HMAS Adelaide (L01)

Design

Main article: Canberra-class landing helicopter dock

The Canberra-class design is based on the warship Juan Carlos I, built by Navantia for the Spanish Navy. The contract was awarded to Navantia and Australian company Tenix Defence following a request for tender which ran from February 2004 to June 2007, beating the enlarged Mistral-class design offered by the French company Direction des Constructions Navales. Adelaide has the same physical dimensions as Juan Carlos I, but differs in the design of the island superstructure and the internal layout, in order to meet Australian conditions and requirements. Unlike the Spanish vessel, the Australian ships are built to meet Lloyd's Naval Rules.

The Canberra-class vessels are 230.82 m long overall, with a maximum beam of 32 m, and a maximum draught of 7.08 m. At full load, Adelaide will displace 27500 t, making the Canberra-class ships the largest vessels to serve in the RAN. The electricity is provided by a Combined diesel-electric and gas system, with a single General Electric LM2500 turbine producing 19,160 kW, supported by two Navantia MAN 16V32/40 diesel generators, each providing 7,448 kW. Maximum speed is over 20 kn, with a maximum sustainable full-load speed of 19 kn, and an economical cruising speed of 15 kn. Economical range is 9,000 nmi.

Each ship is fitted with a Saab 9LV Mark 4 combat management system. six 12.7 mm machine guns, an AN/SLQ-25 Nixie towed torpedo decoy, and a Nulka missile decoy.

The LHDs will transport 1,046 soldiers and their equipment. The ski-jump ramp of Juan Carlos I has been retained for the RAN ships, although fixed-wing flight operations are not planned for the ships.

Construction

Construction of Adelaide began at Navantia's shipyard in Ferrol, northern Spain, during February 2010, when the first steel was cut. Adelaides hull was launched on 4 July 2012. Initially, the ship was due to reach Australia in early 2013 to begin final fitout and superstructure installation at BAE Systems Australia facilities at Williamstown Dockyard, Blue Marlin and Adelaide arrived at Williamstown Dockyard on 7 February 2014. On 17 June 2015, Adelaide departed from Williamstown to commence sea trials, which included sailing to Sydney for docking at Garden Island, before returning to Williamstown on 11 July. A second set of trials ran from 19 to 28 August, and the ship was delivered to Fleet Base East two days later.

Entry into Royal Australian Navy (RAN) service was originally planned for mid-2015, but was pushed back to sometime in 2016.

Operational history

In early 2016, Adelaide undertook post-commissioning trials and other activities as the ship was worked up to full operational status.

In September 2016, Adelaide took part in Exercise Kakadu 2016, based at Darwin, Northern Territory.

On 12 December 2016, Adelaide intercepted the 50m former Japanese whaling vessel Kaiyo Maru No. 8 in international waters in the Southern Ocean, south-east of Tasmania. The vessel had attracted the attention of Maritime Border Command after loitering and circling more than 200 nautical miles off the southern coast of Australia. Tactical Assault Group personnel boarded the vessel and located suspected illicit drugs, after which the vessel was escorted to Hobart with approximately 186 kilograms of cocaine located on board. The vessel was loitering after a botched rendezvous 300 nautical miles off the coast of Port Fairy in Victoria.

In September 2017, Adelaide sailed as part of the largest Australian task group to deploy since the early 1980s on Exercise Indo-Pacific Endeavour 2017. This was planned as a series of exercises with nations around the Pacific Rim testing communications, disaster relief plans and regional security. Adelaide was accompanied by fleet oiler and a varying number of escorts, with a total of four frigates (, , and ) sailing from Sydney on 4 September 2017. The last time such a large deployment of Australian warships went to sea was September 1980, led by the aircraft carrier .

On 5 January 2020, Adelaide sailed as part of Operation Bushfire Assist, assisting with the Royal Australian Navy's ongoing efforts to help evacuate people from bushfire zones that have become cut off by road and air due to conditions.

On 18 January 2022, Adelaide departed from Sydney for Brisbane on its way to provide disaster relief to Tonga following the Hunga Tonga–Hunga Ha'apai eruption and tsunami. On 25 January, the Department of Defence confirmed that 23 crew members aboard the Adelaide had tested positive for COVID-19 while enroute to Tonga. On 26 January, the Adelaide docked in Tonga to make a contactless delivery to avoid COVID-19 transmissions. During its period at Tonga, the ship was crippled for several days when its main and backup power systems failed. It was reported that as a result of the power failure, most of the crew were forced to sleep "above deck". On 17 February, navy officials revealed the first power outage on 29 January was likely due to volcanic debris in seawater blocking the cooling systems of the ship's diesel generators, which eventually led to multiple system failures. The second outage on 30 January was a fault on the gas turbine.

In September 2022, Adelaide participated in Exercise Trident, a joint amphibious landing exercise with the Singapore Armed Forces at the Shoalwater Bay Training Area. More than 1,600 personnel from both nations were involved, as well as two Republic of Singapore Navy landing platform docks (RSS Endurance and RSS Persistence), Chinook and Apache helicopters, and LHD Landing Craft (LLC).

Citations

References

Journal articles and papers

News articles

Websites and other sources

References

1. Brown, ''Spanish designs are Australia's choice for warship programmes''
2. Borgu, ''[https://www.aspi.org.au/report/strategic-insights-8-capability-first-resort-australias-future-amphibious-requirement Capability of First Resort? Australia's Future Amphibious Requirement]'', pp. 5-6
3. Fish, ''First Australian LHD takes shape''
4. Fish, ''Amphibious assault ships''
5. Royal Australian Navy, ''Amphibious Assault Ship (LHD)''
6. Propulsion is provided by two Siemens Energy SiPOD {{convert. 11. MW. 4.5. m
7. The sensor suite includes a [[GIRAFFE Radar#Variants
8. 1880. m2 and {{convert. 1410. MRH-90]]-size helicopters or four [[Boeing CH-47 Chinook
9. (5 July 2012). "Launch of second Amphibious Ship Landing Helicopter Dock". Royal Australian Navy.
10. (4 July 2012). "Navantia botá el último megabuque en construcción". La voz de Galicia.
11. (7 February 2014). "Adelaide LHD hull arrives in Melbourne". [[Australian Aviation]].
12. Aussie carriers at sea ''[[Ships Monthly]]'' March 2014 page 15
13. Rahmat, Ridzwan. (22 June 2015). "RAN's second Canberra-class LHD sails for first sea trials". IHS Jane's Defence Weekly.
14. Durrant, Patrick. (10 July 2015). "Second LHD completes initial sea trials". Australian Defence Magazine.
15. Staples, Natalie. (4 December 2015). "HMAS Adelaide enters service". Royal Australian Navy.
16. Rice, Deborah. (30 October 2015). "Adelaide warship arrives at Garden Island in Sydney, ahead of commissioning". Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
17. Fish, Tim. (5 February 2010). "Steel cut for second Australian LHD". Jane's Navy International.
18. (16 December 2016). "Vessel Escorted to Hobart".
19. (18 January 2017). "Criminal syndicates dismantled after more arrests related to major Hobart cocaine seizure".
20. (21 December 2016). "186kgs cocaine seized, 10 men charged".
21. Farrell, John Hunter. (Autumn 2017). "Special Forces Drug Bust HMAS Adelaide". Fullbore Magazines.
22. (21 January 2017). "Seasickness foils alleged coke smugglers plan". Sky News.
23. . (4 September 2017). ["Australian Navy sends six-ship fleet on Indo-Pacific mission"](http://navaltoday.com/2017/09/04/australian-navy-sends-six-ship-fleet-on-indo-pacific-mission/).
24. . ["HMAS Melbourne (II) - Part 2"](http://www.navy.gov.au/hmas-melbourne-ii-part-2).
25. Navy, Royal Australian. (5 January 2020). "HMAS Adelaide has arrived off the coast of Eden NSW to commence relief & evacuation operations. Due to the smoke in the air, visibility quickly worsened as the ship sailed from Sydney to the south coast. #AusNavy #OurCommunity #WeAreWithYou #OpBushfireAssistpic.twitter.com/CEbgCwCpBf".
26. (19 January 2022). "First aid shipments leave for Tonga, amid fears aid workers could bring 'tsunami of Covid'".
27. (25 January 2022). "Covid-19 confirmed aboard HMAS Adelaide enroute to Tonga". [[Radio New Zealand]].
28. (27 January 2022). "HMAS Adelaide delivers vital aid to Tonga a day after COVID-19 outbreak was detected on board". [[Australian Broadcasting Corporation]].
29. (31 January 2022). "Australia's largest warship suffers power failure during mission to Tonga". ABC News.
30. (31 January 2022). "Australia's HMAS Adelaide suffers power failure during Tongan aid mission".
31. Greene, Andrew. (17 February 2022). "Ash from Tonga volcano explosion linked to crippling power failure on HMAS Adelaide".
32. (23 September 2022). "Australia and Singapore join forces for amphibious exercise".
33. (27 September 2022). "S'pore and Australia militaries conduct largest ever bilateral exercise simulating beach landing". The Straits Times.