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WELCOME SIGHT: As HMAS Armidale pulls into port she is greeted
by Australian soldiers in-country as part of RAMSI to support
the Participating Police Force in Honiara, Solomon Islands.
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SECURE: CPOB Anthony Sandwell throws the mooring line as HMAS Armidale pulls into Honiara.
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SPIRITED: HMAS Townsville powers her way through the swell.
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Photos: LT Simone Heyer
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By Michael Brooke and LT Simone Heyer
Volume
49, No. 7, May 4, 2006
The RAN patrol boats HMA Ships Armidale (LCDR Jason Hunter) and
Townsville (LCDR I.M. Ingham) deployed to Honiara recently to
support the Regional Assistance Mission Solomon Islands (RAMSI)
following a wave of civil unrest.
The Armidale and Fremantle Class patrol boats have been sent to
the Solomons to support around 500 military personnel and about
350 police.
Townsville docked in Honiara on April 21 and Armidale arrived
on April 27.
It marks the first overseas operation for Armidale, which has
been through a busy period since commissioning last year.
“HMAS Armidale has come to the Solomon Islands to join Combined
Task Force 635, in support of the Regional Assistance Mission
Solomon Islands,” LCDR Hunter said.
“This is the first operational tasking outside the Australia
station, since the ship was commissioned last year. The crew are
keen to do this sort of work.”
Prior to deploying to the Solomons, Armidale, the lead ship of
the RAN’s latest generation of patrol boats, assisted 17
stranded Australian and United States citizens on the remote Islands
of Tofua and Kao, in Tonga.
The Navy was contacted on April 19 with a relayed a request from
the Tongan Government for Armidale to provide assistance in locating
and repatriating the stranded group.
The group had been unable to leave the island of Tofua for several
days due to severe weather conditions.
Armidale safely recovered 12 people from Tofua Island early on
April 20, while a United States Peace Corps contracted vessel,
Pacific Sunrise, recovered five people from Kao Island, then transferred
them to Armidale.
“We visited five South West Pacific Nations and during that
time the stranded Australian and US citizens we rescued from the
Tongan islands was our first rescue mission,” LCDR Hunter
said.
Once the rescue mission was completed, Armidale was tasked to
head to the Solomons.
“Before we sailed here we were conducting tests and controls
in the South West Pacific to see if we could operate safely,”
LCDR Hunter said.
“We’ve had a good trip, we came through some pretty
rough seas in the South West Pacific but, nearing the Solomon
Islands, conditions improved. We’ve had no problems with
the boat.”
