Seen by many as one of the most successful acquisitions in the post-World War II era, the ships had vastly increased capabilities in all warfare areas, but particularly air defence, and command and control. With the decision to cease fixed wing naval aviation in the early s, a need arose to replace the capability previously provided by the carrier, HMAS Melbourne II. The River Class frigates, which were at the time still under construction, were expected to address anti-submarine capability, but air defence capability still needed to be addressed.
The Tartar system was a superior weapons platform to the Sea Slug and offered the added bonus of being compact enough to be retrofitted into the RAN's existing Daring and Battle Class destroyers, but any decision to acquire an American design still bore considerable risk. As it was, the Admiralty was unable to meet the RAN's design specifications and the American option was accepted. She was launched on 5 May by the wife of the Minister for the Navy, Mrs Mavis Mary Chaney, in front of a crowd of approximately people.
After receiving a telegram from her sister ship, Hobart , stating "Come on in, the water's fine", Brisbane slid down the foot slipway and into the Saginaw River. A comprehensive internal training program began on 18 December as the final fit-out of the ship continued. Colours were half-masted from 20 to 22 December, and a memorial service conducted on board, as a mark of respect to the late Prime Minister Harold Holt who had disappeared while swimming at Cheviot Beach on Port Philip Bay the day after Brisbane had commissioned.
The ship's company had been in Boston for some months prior to the commissioning and had developed an excellent rapport with the local community. Many Boston families hosted crew members to Christmas lunch in their own homes and their generosity was reciprocated early in January when many members of the crew answered an emergency call for blood donations from the Red Cross when inclement weather had caused a blood shortage in Boston hospitals.
More than half of Brisbane 's complement donated some 80 pints of blood. The firm bond of friendly cooperation between the United States and the Commonwealth of Australia, brought home to me by my recent visit to your country, is further strengthened by the remarkable spirit of the members of the crew of HMAS Brisbane in response to an emergency request for blood from Boston hospitals. I have been told that the crew found Boston a pleasant and hospitable town during their stay of several months there while the Brisbane was being commissioned in Boston Navy Yard.
