Media Room: Media Releases

Royal Australian Navy amphibious landing ship, HMAS Kanimbla, returned to her homeport in Sydney today, after a four-month deployment to the Banda Aceh Area and Nias Area of Operations in Indonesia, on Operation Sumatra Assist I and II respectively.

This was part of the Australia Defence Force’s assistance to the communities devastated by the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami and the 28 March 2005 earthquake.

Commanding Officer of HMAS Kanimbla, Commander George McGuire and the 240 ships company were welcomed home by the Prime Minister, the Honourable John Howard; Attorney General Philip Ruddock; The Indonesian Ambassador Mr Imron Cotan; Chief of Navy, Vice Admiral Chris Ritchie, AO, RAN, along with hundreds of family and friends.

Other Australian Defence Force personnel who had served in Kanimbla during the operation, but had returned separately were also on the wharf to welcome the ship home. There were also numerous Royal Australian Navy personnel who had deployed as part of Operation Sumatra Assist who worked ashore in Indonesia in a command or supporting role.

"I feel proud of what we did for the people of Banda Aceh and Nias. It was inspiring to watch the team at work, as was the Indonesian people's resilience. My most cherished memories are those of the people, and in particular the children, cheering, smiling and waving at us when they recognised that we were the Australian's that had come to help them in their time of need," Commanding Officer of HMAS Kanimbla, Commander George McGuire, said.

"Coming home today we also reflect on our nine colleagues who lost their lives helping those in need. The Australian Defence Force community has been deeply shocked and saddened by the loss of their colleagues and our thoughts are with the families at this time" Commander George McGuire said.

"Kanimbla demonstrated just how capable the modern ADF is. Although designed for times of war, our capabilities provides us an ideal platform to support a disaster relief operations such as this, through to conducting combat activities in the interests of Australia." Chief of Navy, Vice Admiral Chris Ritchie said.