HMAS CANBERRA LHD-02

[RussF172]

Just got the word that the MV BLUE MARLIN Sea Lift ship has arrived in Spain in preparation for the loading and transport of the new HMAS CANBERRA LHD-02 hull to Australia. She will submerge and the CANBERRA hull will be floated over the top her in a very precise operation. Once in place, the BLUE MARLIN will be re-floated and lift the CANBERRA clear of the water. The hull will be secured to the deck and the ship will then sail for Melbourne. She is due to leave Spain in July and arrive in August and she will surely be a sight entering Port Phillip Bay with CANBERRA secured on top. Once in Melbourne, she will submerge once again and CANBERRA will be towed to BAe Systems Australia dockyard at Williamstown. Here she will complete her internal fit out and the huge Island superstructure, which is being built at the moment in Williamstown, fitted into place. CANBERRA is due to start sea trials in the second half of next year and commission in early 2014. CANBERRA and ADELAIDE will be the largest warships every operated by the RAN when they commission. CANBERRA was launched on 17 February last year. They are 231m long and displace over 28,000 tons. She will be able to carry over 1100 troops as well as her ships company, over 100 armoured verhicles including ABRAMS, ASLAVs, BUSHMASTERs, M113 and other 4 x 4 and 6 x 6 vehicles. She has spots to operate 6 MRH-90/BLACKHAWK/TIGER helos or 4 CHINOOKs simultaniously. I hope whoever owns the townhouses on the old renovated Wooloomooloo pier near Garden Island like sleeping in as when CANBERRA is sitting at Fleet Base East wharves, they will see sunrise quite a bit later in the day. Looking forward to seeing her. If the time works out she maybe in Sydney Harbour for the RAN100th celebrations in October next year.

[MikeJames]

She's needed.

From Defence

One of the Navy’s amphibious ships HMAS Choules has suffered a defect which has caused her to return to Sydney.

HMAS Choules departed Sydney on 13 June 2012 for Queensland where it was scheduled to support Exercise Hamel in the Shoalwater Bay Training Area. On 14 June 2012 a defect occurred on one of the six transformers which form part of the ship’s propulsion system. This reduced the ship’s propulsion power by 50 per cent.

The ship’s Commanding Officer made the safe and prudent decision to return to Sydney in order to have the defect rectified.

The Navy has been advised by the ship’s previous operator, the Royal Fleet Auxiliary, that the defect is very unusual. The Fleet Commander, Rear Admiral Tim Barrett, said: “A technical investigation has begun to identify the possible cause of the defect”.

Navy and the Defence Materiel Organisation are working extremely closely with the original manufacturer of the transformer to have it repaired and the ship return to sea as soon as possible.


It's been suggested that Choules will cost a between $50 and $100 million to fix and could be alongside for up to a 6 months. Worst case could be 12 months fixing the issue. Apparently fixing the problem would entail cutting right through the middle of the ship to replace the stuffed transformer.

Not a good look for either DMO or the Navy maintenance people, especially after the inquiry into the Navy's maintenance failures with Tobruk, Manoora and Kanimbla.

MJ

[SlatsSSN]

It's been suggested that Choules will cost a between $50 and $100 million to fix and could be alongside for up to a 6 months. Worst case could be 12 months fixing the issue. Apparently fixing the problem would entail cutting right through the middle of the ship to replace the stuffed transformer.

Not a good look for either DMO or the Navy maintenance people, especially after the inquiry into the Navy's maintenance failures with Tobruk, Manoora and Kanimbla.

MJ

Has someone broken the news to Gil-liard and her trained leming Swan - if its got to cost that much to fix maybe he could push the repairs out to 2015 so as not to screw around with the fake surplus.
Sounds like we bought another lemon.
Probably a sheer miracle that we are actually getting Canberra, lest Swan doesn't cancel it whilst its on its way.

[kimwhite]

I tend to agree with you, John. I despair about the RAN's uncanny ability to buy the wrong product. It is a shame Russ French can't build 1:1 ships, they may be a better deal than buying offshore.
I think the RAN should ask for some of their money back under warranty.
cheers
Kim

[RussF172]

CANBERRA is on her way. Next port of call is St. Louis, Mauritus. Trip is expected to take around 45 days depending upon weather as she is coming around the south of Africa. She will be a sight arriving in Melbourne next month, early October. Some friends (Ex HMAS CANBERRA FFG-02) have already booked a trip down to see her arrive.

[MikeJames]

Blue Marlin is approaching Port Louis, the capital of Mauritius, she should be there in another day or so for refueling, before heading off bound for Australia.

Mike

[RussF172]

The BLUE MARLIN carrying CANBERRA is in Australian waters and is due to arrive in Port Phillip Bay mid next week around the 17th. Should be a sight to see as she comes in.

[RussF172]

She is now 100nm south of Albany in WA heading almost due east across the bight.

[RussF172]

A quick progress report on CANBERRA. Tonight she was approximately 100 nm south of Warrnambool. She is due to enter Port Phillip Bay am Thursday. She will probably be unloaded on Friday or Saturday depending upon tides and will be towed to Williamtown BAE facilities. Anyone in Melbourne going down to take photos?

[cordite105]

Just watched the 4.30 news on 9 and there was an item with it coming through Port
Phillip heads heading for Geelong.

[rritchie71]

She's here, makes you want to go and build one..... now all we need are some F-35's for them and we have a carrier and amphbious ship all in one.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUsLDPWSY1Q

Robert

[fastone045]

Hi Gents,

Is it correct that HMAS Adelaide has also been launched in spain but here in Australia the first AWD hasn't been?
If my memory serves me correctly the AWD started construction before the LHDs but we now have 2 floating
compared to no AWDs.

Not a good look

Craig

[rritchie71]

Hi Craig, you should not be surprised. If you want it to get really embarrassing think of this, the USS John F Kennedy, the next American supercarrier at 100,000 tonnes was laid down in 2011 and will commission in 2018, that is also in less time than we can build the three 6000tonne AWD's.

Between the Navy and offshore oil and Gas, I've spend the last 20yrs in the maritime industry with lots of time at HHI, KFels, Jurong and our own dockyards, and whilst not trying to bag our builders, the elephant in the room is we are nowhere near as efficient as these companies, we charge far more for far less productivity.

Robert

[fastone045]

Thanks for the info Robert, so things should slow down now that they are here to be finished off then! maybe they will finish in line with the AWDs

Craig

[RussF172]

Got sent some great photos yesterday of the first section of the "Island" being fitted in place on CANBERRA alongside in Melbourne. I've seen photos of the other parts of the Island and I believe it is in four parts. This section lifted on Monday morning contains the Bridge and Flyco, forward mast and forward funnel uptake. Most of the gear is already fitted including all the engine room controls, helm and communications consoles. The rest of the Island will go on in the coming weeks and believe it will all be in place before mid December.

[BsHvyCgn9]

Great pix Russ!

Hopefully they wont put it on backwards.......

Cheers Bruce (B2)

[MichaelB]

How can you tell?

[RussF172]

All the island is now on and the right way around. Looking pretty good.

[BsHvyCgn9]

Found this pic of the LHD2 entering Port Philip Bay on Blue Marlin....

[RussF172]

NUSHIP CANBERRA is coming along in leaps and bounds. She was recently towed over to another wharf area near Williamstown to conduct loading trials with a number of heavy vehicles including an M1 ABRAMS and an M88 recovery tank as well as UNIMOGs, 4WD, Mack prime movers and trailers and rest of the inventory of Army heavy and light vehicles. They moved from the wharf onto the CANBERRA via her two side entry ramps and from there through the ship. The lighter vehicles then used the between deck access ramps as well as the vehicle lifts to gain entry to her light vehicle deck and helicopter hanger.

Many areas of the ship are completed and just awaiting supplies and crew. These include the hospital, dental surgery, operating theatres and galleys and many of the crews mess decks and accommodation. The Island is almost complete and the bridge and operations areas are being fitted out. Most of the crew are now training at a specially built LHD training facility at Mascot in Sydney. The aircrews and aircraft handlers are undergoing training at NAS NOWRA where a fully marked out flight deck for the LHD has been painted onto the hardstand area of the base so the crew can get their heads around the movement of the aircraft on the flight deck and spacing etc for multiple, simultaneous aircraft operations which they have not really done since the demise of HMAS MELBOURNE the carrier in 1982. The most they have been able to do is to operate two aircraft which has been on the now scrapped KANIMBLA and MANOORA and lately on CHOULES. CANBERRA can operate 6 simultaneous helo launches at a time.

I've been doing some work for the CANBERRA crew lately so have been working on getting a tour over her for TF72 members during the first half of next year after she commissions in Sydney on the 21st of March. She will be a sight to see when she enters Sydney Harbour in mid/early March. I'll keep everyone posted on the tour and her progress. Shame I cannot say the progress on my CANBERRA has gone as well as I simply haven't had the time to work on her. She'll be around hopefully for the 2014 regatta at Naracoorte in November. Cheers.

[RussF172]

Just found out that she should go to sea for her initial sea trials on the 4th of December. If you are in Melbourne, that would be the day to go down to the bay and see her head out under her own steam.

[RussF172]

Found out on the weekend that CANBERRA has been delayed for between 2 and 3 months in going to sea which means that her commissioning will also be delayed until sometime in either June or July. NUSHIP ADELAIDE has also begun preparations for her move to Australia. She has been moved from her building berth to another wharf and being readied to be loaded onto the same sea lift ship that brought CANBERRA out here. She should be loaded in the next couple of weeks and underway on her voyage to Australia before Christmas. She should arrive in Williamstown in February. With CANBERRA still there, there will be two LHDs alongside in Melbourne for a couple of months until CANBERRA moves up to Sydney for trials and commissioning.

[RussF172]

If all went according to plan the NUSHIP CANBERRA sailed today (Friday 28th Feb 2014) from Williamstown to start her first sea trials. The trials will be conducted over 12 days off the NSW Coast, when on completion she will sail into Garden Island in Sydney. Whilst there she will go into dry dock for a bum clean and underneath repaint. She will also have a final paint of her flight deck ready for her First of Class Flight Trials (FOFT) and I believe some of these will take place on her way back to Melbourne after the work at GI.

[scott154]

Sweet, can't wait to see her at G.I.

[MichaelB]

I never realised that there is effectively a 1/700th scale kit of it.

http://www.orangehobby.com/logs/150518114.html

[RussF172]

CANBERRA sailed yesterday, Monday the 3rd of March under her own power to conduct her first sea trials. She is hanging around the Port Phillip Bay, Melbourne, Victorian coastline for a few days then heading up to Jervis Bay and then into Sydney around the 15th of March.

[MichaelB]

15th! The Ides of March what a good day to choose.

Looking at that video it sounds like Griggs has imported a yank captain for it to go with the yankee grey it is going to be painted.

[RussF172]

He is a long term Aussie, but came from Canada (transferred from the RCN man years ago I believe). She won't be painted in Haze Grey for a while.

[rritchie71]

Guys, can you post a link to the video please? It would be great to see

Cheers

Robert

[MichaelB]

On the Adelaide site.

http://www.taskforce72.org/forum/viewto ... =10&t=1028


FYI We have a standing invite to run our boats at Port Ash.