HMAS Adelaide (FFG 01) was the lead ship of the Adelaide class of guided missile frigates built for the Royal Australian Navy (RAN), based on the United States Navy's Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigates. She was built in the United States and commissioned into the RAN in 1980.

During her career, Adelaide was part of Australian responses or contributions to the 1987 Fijian coups d'état, the Iraq invasion of Kuwait, the Indonesian riots of May 1998, the INTERFET peacekeeping taskforce, the War in Afghanistan, and the United States-led invasion of Iraq. In 1997, the frigate rescued two competitors in the 1996–97 Vendée Globe solo, round-the-world yacht race. In 2001, a boat carrying suspected illegal immigrants was intercepted by Adelaide; the events of this interception became the centre of the Children overboard affair.

In 2008, Adelaide was the second ship of the class to be decommissioned, in order to offset the cost of an upgrade to the other four vessels. This ship was to be sunk off Avoca Beach, New South Wales as a dive wreck on 27 March 2010, until an appeal to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal by protest groups led to a postponement of the scuttling until additional cleanup work was completed. Despite further attempts to delay or cancel the scuttling, Adelaide was sunk off Avoca on 13 April 2011.

Following the cancellation of the Australian light destroyer project in 1973, the British Type 42 destroyer and the American Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigate were identified as alternatives to replace the cancelled light destroyers and the Daring-class destroyers. Although the Oliver Hazard Perry class was still at the design stage, the difficulty of fitting the Type 42 with the SM-1 missile, and the success of the Perth-class acquisition (a derivative of the American Charles F. Adams-class destroyer) compared to equivalent British designs led the Australian government to approve the purchase of two US-built Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigates (including Adelaide) in 1976. A third was ordered in 1977, followed by a fourth, with all four ships integrated into the USN's shipbuilding program. A further two ships were ordered in 1980, and were constructed in Australia.

As designed, the ship had a full load displacement of 3,605 tons, a length overall of 135.6 metres (444.9 ft), a beam of 13.7 metres (44.9 ft), and a draught of 24.5 metres (80.4 ft). Early in the ship's career, she was modified from the Oliver Hazard Perry Flight I design to Flight III, requiring a lengthening of the helicopter deck for the RAST helicopter recovery system, increasing the displacement to 4,100 tons and pushing the overall length to 138.1 metres (453.1 ft). Propulsion machinery consisted of two General Electric LM2500 gas turbines, which provided a combined 41,000 horsepower (31,000 kW) to the single propeller shaft. Top speed was 29 knots (54 km/h; 33 mph), with a range of 4,500 nautical miles (8,334 km; 5,179 mi) at 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph). Two 650-horsepower (480 kW) electric auxiliary propulsors were used for close manoeuvring, with a top speed of 4 knots (7.4 km/h; 4.6 mph). The standard ship's company was 184, including 15 officers, but excluding the flight crew for the embarked helicopters.

The original armament for the ship consisted of a Mark 13 missile launcher configured to fire RIM-66 Standard and RGM-84 Harpoon missiles, supplemented by an OTO Melara 76-millimetre (3 in) gun and a Vulcan Phalanx point-defence system. For anti-submarine warfare, two Mark 32 torpedo tube sets were fitted; originally firing the Mark 44 torpedo, the Adelaides later carried the Mark 46 torpedoes. Up to six 12.7-millimetre (0.50 in) machine guns were carried for close-in defence, and beginning in 2005, two M2HB .50 calibre machine guns in Mini Typhoon mounts were installed when needed for Persian Gulf deployments. The sensor suite included an AN/SPS-49 air search radar, AN/SPS-55 surface search and navigation radar, SPG-60 fire control radar connected to a Mark 92 fire control system, and an AN/SQS-56 hull-mounted sonar. Two helicopters could be embarked: either two S-70B Seahawk or one Seahawk and one AS350B Squirrel.

Adelaide was laid down to the Oliver Hazard Perry class' Flight I design at Todd Pacific Shipyards at Seattle on 29 July 1977, launched on 21 June 1978 by Lady Ann Synnot (wife of Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Sir Anthony Synnot), and commissioned into the Royal Australian Navy on 15 November 1980. During construction, she was identified with the United States Navy hull number FFG-17. A total of four Adelaide-class ships were constructed by Todd Pacific, with a further two built by Australian shipbuilder AMECON.

After commissioning, Adelaide and Canberra remained in the United States to work up; during this time both ships were attached to the United States Navy's Destroyer Squadron 9. The frigate ran aground off Seattle in early 1981, during post-commissioning trials, but was freed with only minor damage.