hmas vampire (d68)

HMAS Vampire (D68/I68) was a V-class destroyer of the Royal Australian Navy. She was laid down by J. Samuel White and Company, Limited, at Cowes on the Isle of Wight on 10 October 1916, launched on 21 May 1917, completed on 22 September 1917 and commissioned into the Royal Navy, transferred to the Royal Australian Navy at Portsmouth on 11 October 1933 and commissioned as HMAS Vampire. Vampire departed for Australia on 17 October 1933 and arrived in Sydney on 21 December 1933, paid off into reserve on 31 January 1934 but re-commissioned on 14 July 1936, paid off into reserve on 18 July 1936. She was recommissioned on 11 May 1938, and in World War II she was involved in the evacuation of Greece in April 1941. In 1942 she joined to the Eastern Fleet at Colombo, Ceylon. In the Indian Ocean raid on 9 April 1942 she was escorting the British aircraft carrier Hermes off Batticaloa in Ceylon when both were attacked by Japanese carrier aircraft at 10:35. Hermes went down within twenty minutes. Vampire was hit by a bomb which broke her in half and she sank at 11:05 with the loss of nine of her crew. See HMAS Vampire for other ships of this name. Vampire Vampire

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