Royal Australian Navy's Longest Serving Ship Decommissioned

HMAS Success (II), the longest serving ship in the Royal Australian Navy’s Fleet, was decommissioned at her homeport at Sydney’s Garden Island on Saturday.

HMAS Success - dubbed the “Battle Tanker” - has been operational for 33 years, sailing more than a million nautical miles and completing nearly 3,500 replenishments around the world. The 157-meter Durance Class Replenishment Oiler was the last major vessel built at Cockatoo Island in Sydney and was the biggest ship in Navy’s Fleet at the time she was commissioned in 1986.

HMAS Success earned battle honors for her service during the Gulf War in 1991 and East Timor in 1999, and also participated in a record 11 Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) exercises and the search for the missing Malaysian Airlines Flight MH370.

Despite her age, Success maintained a high tempo right to the end, deploying twice since May last year and returning from a four month overseas deployment just weeks before her service life came to an end.

HMAS Success will now make way for new replenishment ship NUSHIP Supply (II), which was launched in Spain last November.