HMAS ADELAIDE LHD-01

[RussF172]

The new LHD NUSHIP ADELAIDE LHD-01 has been loaded onto the heavy lift ship "Blue Marlin" and is on her way to Melbourne. She will take the same route as her sister ship CANBERRA took some 12-18 months ago. Depending upon the weather, she should arrive sometime in February 2014 to commence fit out and the fitting of her "Island" which is well underway at Williamstown Dockyard in Melbourne. She will be identical to CANBERRA who should commission around June next year. It will be a sight to see the two LHDs sitting alongside together. Leave the island off ADELAIDE and they could join them together and have a huge catamaran "carrier"!!!

[RussF172]

For anyone in Melbourne and those interested, the new HMAS ADELAIDE LHD-01, will arrive in Port Phillip Bay tomorrow morning and be unloaded from the lift ship Blue Marlin. She will be then towed over to BAE at Williamtown to join her sister NUSHIP CANBERRA LHD-02 and commence her fit out of the Island and other equipment. That will be a site seeing the two LHDs together alongside. CANBERRA is due to start sea trial early next month (March) and for hand over to the Navy and commissioning in June/July when she will be home ported at Fleet Base East in Sydney. ADEALAIDE will join her hopefully next year to commission in 2016. What a site that will be to see the two of them together at sea.

[fastone045]

1st manned LHD goes to sea!

The scaled versions of Navy's Landing Helicopter Dock (LHD) and Landing Ship Dock (LSD) used for professional ship handling training at Port Ash were officially named at a small ceremony attended by Chief of Navy, Vice Admiral Ray Griggs AO, CSC, RAN and Director of Port Ash Australia, Captain Cliff Beazley. Port Ash Australia provides the Royal Australian Navy's professional ship handling training at Port Ash north of Newcastle. The newly launched LHD ship model was named 'Assault' after HMAS Assault which was a shore based used for training in the Nelson Bay area near Port Ash, during World War II. The scaled version of the LSD which will provide platform training for future Command Teams of HMAS Choules was named "Headmark" after the title of the Australian Naval Institute magazine. Both names were selected by Navy and Port Ash Australia.

[MichaelB]

The video is here.

http://video.navy.gov.au/#searchterm,0,port ash,All