A shore thing

Two crewmembers of Army landing craft LCM8 1059 stand ready to carry out a stern docking with HMAS Kanimbla off the coast of Banda Aceh. The coxswain of this landing craft is Corporal Mathew Beale. Two LCM8 landing Craft were transported to Aceh on the forward deck of HMAS Kanimbla.

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An Australian Army Unimog truck pauses on the beach matting of the sea point of departure (SPOD) at Banda Aceh while Army landing craft LCM8 1059 waits for its cargo. The SPOD, surveyed and created by Australian Army and Navy personnel, is the only place along the coast of Banda Aceh where landing craft can discharge their cargo over the shoreline. Two LCM8 landing Craft were transported to Aceh on the forward deck of HMAS Kanimbla. The landing craft in the background is LCM8 1059.

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By Corporal Cameron Jamieson - filed 09 February 2005

It took the Navy to move the engineers to Banda Aceh, but it's the Army that got them ashore.

The green paint reminds you of the green uniforms that Australian soldiers wore when they were introduced into service, but the LCM8 landing craft of the Royal Australian Corps of Transport are still going strong.

Corporal Mathew Beale is the coxswain of LCM8 1059, one of two LCM8s assigned to HMAS Kanimbla as part of Operation Sumatra Assist.

He said the landing craft were extremely busy moving the equipment and vehicles from the 1st Combat Engineer Regiment ashore when the ship first arrived off the shattered shorelines of Banda Aceh, but the tempo had eased to a steady flow of shuttle trips to support the land forces ashore in the Indonesian province.

"Now we are taking shore parties in and transporting troops to and from HMAS Kanimbla for their respite leave," he said.

Before the landing craft could discharge their engineer cargo across the shoreline they had to establish a sea point of departure (SPOD).

An SPOD needs to have an accessible channel and a suitable landing point that will allow the shallow hull of the landing craft to make it right to the shore.

But the Boxing Day tsunami had destroyed the coastline, leaving debris and sandbars in the way.

It took a painstaking search by Navy and Army personnel to find the only channel and landing point available at Banda Aceh.

If they had not found it they would have had to move their operations 30 km away, greatly delaying the aid effort.

Although the coast was unkind, the sea was helpful when HMAS Kanimbla first arrived, but that changed too.

"When we first got here the sea was like a mirror," Corporal Beale said.

"Since then it has been a bit rough - at night we've snapped a few lines and broken some fenders while we've been alongside the ship.

"So we sleep onboard, just in case we break a line through the night."

For Corporal Beale the deployment on Operation Sumatra Assist has been a good opportunity to achieve a number of things.

"It's been great to help the Indonesians out and it's been a good opportunity to train the crew," he said.

"I've got two guys new to the trade who have learnt a lot and have performed well.

"It's also proved that the LCM8s are still a great workhorse.

"New, larger landing craft are being introduced, but there's still a lot of life left in the LCM8s, and I believe there's enough room for both."