The honour of launching the new ship went to Mrs Collins, the wife of Rear-Admiral J.A. Collins, Chief of the Naval Staff.
Built to the RN Battle-class design, the ship was to be named Matapan, after the Battle of Cape Matapan, but was changed during building, which had begun almost two years earlier at the Williamstown Naval Dockyard. With a length of 116m and a displacement of 3300 tons, Anzac was a sister ship to HMAS Tobruk, which was built in Sydney and launched in December 1947. At that time they were the largest destroyers built in Australia.
Much work was still to be done on the ship, including the fitting of boilers, engines and armaments, before she began service with the RAN. Battle-class destroyers were powered by steam turbines driving twin propellers and had a top speed of nearly 60km/h. The main armament was four 4.5-inch guns in twin turrets ahead of the bridge, 12 40mm guns for air defence, a Squid anti-submarine mortar and two sets of five-tube 21-inch torpedo launchers.
HMAS Anzac was commissioned into the RAN on March 14, 1951. From August that year she served with the UN forces in the Korean War as an aircraft-carrier escort and in the bombardment of shore targets on both sides of the Korean Peninsula. Returning to Australia in September for refitting, she had a second tour of duty in Korea during 1952 and in 1956 served in the Malayan Emergency. From 1961 to 1974 she was used as a training ship and was sold for breaking up in 1975.
She was the second RAN ship to carry the name. In 1917 the destroyer HMS Anzac was commissioned into the Royal Navy and served in the North Sea and the English Channel. After the end of World War I she was placed into reserve, but in 1919 she and five other destroyers were given to the RAN, and she became HMAS Anzac. She served with the RAN until sold for scrapping in 1935.
