quadrant visited New Guinea, Manus, and New Britain in October 1954, New Zealand in March 1955, and spent a period on exercises in Far East waters in June 1955. In March 1956, she took part in exercises in Malayan waters. During June 1956 she served for a period as a surveillance vessel with the Japanese pearling fleet in the Arafura Sea

Arafura Sea

The Arafura Sea lies west of the Pacific Ocean overlying the continental shelf between Australia and New Guinea.-Geography:The Arafura Sea is bordered by Torres Strait and through that the Coral Sea to the east, the Gulf of Carpentaria to the south, the Timor Sea to the west and the Banda and Ceram...

. In October 1956, Quadrant again proceeded to the Far East for further exercises, visiting Hong Kong, Singapore, and Manila.

Decommissioning and fate

Quadrant paid off at Sydney on 16 August 1957 and was sold for scrap to the Japanese firm of Kinoshita and Company Limited on 15 February 1963.