Photo courtesy of Michael W. Pocock
The Hon. Dr Brendan Nelson, Minister for Defence:
I am pleased to announce I have selected New South Wales to be gifted the Royal Australian Navy Guided Missile Frigate HMAS Adelaide for sinking as a dive wreck.
The New South Wales Government has indicated that the preferred location for HMAS Adelaide is off the New South Wales Central Coast, near Terrigal.
I thank my colleagues, Mr Jim Lloyd MP and Mr Ken Ticehurst MP, who have been strong and persistent advocates for the Central Coast community. Their continued support has undoubtedly assisted the NSW Government in its efforts to secure the ship, such that I am now able to gift HMAS Adelaide to NSW.
HMAS Adelaide will decommission late in 2007 at her home port in Rockingham, Western Australia with handover to the New South Wales Government expected in early to mid 2008.
In addition to the warship, the Howard Government will contribute up to $3 million in funding toward the costs of preparing the ship for sinking. HMAS Adelaide was built in the United States and commissioned in the Royal Australian Navy on 15 November 1980 and is the second ship to carry this name.
The first was a light cruiser that served from 1922 to 1945. HMAS Adelaide was the first guided missile frigate to be home ported in Western Australia.
HMAS Adelaide participated in the 1990/91 Gulf War as part of Operation DAMASK, Australia’s participation in the international coalition against Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait. More recently, the ship was deployed for peacekeeping operations in East Timor in 1999 and to the Persian Gulf as part of the International Coalition against Terrorism in 2001 and 2004.
HMAS Adelaide is 138 metres long, displaces 4100 tonnes and has a crew of 184 as well as helicopter aircrew and maintainers.
Tourism projects which have previously used former RAN warships to establish dive wrecks have reportedly accrued annual revenues ranging from $2.4 million to $23 million to the significant benefit of local communities.
Photo courtesy of Michael W. Pocock
Design work for the PERRY - class started in the early 1970s. These ships were originally conceived as a low-cost convoy escort (hence the original "PF" (Patrol Frigate) hull number for the prototype). In mid-1975, the PERRY -class ship were re-classified as FFGs (guided Missile Frigates). The ships were completely developed by the US Navy and later awarded for construction to the two lowest bidding shipyards - Bath Iron Works and Todd. Construction went on in time and sometimes even ahead of schedule.
The first PERRY - class ships were commissioned without the SQS-56 Sonar because production of the system started too late so that it was not yet available during the construction of the ships. Originally to be 75 in number, a total of 55 FFG 7 OLIVER HAZARD PERRY - class ships were built, including 51 for the US Navy and four for the Royal Australian Navy. Australia subsequently built a further ship of this design at a very high cost.
Spain also built to this design and a modified design was built in Taiwan (the Cheng Kung Class).
Early in their operational lives, ships of the FFG 7 - class began to develop serious cracking in the superstructure, which extended from side-to-side and for approximately 70% of the length. These cracks were serious in that they could extend down into the hull portion of the ship and provided a way for water to flood important weapons system spaces.
Detailed inspections were made, analyses undertaken, and model-scale tests conducted. Fixes compatible with the entire class were developed and installed. Tests were conducted at sea and were found to be satisfactory; further fixes were then carried out on all ships of the FFG 7 - class.
The PERRY - class ships were produced in two variants, known as "short-hull" and "long-hull", with the later variant being eight feet longer than the short-hull version. The long-hull ships [FFG 8, 28, 29, 32, 33, 36-61] carry the SH-60B LAMPS III helicopters, while the short-hull units carry the less-capable SH-2G.
The reason for the two variants was the late introduction of the SH-60B helicopters.
When the PERRYs were designed, LAMPS III was not yet tested and one did not know how the new helicopter would approach the ship for landing. Therefore, the first 26 ship in the PERRY - class were completed in SH-2G configuration. When it became obvious that the SH-60B would not approach the ship sideward like the SH-2G but directly from astern, the remaining ships of the class were completed with an 8-feet long hull extension astern of the flight deck.
In late 1980, the first sea trials of an SH-60B aboard a PERRY - class guided missile frigate took place aboard the previously modified USS McINERNEY (FFG 8).
In 1978, a 1:1 SH-60B scale model was used for testing aboard USS OLIVER HAZARD PERRY (FFG 7). Although the ships were intended to operate the LAMPS III ASW helicopter, FFG 7-35, as completed, lacked the equipment necessary to handle them. Beginning with the FY79 ships (FFG 36 and later), helicopter support equipment was aboard on completion: fin stabilizers, RAST (Recovery Assist, Secure, and Traverse system-not fitted as completed until FFG 50), and other systems.
The RAST system permits helicopter launch and recovery with the ship rolling through 28 degrees and pitching 5 degrees. The equipment was first installed in MCINERNEY (FFG 8), which was reconstructed, in 1981 at Bath Iron Works, to act as LAMPS III/SH-60B Seahawk helicopter trials ship.
Information courtsesy os US Navy media unit |
