The Hobart class is a ship class of three air warfare destroyers (AWDs) built for the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). Planning for ships to replace the Adelaide-class frigates and restore the capability last exhibited by the Perth-class destroyers began by 2000, initially under acquisition project SEA 1400, which was re-designated SEA 4000. Although the designation "Air Warfare Destroyer" is used to describe ships dedicated to the defence of a naval force from aircraft and missile attack, the destroyers are expected to also operate in anti-surface, anti-submarine, and naval gunfire support roles.
HMAS Hobart in December 2017
The two competing designs for the Australian AWD project: Arleigh Burke-class destroyer USS Donald Cook leading Álvaro de Bazán-class frigate Álvaro de Bazán in 2005
HMAS Hobart, left, and HMAS Brisbane at ASC Osborne in June 2016.
HMAS Hobart's mast and upper superstructure, showing many of the ship's sensors
In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, maneuverable, long-endurance warship intended to escort
larger vessels in a fleet, convoy, or carrier battle group and defend them against a wide range of general threats. They were originally conceived in 1885 by Fernando Villaamil for the Spanish Navy as a defense against torpedo boats, and by the time of the Russo-Japanese War in 1904, these "torpedo boat destroyers" (TBDs) were "large, swift, and powerfully armed torpedo boats designed to destroy other torpedo boats". Although the term "destroyer" had been used interchangeably with "TBD" and "torpedo boat destroyer" by navies since 1892, the term "torpedo boat destroyer" had been generally shortened to simply "destroyer" by nearly all navies by the First World War.
USS Arleigh Burke, the lead ship of her class of guided-missile destroyers.
The destroyers of the US Navy's Zumwalt-class, pictured here sailing with a Littoral combat ship (LCS) are the longest and heaviest destroyers currently in service.
The Italian Caio Duilio, belongs to the Horizon-class of Franco-Italian designed first-rate frigates.
Fernando Villaamil, credited as the inventor of the destroyer concept, died in action during the Battle of Santiago de Cuba in 1898.