View source for HMAS Tattoo

{{for|the British Auk class minesweeper|HMS Tattoo}}
{{Use Australian English|date=March 2018}}
{|{{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship image
|Ship image=HMAS Tattoo (H26) AWM 301498.jpeg
|Ship caption=HMAS ''Tattoo'' at Port Melbourne, circa. 1920
}}
{{Infobox ship career
|Ship country=Australia
|Ship flag={{shipboxflag|Australia|naval-1913}}
|Ship namesake=[[Military tattoo]]s
|Ship builder=[[William Beardmore and Company]]
|Ship laid down=21 December 1917
|Ship launched=28 December 1918
|Ship completed=7 April 1919
|Ship commissioned=*Royal Navy: April 1919
*RAN: 27 January 1920
|Ship decommissioned=30 June 1933
|Ship motto=*''Vestigia Nulla Retrorsum''
*No Steps Backward
|Ship nickname=
|Ship honours=
|Ship fate=Sold for scrap on 4 June 1937
|Ship notes=
|Ship badge=
}}
{{Infobox ship characteristics
|Ship class=[[S-class destroyer (1917)|Admiralty S-class]] [[destroyer]]
|Ship displacement=1,075 tons
|Ship length={{convert|275|ft|11.25|in|abbr=on}} [[length overall]]
|Ship beam={{convert|26|ft|9.75|in|abbr=on}}
|Ship draught=
|Ship propulsion=3 × Yarrow boilers, Brown-Curtis turbines, {{convert|27000|shp|abbr=on}}, 2 shafts
|Ship speed=*{{convert|36|kn}} as designed
*{{convert|33.75|kn}} on power trails
*{{convert|13|kn}} economical
|Ship range={{convert|2589|nmi}} at {{convert|13|kn}}
|Ship complement=6 officers, 93 sailors
|Ship sensors=
|Ship EW=
|Ship armament=*3 × [[QF 4 inch naval gun Mk IV, XII, XXII|QF 4-inch Mk IV guns]]
*1 × [[2-pounder pom-pom]]
*2 × 9.5-inch howitzers
*5 × .303-inch machine guns
*2 × twin 21-inch torpedo tube sets
*2 depth charge throwers
*4 depth charge chutes
|Ship armour=
|Ship notes=
}}
|}
'''HMAS ''Tattoo'' (H26)''' was an [[S-class destroyer (1917)|Admiralty S-class]] [[destroyer]] of the [[Royal Australian Navy]] (RAN). Built for the [[Royal Navy]] during World War I, the ship was not completed until 1919, and spent less than eight months in British service before being transferred to the RAN at the start of 1920. After arriving in Australia, ''Tattoo'' spent her entire career in Australian waters, and was placed in reserve on several occasions. ''Tattoo'' was decommissioned in 1936, and was sold for [[ship breaking]] in 1937.

==Design and construction==
{{Main|S-class destroyer (1917)}}
''Tattoo'' was built to the Admiralty design of the [[S-class destroyer (1917)|S-class]] [[destroyer]], which was designed and built as part of the British emergency war programme.<ref name=Cassells130.1>Cassells, ''The Destroyers'', pp. 130–1</ref> The destroyer had a displacement of 1,075 tons, a [[length overall]] of {{convert|276|ft|11+1/4|in|m|2}}, and a beam of {{convert|26|ft|9+3/4|in|m|2}}.<ref name=Cassells130>Cassells, ''The Destroyers'', p. 130</ref> The propulsion machinery consisted of three Yarrow boilers feeding Brown-Curtis turbines, which supplied {{convert|27000|shp}} to the ship's two propeller shafts.<ref name=Cassells131>Cassells, ''The Destroyers'', p. 131</ref> Although designed with a maximum speed of {{convert|36|kn}}, ''Tattoo'' was only able to achieve {{convert|33.75|kn}} on power trials.<ref name=Cassells130/> The destroyer's economical speed of {{convert|13|kn}} gave her a range of {{convert|2589|nmi}}.<ref name=Cassells130.1/> The ship's company was made up of 6 officers and 93 sailors.<ref name=Cassells131/>

The destroyer's primary armament consisted of three [[QF 4 inch naval gun Mk IV, XII, XXII|QF 4-inch Mark IV guns]].<ref name=Cassells130/> These were supplemented by a [[2-pounder pom-pom]], two 9.5-inch howitzer bomb throwers, five [[.303 British|.303 inch machine guns]] (a mix of [[Lewis gun|Lewis]] and [[Maxim gun]]s), two twin 21-inch torpedo tube sets, two [[depth charge]] throwers, and two depth charge chutes.<ref name=Cassells130/>

''Tattoo'' was laid down by [[William Beardmore and Company]], Limited, at [[Dalmuir]] in [[Scotland]] on 21 December 1917.<ref name=Cassells130/> The destroyer was launched on 28 December 1918, and completed on 7 April 1919.<ref name=Cassells130.1/> The ship was commissioned into the [[Royal Navy]] in April 1919, but was quickly marked for transfer to the RAN, along with four [[sister ship]]s.<ref name=Cassells131/> ''Tattoo'' was commissioned into the RAN on 27 January 1920.<ref name=Cassells131/> There were plans to rename her HMAS ''Moresby'', but these were cancelled in June 1930.<ref name=Cassells130/>

==Operational history==
''Tattoo'' and three of her sister ships sailed for Australia on 20 February, visiting ports in the Mediterranean, India, Singapore, and the Netherlands East Indies before reaching Sydney on 29 April.<ref name=Cassells114>Cassells, ''The Destroyers'', p. 114</ref> The destroyer was placed in reserve in October 1921, then was reactivated on 12 March 1926 for a six-week period.<ref name=Cassells131/> She was to be fully decommissioned on 26 March 1928, but this was cancelled in favour of decommissioning {{HMAS|Anzac|G90|6}}.<ref name=Cassells131/> ''Tattoo'' was recommissioned on 13 July 1931.<ref name=Cassells131/> She was returned to reserve on 30 June 1933, and was briefly reactivated in October of that year to assist in torpedo re-ranging trials.<ref name=Cassells131/> On 8 January 1935, the destroyer was assigned to [[Flinders Naval Depot]], and was moved in and out of commission as required for training.<ref name=Cassells131/>

==Decommissioning and fate==
''Tattoo'' paid off for the final time on 19 June 1936.<ref name=Cassells131/> She was sold to Penguins Limited for [[ship breaking]] on 4 June 1937.<ref name=Cassells131/>

==Citations==
{{reflist}}

==References==
{{commons category}}
*{{cite book |last=Cassells |first=Vic |title=The Destroyers: Their Battles and Their Badges |year=2000 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |location=East Roseville, NSW |isbn=0-7318-0893-2 |oclc=46829686}}
*{{Cite Colledge2006}}
*{{cite book|last=Friedman|first=Norman|title=British Destroyers: From Earliest Days to the Second World War|year=2009|publisher=Seaforth Publishing|location=Barnsley, UK|isbn=978-1-84832-049-9}}
*{{cite book|editor1-last=Gardiner|editor1-first=Robert|editor2-last=Gray|editor2-first=Randal|title=Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921|year=1985|publisher=Conway Maritime Press|location=London|isbn=0-85177-245-5|name-list-style=amp}}
*{{cite book|last=March|first=Edgar J.|title=British Destroyers: A History of Development, 1892–1953; Drawn by Admiralty Permission From Official Records & Returns, Ships' Covers & Building Plans|year=1966|publisher=[[Seeley, Service]]|location=London |oclc=164893555}}

{{S class destroyers (1917)}}
{{May 1939 shipwrecks}}
{{Navbox shipwrecks of New South Wales|Scuttlednsw}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2017}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tattoo}}
[[Category:S-class destroyers (1917) of the Royal Australian Navy]]
[[Category:Ships built on the River Clyde]]
[[Category:1918 ships]]
[[Category:Maritime incidents in 1939]]