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| HMAS Canberra sister ship to NUSHIP Adelaide |
Williamstown, Victoria: In preparation for delivery later this year, NUSHIP Adelaide will start her final period of sea trials today.
The second of the Landing Helicopter Dock (LHD) ships being built for the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) will leave the Williamstown shipyard and head up the eastern coast of NSW to the Jervis Bay area. About 200 BAE Systems employees, equipment/system subcontractors, RAN crew members and representatives from the Department of Defence Capability Acquisition and Sustainment Group will be on board to support the trials which are expected to last 10 days.
Pivotal to this period of sea trials will be testing of the ship’s combat and communications systems in a range of scenarios to validate the systems’ capabilities. Like her sister ship HMAS Canberra that was delivered by BAE Systems last October, HMAS Adelaide is the largest and most complex type of vessel that the RAN operates.
When she returns from sea trials, NUSHIP Adelaide will be prepared for delivery. The RAN will have the opportunity to perform various routine alongside exercises as it continues to build its capability for crewing the vessel while the ship compartments and systems are progressively handed over to the NUSHIP Adelaide crew.
The crew has already been trained for its role on the RAN’s second Landing Helicopter Dock ship. All crew serving on NUSHIP Adelaide and HMAS Canberra were trained by BAE Systems at the Company’s state-of-the-art training facility at Mascot, Sydney.
Director of Maritime, Bill Saltzer said: “Everyone who has worked on this program should be proud of their contribution in delivering a step change in capability to the RAN. We have integrated the many systems that have brought the ships to life and which will be vital during their service to the Navy, both for defence of Australia as well as for providing humanitarian aid and disaster relief. Of course as the prime contractor for the In Service Support of both LHDs, our connection with, and commitment to, these amazing vessels will continue long beyond the delivery of NUSHIP Adelaide.”