Navy's first purpose-designed hydrographic survey ship, . The re-equipment program also resulted in augmentation of the RAN's rotary-wing assets with Westland Wessex anti-submarine warfare helicopters. Most significant was the purchase of three guided-missile destroyers, a decision of "ingenuity and forethought" on the part of Burrell and Navy Minister John Gorton, according to historian Tom Frame. The CNS and his minister enjoyed a close working relationship; Burrell declared that Gorton "deserves our thanks for his efforts", and Gorton called Burrell "one of the most honest, sincere and most dedicated sailors". The purchase of the destroyers signalled a shift in reliance for equipment from Britain to the United States that was contrary to prevailing Australian defence policy at the time, particularly in what historian Jeffrey Grey described as "the most British of the Australian services, the RAN", and provoked pressure from the Royal Navy and UK shipbuilders, which had lobbied for purchase of their . Burrell later declared that the superiority of the US weapons system was a key factor in his preference for the Adams design over the County class. On a mission overseas to discuss trends and acquisitions in January 1960, he was rebuffed by Britain's Chief of the Defence Staff, Admiral of the Fleet Lord Louis Mountbatten, who mistakenly thought him responsible for the imminent dissolution of the RAN's Fleet Air Arm, but warmly welcomed by the US Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Arleigh Burke. As it happened, Burrell would gain credit for maintaining the integrity of the FAA, and its fixed-wing component remained viable until the early 1980s. He was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the Queen's Birthday Honours, gazetted on 3 June 1960. In June 1961, he met with his opposite numbers in the Army and Air Force at a Chiefs of Staff Committee conference to discuss the necessity of Australia acquiring nuclear weapons; the chiefs agreed that the probability such a capability would be required was remote but that it should remain an option under certain circumstances, a position the defence forces maintained during the ensuing decade. Retirement Burrell made his farewell to the Australian Fleet aboard HMAS Melbourne at Jervis Bay on 8 February 1962. He left the Navy on 23 February, and was succeeded as CNS by Vice Admiral Hastings Harrington. Burrell retired to Illogan Park, his property near Braidwood in the Southern Tablelands of New South