The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) has decommissioned Adelaide class guided missile frigate, HMAS Melbourne, during a ceremony at Garden Island in Sydney.
The frigate served 27 years for the RAN, travelling more than 900,000 nautical miles and deploying on operations to the Middle East eight times. The vessel earned battle honours for service in East Timor, the Persian Gulf and Middle East.
Melbourne spent most of 2018 and 2019 deployed overseas, including a four-month deployment through north Asia earlier this year where she conducted international maritime surveillance operations to enforce sanctions against North Korea.
The Adelaide class is being taken out of service and replaced by three Hobart class Air Warfare Destroyers.
The Italian Navy is being refreshed with two new ships ordered, while in the past six months steel was cut for a new frigate, an enhanced frigate was delivered and Horizon-class frigates passed a design review.
Singapore’s navy has introduced the Combatant Craft Underwater vessel, a multi-mode swimmer delivery vehicle designed to enhance its Naval Diving Unit’s ability to conduct covert maritime special operations.
After estimating that the first Columbia-class submarine would be delivered 16 months late, the US Navy has recently confirmed that an additional month will be required to complete its construction.
Naval vessels are at high risk when in harbour, port or dockside and the threat from asymmetric attacks has been shown in the Ukraine war against Russian ships. A demonstration of combined systems in the UK hoped to show a potential solution to defence, government and commercial delegates.
After troubled progress with the Littoral Combat Ship programme, the US Navy plans to commission USS Pierre (LCS 38) this autumn.
The frigates are based on Babcock’s Arrowhead 140 design but are substantially changed and include a range of Turkish weapons such as radars, sonar, guns and electronic warfare systems.
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