In October 1905 the newly appointed Naval Officer Commanding the Commonwealth Naval Forces (the post-Federation amalgamation of the Australian colonial navies), Captain William Creswell, proposed a navy of three large cruiser-destroyers (capable of dealing with commerce raiders), plus 16 smaller destroyers and 15 torpedo boats for local defence. The first instalment of the ambitious plan was the River-class, bids for which were received from British shipbuilders on 24 July 1907. A consortium of Fairfields and Dennys was chosen as the prime contractors, and the design was drawn by Prof. John H. Biles(GE) of Glasgow University, based on HMS Teviot, Yarrow's variant of the RN River Class.