hmas stuart (d00/i00)
HMAS Stuart (Pennant Number: D00, later changed to I00) was a Scott class destroyer leader built between 1917-1919.
Served with the Royal Navy Mediterranean station until 1933 where she was transferred to the Royal Australian Navy where she served until being decommissioned and scrapped 1947 in Sydney.
She served as a Flotilla leader, with Captain 'Hec' Waller (killed later during the Battle of Sunda Strait, commanding HMAS Perth, 1942) commanding, for HMA Ships Vampire, Vendetta, Voyager and Waterhen.
Notable to have never taken a hit and never suffered a combat casualty her entire career despite being in multiple close range melees with enemy ships of larger class, most notably during the night following the Battle of Cape Matapan, going against Italian cruisers at point blank.
Also of note is that she spent more than half her combined service life in the Mediterranean in both the Royal Navy and Royal Australian Navy.
After returning from the Mediterranean, she was made a stores / fast transport vessel, being deemed 'too old' for a frontline destroyer, and spent the remainder of her life transporting supplies in and around the Papua New Guinea region until 1946.
