Time to recharge the batteries for Westralia

HUGS: PO James Dew is reunited with his family after Westralia docks in the west.

Photo: ABPH Jarrad Oliffe

The cheers of excited family and friends greeted the Navy’s largest ship HMAS Westralia (CMDR Tim Crawford) when she returned to HMAS Stirling recently after 135 days at sea.

During the deployment, Westralia and her 100 crew participated in a series of multi-national maritime exercises involving navies from Japan, New Zealand, Malaysia, Singapore, United Kingdom and the United States, as well as conducting goodwill visits to Singapore and Malaysia.

The 40,000 tonne replenishment ship travelled more than 20,900 nautical miles and delivered 18,428,000 litres of diesel fuel to other ships during 40 replenishments at sea.

CMDR Crawford sang the praises of all the crew, but particularly the cooks, who worked tirelessly to prepare 31,443 individual meals during the four months at sea.

During the voyage the crew of 100 devoured 1,120 dozen eggs, 412 litres of tomato sauce, 3.4 tonnes of potato and 10,179 cans of soft drink.

CMDR Crawford said that while the opportunity to interact with people from other navies and countries and to learn about their cultures was an obvious highlight of the trip, for many others it was the great shopping in Singapore and Malaysia.

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