Portsmouth, England. 29 September 1924. Port side view of the light cruiser HMAS Adelaide ...

Portsmouth, England. 29 September 1924. Port side view of the light cruiser HMAS Adelaide entering Portsmouth Harbour. Note the two 6 inch guns alongside each other on the foredeck, part of her original configuration and rather unusual. The armament was later modified and rearranged when she was refitted in 1939. HMAS Adelaide was constructed at Cockatoo Island, Sydney, and launched in July 1918. She was commissioned in 1922 and in April 1924 she joined the Royal Navy Special Service Squadron and accompanied the battlecruisers on the Pacific and Atlantic part of their world-wide cruise, returning to England via the Panama canal. Adelaide reached Portsmouth on 18 September 1924 and after serving in British waters for three months, she sailed from Portsmouth on 10th January 1925 and arrived back in Sydney on 7th April. She was decommissioned and placed in reserve in June 1928. She was recommissioned in 1939 after a major refit and modernisation. (Donor E. C. Wilson)