How wartime learning reshaped HMAS Adelaide

Adelaide's long build between 1915 and 1922 allowed Australian planners to revise the Birmingham pattern with wartime experience. At roughly 5,650 tons she was the heaviest Town, carrying nine six-inch guns alongside a three-inch weapon, a 12-pounder, machine guns, two 21-inch torpedo tubes, and depth-charge chutes. Her belt, deck, gun shields, and conning tower retained the protection scheme of her Birmingham relatives. The resulting ship was recognizably part of the class but not simply a prewar design completed unchanged.