HMAS Arunta
Two ships of the Royal Australian Navy have borne the name Arunta, derived from the Arrernte aboriginal people from central Australia.The first HMAS Arunta (D-130) was a Battle class destroyer laid down by the Cockatoo Docks and Engineering Company Limited at Sydney in New South Wales on 15 November 1939, launched on 30 November 1940, and commissioned on 30 March 1942. Arunta attacked and sank the enemy Japanese submarine RO-33 off New Guinea on 24 August 1942, and participated in the landings at Lingayen Gulf in January 1945 where she was damaged by enemy Japanese kamikaze aircraft and at Balikpapan in Borneo in July 1945. HMAS Arunta paid off to reserve on 21 December 1956, was sold for scrap to the China Steel Corporation of Taipei in Formosa on 1 November 1968, and sank under tow 65 miles off the New South Wales coast on 13 February 1969.
The second HMAS Arunta (151) is an Anzac class frigate laid down by Tenix Defence Systems Propriety Limited at Williamstown in Victoria on 22 July 1995, launched on 28 June 1996 by Mrs Dulce Morrow, wife of the late Commodore J.C. Morrow RAN CBE DSO DSC, Commanding Officer of the first HMAS Arunta when she was commissioned in 1942, and commissioned on 12 December 1998. HMAS Arunta is an active unit of the Royal Australian Navy.
