HMAS Choules

Design and construction

Main article: Bay-class landing ship

The Bay class was designed as a replacement for the logistics ships operated by the RFA. The ships were originally designated "auxiliary landing ship logistics" or ALSL, but this was changed in 2002 to "landing ship dock (auxiliary)" or LSD(A), better reflecting their operational role. Four ships were ordered; two from Swan Hunter, and two from BAE Systems Naval Ships.

The Bay-class ships have a full load displacement of 16160 t in RFA service; this increased slightly to 16190 t after modifications for RAN service. The RAN's webpage for Choules does not specify any armament. The RAN opted to maintain the ship at full operational crewing at all times, with a ship's company of 158, including 22 Army and 6 RAAF personnel.

As a sealift ship, Largs Bay is capable of carrying up to 1,150 linear metres of vehicles; equivalent to 24 Challenger 2 tanks, 32 M1A1 Abrams tanks, or 150 light trucks. The cargo capacity is equivalent of 200 tons of ammunition, or 24 twenty-foot equivalent unit containers. During normal conditions, a Bay-class ship can carry 356 soldiers, but this can be almost doubled to 700 in overload conditions. The ship does not have permanent hangar facilities. However, a temporary hangar may be fitted and in Australian service the twin-spot flight deck has been extensively utilized with the embarkation of Blackhawk, MRH-90 and Seahawk helicopters. In the period one year prior to April 2014 the ship had clocked up 1,000 deck landings. The flight deck is capable of accommodating helicopters up to the size of a Chinook heavy-lift helicopter. The well dock can carry one LCU Mark 10, one LCM-8, or two LCVPs (either the Royal Marines version or the Royal Australian Navy version), and two Mexeflotes can be suspended from the ship's flanks. Two 30-ton cranes are fitted between the superstructure and the flight deck.

Largs Bay and sister ship were ordered from Swan Hunter on 18 December 2000. The ship was launched on 18 July 2003. Shortly after Largs Bay was handed over, Swan Hunter was stripped from the project, with BAE taking full responsibility for the class and Lyme Bay towed to BAE's shipyard in Govan for completion in June 2006.

Operational history

United Kingdom

Four months after entering service, an engine room fire resulted in steering and propulsion issues, requiring Largs Bay to be towed to Plymouth for repairs. In late November 2007, Largs Bay embarked 815 Naval Air Squadron 215 Flight and left home waters for the Caribbean to conduct counter-drug operations. She visited eleven islands including Barbados, Curaçao, Grand Turk, Martinique, Trinidad and also the USA. Three days after leaving Barbados Largs Bays patrolling helicopter spotted a small fishing vessel stopped in the water and detained her after a pursuit; 575 kg of cocaine were recovered, with an estimated £20 million European street value. She participated in Navy Days while in port at Curaçao, where several hundred people toured her.

In late 2008, it was reported that Largs Bay was to replace for duties in the Falkland Islands. Northumberland was to have left for the Islands in December 2008, but was instead sent for pirate patrol off Somalia.

In early 2010, Largs Bay was deployed to the Arctic Circle. Following the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the ship was pulled from exercises and sailed on 3 February to deliver a load of relief supplies to Haiti. On 18 February 2010, she arrived at Port-au-Prince and unloaded 430 tonne of supplies plus 165 tonne of rations, while engineers from the ship began work on restoring electricity ashore. On 30 March 2010, she returned home. Largs Bays actions were recognised in December 2011 with the awarding of the Firmin Sword of Peace.

In August 2010, the ship participated in the Bournemouth Air Festival.

Decommissioning and transfer

In December 2010, it was announced that the ship would be decommissioned in April 2011 as part of the Strategic Defence and Security Review. Shortly after marking Largs Bay for disposal, the British Ministry of Defence contacted the Chilean government and suggested the vessel as a potential replacement for the landing ship tank vessel Valdivia, which was due to leave service. In January 2011, the Australian Department of Defence announced that it was interested in purchasing the vessel for the RAN as a replacement for the heavy landing ship or one of the amphibious warfare ships. Interest in the ship was also shown by Brazil and India.

On 17 March 2011, the Australian Department of Defence announced that the RAN would be bidding for Largs Bay; this was followed on 6 April by news that a £65 million (A$100 million) bid had been successful. Sea trials during April showed that the ship was in good condition, although she would have to be modified before entering Australian service, particularly to allow operation in tropical conditions. During a 16-week docking at the A&P Group shipyard in Falmouth, the modifications were made, along with refit work to maintain the ship's Lloyds certification. The RAN also acquired two Mexeflote landing rafts for use with the ship.

On 13 August, it was announced that Largs Bay would be renamed HMAS Choules when commissioned into the RAN. The ship was assigned the pennant number L100, reflecting the 100th anniversary of the RAN's origin in 2011. Her motto is "Face Difficulty With Zeal".

On 14 October, the vessel was handed over to the RAN. She arrived in Fremantle, Western Australia on 10 December, and was commissioned into the RAN on 13 December. Choules entered full operational service in early 2012, and is based at Fleet Base East.

Australia

On 24 February 2012, Choules arrived in Townsville. This was in preparation for a month of amphibious warfare training exercises with the Australian Army's 3rd Brigade.

In June 2012, one of the two main electrical transformers involved in the ship's propulsion system failed, after an earlier engineers report highlighted "overheating of the propulsion motors and transformers". Inspection found that insulation failure had short-circuited the transformer, while other transformers aboard showed premature wear. These repairs were completed in early 2013, and the ship was assessed as ready to re-enter service on 12 April.

For a short time from July 2013, Choules was anchored offshore of the Manus Regional Processing Centre in Papua New Guinea to provide temporary accommodation for Department of Immigration and other personnel, due to a lack of accommodation at the centre. In April 2015, the ship transported 46 Vietnamese asylum seekers back to Vũng Tàu, after their vessel was intercepted at sea on 20 March by Australian border protection units and their claims were rejected after interviews at sea lasting less than 40 minutes.

Choules operational role was reevaluated after the Canberra-class landing helicopter dock ships entered service in 2016, but will likely be kept on to fill the role of the strategic sealift ship envisioned by the 2009 Defence white paper.

In March 2017 Choules was sent to Queensland to support recovery after Cyclone Debbie.

Choules was deployed to Vanuatu on 30 September 2017 to aid in the rescue of 11,000 people from a volcanic eruption of Monaro Voui.

In January 2020, Choules was deployed to the coastal town of Mallacoota in East Gippsland, Victoria, to evacuate thousands of people trapped by bushfires and to ferry them south to Hastings in Western Port Bay.

On 14 February 2021, HMAS Choules left Australia for Papua New Guinea with 5 Isuzu fire trucks donated by Queensland Fire and Emergency Services.

On 11 March 2021, Gippsland officially announced Mallacoota as the new ceremonial homeport for HMAS Choules.

Choules underwent a major refit between 2020 - 2021 as part of SEA3030-2 Capability Assurance Project, Mid-Life Upgrade (CAP) by A&P Australia.

In May 2022 it was announced that Choules would be eventually replaced by one of two sought 'Joint Support Ships' under Project Sea 2200.

In early 2024 it was revealed that Choules had been fitted with a new CEA Technologies radar.

Citations

References

;Books

;Journal articles

;News articles

;Websites

References

1. "The future of Phalanx in the RAN - Australian Defence Magazine".
2. (16 August 2023). "New South Wales Section - Royal Institution of Naval Architects - RINA".
3. "HMAS Choules".
4. The new design was based on the [[Enforcer (ship). Royal Schelde Enforcer]] design; a joint project between the Dutch and Spanish resulting in the {{sclass. Rotterdam. amphibious transport dock. 0 and {{sclass. Galicia. landing platform dock
5. Scott, ''The Royal Navy's Future Fleet''
6. Johnson, Ian. (4 February 2010). "RFA Largs Bay Haiti Diary". Royal Navy.
7. "Missing Title". Australian Navy.
8. McPhedran, ''Missing spare part grounds Navy ship''
9. Royal Navy, ''815 Naval Air Squadron in RFA Largs Bay''
10. UPI, ''Britain withdraws warship from Falklands''
11. Craig, ''Royal Fleet Auxiliary ship Largs Bay wins award''
12. BBC News, ''RFA Largs Bay leaves Southampton bound for Haiti''
13. The News, ''RFA Largs Bay returns home after earthquake aid mission''
14. Bournemouth Echo, ''RFA Largs Bay sails in for Bournemouth Air Festival''
15. Defence News, ''Changes to Royal Navy's surface fleet announced''
16. 'Themistocles', ''The UK SDSR and JP 2048 Phase 4C – A Golden Opportunity''
17. Higueras, ''Chile eyes new amphibious transport ship''
18. Oakes, ''Navy eyes redundant UK vessel''
19. Kerr, ''Australia completes Largs Bay purchase''
20. Taylor, ''Australia to buy amphibious military transport ship, aircraft''
21. Australian Associated Press, ''Australia to buy used UK landing ship''
22. ''Flash Traffic: Purchase of Largs Bay'', in ''The Navy''
23. Kerr, ''Amphibious ambitions''
24. Royal Australian Navy, ''HMAS Choules commissioned''
25. The name comes from Chief Petty Officer [[Claude Choules]], who served in both the Royal Navy and the RAN during his career, and was the last known living participant in World War I.Moulton & Australian Associated Press, ''Naval ship named after WA war veteran Claude Choules''
26. ''Choules'' is the second RAN vessel to be named after an enlisted sailor, following the submarine {{HMAS. Sheean. SSG 77. 6.Royal Australian Navy, ''HMAS Sheean''
27. Griggs, ''Naming of Ex RFA Largs Bay - HMAS Choules''
28. O'Callaghan, ''Choules on her way''
29. Dodd, ''Navy's borrowed ship costs us $82,000 a day''
30. Sea Waves, ''Port Visits December 2011''
31. Australian Broadcasting Corporation, ''HMAS Choules commissioned in honour of veteran''
32. Timms, ''Newest Navy warship heads north''
33. Australian Associated Press. (17 October 2012). "Navy unclear why $100m ship broke down". smh.com.au (The Sydney Morning Herald).
34. (6 December 2012). "In Brief: Work on Choules". Directorate of Defence News.
35. West, Sarah. "HMAS Choules returns to sea". Royal Australian Navy.
36. "Robert Cornall AO, Review into the events of 16-17 February 2014 at the Manus Regional Processing Centre, 23 May 2014".
37. (17 April 2015). "Australian Navy to hand 50 asylum seekers back to Vietnam". The Canberra Times.
38. (27 May 2015). "Úc bị chỉ trích vì từ chối cho 46 thuyền nhân Việt Nam tị nạn". Nguoi Viet Daily News.
39. Department of Defence, ''Defending Australia in the Asia Pacific Century'', p. 73
40. Andrew Greene. (28 March 2017). "Navy's largest ships unable to join Cyclone Debbie emergency response amid engine troubles". Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
41. (31 December 2019). "I've spoken with @ScottMorrisonMP & authorised #ADF to deploy extra assets to the Victorian fires: 3 helicopters & 1 aircraft will fly to East Sale; HMAS Choules & MV Sycamore will sail to East Gippsland. A Joint Task Force has been stood up with Army personnel & {{as written".
42. Donovan, Samantha. (3 January 2020). "Thousands ferried out to HMAS Choules". ABC Radio.
43. (2020-01-02). "'Leave high risk areas now': Warning ahead of hot weekend". The Advertiser.
44. "Untitled".
45. (10 March 2021). "HMAS Choules honoured as Mallacoota named ceremonial homeport".
46. "10 Years of Supporting HMAS Choules.".
47. (11 May 2022). "Indo Pacific 2022: BMT positions ELLIDA design for Australia's SEA 2200 programme".
48. "HMAS Choules fitted with CEAFAR radar - Australian Defence Magazine".