The ship, based on the Álvaro de Bazán-class frigate designed by Navantia, was built at ASC's shipyard in Osborne, South Australia from modules fabricated by ASC, BAE Systems Australia in Victoria, and Forgacs Group in New South Wales.

[7][8] In October 2010, the 20-by-17-metre (66 by 56 ft) central keel block for Hobart was found to be distorted and incompatible with other hull sections.

[9][10] Other major issues during construction included the need to replace 25% of the destroyer's internal pipework due to faulty manufacture, and the initial rejection of the ship's mainmast block because of defects in the cabling and combat system equipment.

[17] Hobart was handed over to the Navy in June 2017, and was commissioned on 23 September 2017 with the designation Guided missile destroyer 'DDG' and assigned the pennant number '39'.

[18][19] Hobart conducted a five-month deployment to the United States during late 2018 which was undertaken to test her combat systems.