The Maritime Commander, RADM John Lord has gone in HMAS ARUNTA to present the CO, CMDR Greg Yorke and the Ship's company with a number of awards earned during 1999.

The awards included: the Oranto shield for gunnery; the AIO shield and the Wormald shield for NBCD proficiency.

The Supply Excellence Award was presented by Mr A.L.Galvin OAM, Chief Executive Officer of Tourism and Training Australia.

Mr Galvin congratulated the ship's company on achieving the widely recognised award, citing the necessity of maintaining highly efficient levels of supply to support operations.

Mr Georges-Jon Malcour, Managing director of ADI Australia, also presented to the crew with the Silver Platter for excellence in food service.

The Maritime Commander congratulated the ship's company for the excellent job they had done over 1999, particularly in earning so many awards in the first year of the vessel's operational life.

RADM Lord emphasised that this was an exceptional effort in view of the fact that the crew had been away from their home port for over five months of 1999.

The award ceremony concluded with a buffet luncheon to celebrate the tremendous efforts of all the ship's company.