Australian Naval History on 25 July 1972

HMAS Duchess was at sea carrying out surface and anti-aircraft firings before joining Melbourne on rescue destroyer duties. At 12:35, during a surface firing run, a 4.5-inch round from ‘B’ turret hit the right-hand barrel of ‘A’ turret, which had ‘run away’ to maximum elevation, and holed the barrel. Fortunately, there were no injuries and the ship was able to complete the exercise before heading back to Sydney for repairs and a Board of Enquiry.