HMAS Darwin (FFG 04)

HMAS Darwin (FFG 04), named for the capital city of the Northern Territory, is an Adelaide class guided-missile frigate of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). One of four ships ordered from the United States, Darwin entered service in 1984. During her career, she has operated in the Persian Gulf, as part of the INTERFET peacekeeping taskforce, and off the Solomon Islands. The frigate underwent a major upgrade during 2007 and 2008, and is actively serving as of 2013.

Design and construction
Darwin was the fourth Adelaide class vessel (a derivative of the United States Oliver Hazard Perry class frigate) to be ordered, and the last to be built in the United States of America. The ship was laid down by Todd Pacific Shipyards at Seattle, Washington on 2 July 1981, to the Perry class Flight III design. The Adelaides were built as part of the United States Navy's construction program, so were assigned USN hull numbers; Darwin was FFG-44. She was launched on 26 March 1982, and commissioned into the RAN on 21 July 1984.

Armament
Darwin's main weapon is the Mark 13 missile launcher located on the foredeck: this is used to fire both Harpoon and SM-2MR Standard missiles. A 76 mm Mark 75 OTO Melara gun is located on top of the superstructure, in front of the exhaust funnel. A triple-barrelled Mark 32 torpedo tube set is fitted to each side of the superstructure. For close defence, a 20 mm Mark 16 Mod 2 Phalanx CIWS sits at the aft end of the superstructure, above the frigate's two helicopter hangars. The hangars houses two S-70B Seahawk helicopters.

Operational history
During her career, Darwin has been deployed to the Persian Gulf on several occasions.

Darwin was deployed to East Timor as part of the Australian-led INTERFET peacekeeping taskforce from 19 September to 3 November 1999.

The ship was deployed to the Solomon Islands in 2001.

Darwin underwent a major upgrade and refit at Garden Island during 2007 and 2008; returning to service prior to November 2008.

On the morning of 13 March 2009, Darwin was one of seventeen warships involved in a ceremonial fleet entry and fleet review in Sydney Harbour, the largest collection of RAN ships since the Australian Bicentenary in 1988. The frigate did not participate in the fleet entry, but was anchored in the harbour for the review.

Following an overhaul of the RAN battle honours system, Darwin was granted three battle honours in 2010: "East Timor 1999", "Persian Gulf 2003-03", and "Iraq 2003".

In October 2013 Darwin participated in the International Fleet Review 2013.