Australia's Second Landing Helicopter Dock Ship Departs Spain

Published Dec 19, 2013 5:33 PM by The Maritime Executive

The second and last of the Royal Australian Navy’s new amphibious ships has departed from Navantia Ferrol shipyard in Spain. The Landing Helicopter Dock (LHD) hull will be transported to Melbourne, Australia, by the Heavy Lift Ship Blue Marlin.

“The Canberra Class LHDs are the largest ships ever built for the Navy and will provide the Australian Defence Force with one of the most capable and sophisticated amphibious deployment capabilities in the world,” said Defence Minister Senator David Johnston.

When completed the LHDs will be more than 755ft (230m) long, 90ft (27.5m) high and weigh around 27,500 tonnes. Each ship can carry a combined arms battle group of more than 1100 personnel, 100 armoured vehicles and 12 helicopters and features a 40-bed hospital.

“The departure of LHD02 (to be known as HMAS Adelaide) from Vigo en route for Australia marks another major milestone for the Defence Materiel Organisation, Royal Australian Navy and the prime contractor BAE Systems,” said Johnston.

The trip is expected to take approximately eight weeks. On arrival in Australian waters the ship will transit to Melbourne and then on to the Williamstown dockyard for consolidation of the superstructure and installation of the combat, communications and navigation systems by local ship builders BAE Systems.

Following the completion of sea trials the vessel is currently scheduled to be delivered to the Royal Australian Navy in the second half of 2015.