HMAS Canberra LHD

[CGRET]

Hello All,

I found this and was wondering this class of ship is going to be built or just in the planning stages.




31771




Any information as always is helpful.

Regards
CGRET

[kookaburra]

The Wikipedia entry is a pretty good summary of the process thus far. Indications are that the present government supports the project, which seems to be advancing towards a start on construction.

The contracting for these big ships, particularly for a country like Australia, is a tortuous process and you don't hear much about it. The main Australian component for the work is contracted to Tenix at Williamstown in Melbourne, and the naval dockyard there will desperately need this work as the Anzac frigates class are now almost finished, and the major components for the new Hobart Class Air Warfare Destroyers is going to South Australia.

On the basis of preserving the shipbuilding skills and jobs at Williamstown, I can't see a Federal Labor Government changing its mind on these two ships, vital to the manufacturing industry here in a Labor State.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canberra_class


http://www.navy.gov.au/Publication:Semaphore_-_Issue_14,_October_2007

[CGRET]

So If I read the the summary correctly it's not the Australia does not have the capablility, it's because of the current ship building project that led to the off-shore building of these hulls. With the further fitting out of these ship in Australia. One would think that there "might" be a short break before starting on these new ship's in Australian shipyards. For the country's sake let's hope not.




Regards
CGRET

[SeaToby]

The simple truth is that the Air Warfare Destroyers will consume much of Australia's shipyard workers to build them during the same time, along with the normal civilian shipbuilding and civilian/military drydockings.

If Australia attempted to build the new LHDs at the same time as the AWDs, Australia does not have the trained professional shipbuilders to do so.

That is why the LHDs will be mostly built in Spain, whereas the AWDs are being built in Australia. Still, there will be much work in Australia for the LHDs, building the island superstructures and fitting out both ships.

[kookaburra]

The latest news concerning the Canberra Class LHDs seems to be the visits of HMAS Sydney and HMAS Ballarat to the Spanish port of Ferrol, where the hulls of the RAN ships will be constructed, and visits of the ships companies to the Spanish LHD just being completed there. The ships, on an exercise called Northern Trident 09 [we had a news thread item on their visit to New York], also visited Spain's Almirante Juan De Borbon and exercised with Alvara de Bazan , ships that are the basic design for the forthcoming Hobart Class AWDs.

June 2009 report here :

http://www.navy.gov.au/NT09_Ships_see_the_RAN_of_the_Future_in_Ferrol

[aussienscale]

For those of you interested here is a link containing pics of the Canberra under construction in spain. When you open the link scroll down to the Oceania section and you will find the pics there. Also I will add a link to a youtube video of the Juan Carlos during her recent 3rd lot of sea trials, some good footage of her and also side by side with the Spanish Carrier PDA. Gives a good idea of the size of the ship, especially the waterline footage of her from the starboard quarter. You will also notice in the pictures another vessel on the left of the Canberra is another F100 being constructed for Spain, which is what our new Hobart Class is based on.
Enjoy
http://www.fotosdebarcos.com/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BdXhNxY-EWQ

[kookaburra]

Thanks for the links Aussie. This is a photo [poor quality but illustrative of the size comparison Aussie refers to] showing 27,000 ton SPS Juan Carlos [Canberra Class prototype] and 17,190 ton aircraft carrier Principe de Asturias in the foreground.

This is taken from the Naval Historical Society of Australia- Victoria Chapter's monthly newsletter 'The Three Headed Dog' [Cerberus], in which LCDR Bill Davidson reports that the detail Design Review for the ship is due for completion this month [June 2010], with modules for HMAS Canberra up to the hangar/light vehicle deck completed, and HMAS Adelaide started. The development of a new policy for ADF amphibious warfare, the newsletter reports, is gathering way.