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MILESTONE:
Anzac turns 10.
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By SBLT Tony Gleeson
Volume
49, No. 10, June 15, 2006
By LCDR Graham Spencer
Local West Australian dignitaries and members of Anzac class ships
HMA Ships Anzac and Warramunga gathered at Tenix Ship building
yards at Henderson in WA recently to celebrate 10 years of the
Anzac class ships’ service to the nation.
The Executive General Manager Tenix Maritime Division, Dave Miller
said the 10th anniversary was a proud achievement for the RAN.
“It is a great pleasure to see a vessel that we constructed
and watched start its life undertaking operations 10 years ago,
today,” he said.
“This achievement represents a great sense of pride for us
and we say well done to the men and women of HMAS Anzac and other
Anzac class ships who are here today to mark this occasion.”
HMAS Anzac’s CO CAPT Ian Middleton recalled how Anzac commissioned
alongside Station Pier in Melbourne, Victoria.
The CO and XO then, are now CDREs Les Pataky and Ray Griggs, respectively.
The aim of the then Project SEA 1348 was to procure 10 ships:
eight for Australia and two for New Zealand based upon the German
MEKO 200 Design.
The contract for the ships was signed on November 10, 1989 between
the Commonwealth of Australia and Amecon (now Tenix), and the
first ship Anzac, was subsequently commissioned into the RAN on
May 18, 1996.
CAPT Middleton said to those assembled on the wharf that in the
past 10 years, the Anzac class had, and would continue to serve,
our nation well.
“During the 10 years, HMAS Anzac has steamed 348,858 nm –
the equivalent of over 16 times the circumference of our planet.
She has spent in excess of 1,234 days actually underway, or an
average of 150 normal working days at sea per year,” he said.
The Anzac ships have been a remarkable achievement. The Anzac
class ships have been considered a “turnkey” solution,
as they have functioned properly from the first moment the crew
stepped onboard.
Since commissioning, the Anzac class has continued to be improved
upon. The NATO Sea Sparrow missile is being replaced by the highly
capable and modern Evolved Sea sparrow missile.
