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HMAS Vampire

Two ships of the Royal Australian Navy have borne the name Vampire.

The first HMAS Vampire (D-68/I-68) was a V class destroyer 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 but recommissioned on 11 May 1938, and was involved in the evacuation of Greece in April 1941. HMAS Vampire and the British aircraft carrier HMS Hermes were attacked by Japanese aircraft off Batticaloa in Ceylon at 1035 on 9 April 1942, and the carrier went down within twenty minutes. Vampire was hit by a bomb which broke her in half and she sank at 1105 with the loss of nine of her crew.

The second HMAS Vampire (D-11) was a Daring class destroyer laid down by the Cockatoo Island Dockyard at Sydney in New South Wales on 1 July 1952, launched on 27 October 1956 and commissioned on 23 June 1959. HMAS Vampire paid off on 13 August 1986 and was preserved as a museum ship at the Australian National Maritime Museum at Darling Harbour in New South Wales.