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In 1904 a group of obsolete gunboats of the state navies was assimilated into the Commonwealth Naval Forces and assigned to protect harbours and coastal installations while the seaward, or "blue water" tasks were the responsibility of a Royal Navy squadron subsidised by the Australian Government. A growing number of people, among them Captain William Rooke Creswell, the Director of the Commonwealth Naval Forces, demanded an autonomous Australian navy, financed and controlled by Australia. In 1909 Creswell represented Australia at the Imperial Conferences, convened to settle the question of naval defences, and won his campaign for an Australian Navy.
Ships and Establishments are named HMAS ???, where HMAS means "Her Majesty's Australian Ship". This follows the form of the Royal Navy in which ships are named HMS (Her Majesty's Ship).
The first Australian warship, the torpedo boat destroyer HMAS Parramatta, was launched at Govan in Scotland on Wednesday 9 February 1910 and the second ship, the torpedo boat destroyer HMAS Yarra, was launched at Dumbarton in Scotland on Saturday 9 April 1910. Both ships were commissioned into the Royal Navy on Monday 19 September 1910 and sailed for Australia. They arrived at Port Philip Bay on Saturday 10 December 1910 and, as they passed through The Rip, Engineer Lieutenant Commander W. Robertson, RN, was washed overboard from Parramatta and drowned.
In October 1911 King George V fixed his signature to the approval for the Royal Australian Navy and the ships now received the prefix HMAS, His Majesty's Australian Ship. The manpower of the fleet stood at four hundred officers and men and, for the next two years, ships were built for the fledgling navy. On Saturday 4 October 1913 the first fleet of the Royal Australian Navy, the battle cruiser HMAS Australia, the cruisers HMAS Melbourne and HMAS Sydney, the protected cruiser HMAS Encounter and the torpedo boat destroyers HMAS Parramatta, HMAS Yarra and HMAS Warrego, entered Sydney Harbour to a tumultous welcome.
Its front-line fleet currently comprises six Oliver Hazard Perry class guided-missile frigates, five ANZAC-class patrol frigates (of eight to be built) and six of the Swedish designed but locally built Collins-class submarines. These were expected to be the best conventional (i.e. Diesel-Electric, non-nuclear powered) boats in the world, but massive problems with noise and the weapons software suite have resulted in a series of delays and scandals. The Navy also operates SH-60 Seahawk helicopters.