Four ships of the Royal Australian Navy have borne the name HMAS Parramatta.
Named for the Parramatta River, from the Barramattagal people (burra meaning eel and matta meaning creek), a large tidal estuary of Sydney Harbour.
The first HMAS Parramatta (D-55) was a River class torpedo boat destroyer laid down by the Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company Limited of Govan at Glasgow in Scotland, launched on 9 February 1910 by Mrs. H. E. Asquith, wife of the British Prime Minister, commissioned as a Royal Navy Ship for the voyage to Australia on 10 September 1910, and passed to the control of the Australian government at Broome in Western Australia on 15 November 1910. Parramatta operated with the fleet in the search for the German Pacific Squadron, took part in the capture of the German Colonies in the South West Pacific, was present at the surrender of German New Guinea at Rabaul on 13 September 1914, assisted in the consolidation of the Australian occupation of New Guinea and New Britain, served with the British Far East Patrol at Sandakan in Borneo and Singapore, operated in the Mediterranean as part of the British 5th Destroyer Flotilla, operated with an Allied Squadron at Constantinople, returned to Australia on 21 May 1919, paid off at Sydney on 22 July 1919, recommissioned for the period 17 May to 13 June 1920 for the visit of the Prince of Wales in HMS Renown, was based at Westernport as a training ship from October 1924 until November 1925, and was placed in Reserve with a Care and Maintenance Party in May 1926 for Naval Reserve Training at Adelaide. HMAS Parramatta paid off on 20 April 1928 and handed over to the Cockatoo Dockyard for dismantling on 17 October 1929. Note: Her hull was used as an accommodation vessel by the NSW Penal Department before being sold to Mr. George Rhodes of Cowan as scrap, and the remains of the ship lay derelict on a mudbank north of Milson Island in the Hawkesbury River until 7 July 1973. The bow and stern sections were salvaged and transported to a site on the north bank of the Parramatta River upstream from the Silverwater Bridge where they were established as a naval memorial under the auspices of the Council of the city of Parramatta and the Naval Historical Society of Australia.
The second HMAS Parramatta was a Grimsby class sloop.
The third HMAS Parramatta (F-05/46) was a River class destroyer escort laid down by the Cockatoo Island Dockyard at Sydney in New South Wales on 31 January 1957, launched on 31 January 1959 by Lady Dowling, wife of the First Naval Member and Chief of Naval Staff, and commissioned on 14 July 1961 under the command of Commander G. R. Griffiths DSC RAN. Parramatta escorted the Royal Yacht Britannia during the visit of Her Majesty the Queen in 1963, served on patrol duties during the Indonesian Confrontation, escorted the fast troop transport HMAS Sydney to Vietnam, underwent a modernisation refit at Williamstown Naval Dockyard between 3 June 1977 and 26 August 1981, and visited the Peoples Republic of China in 1986. HMAS Parramatta paid off on 11 January 1991, was sold in August 1991 and broken up in Pakistan.
The fourth HMAS Parramatta (154) is an Anzac class frigate laid down by Tenix Defence Systems Propriety Limited at Williamstown in Victoria on 5 June 1999, launched on 17 June 2000 by Mrs Green, daughter of Lieutenant George Langford, RAN, executive officer of HMAS Parramatta II who was mentioned in dispaches for his participation in World War II and commissioned on 4 October 2003. HMAS Parramatta is an active unit of the Royal Australian Navy.
