Royal Australian Navy

Royal Australian Navy ; Royal Australian Navy
Lineup	July 1911
Country	Royal Australian Navy
Armed forces	Australian Defense Force
Type	Armed forces ( navy )
Strength	13,400
headquarters	Canberra
management
Chief of Navy	Vice Admiral Tim Barrett
Deputy Chief of Navy	Rear Admiral Michael van Balen
Commander Australian Fleet	Rear Adm. Stuart Mayer
insignia
Naval war flag since 1967
Gösch
Naval war flag from 1911 to 1967

The Royal Australian Navy ( Engl. : Royal Australian Navy , abbreviated RAN ) is the naval force of the Armed Forces of the Commonwealth of Australia . Due to its island location, it is the most important military force in the country and has a strength of around 13,400 men.

history

Even during the settlement of Australia, the British naval forces operated in Australian waters before a British naval base was officially established in Australia in 1859.

Fears that the British Navy could be withdrawn from Australian waters because of the Crimean War led to the Ketch Spitfire armed with a 32 pounder cannon being built in Port Jackson in 1857 for the then colony of New South Wales (NSW) . The steam-powered sloop Victoria (with 580 t), which was also put into service, took part in the first overseas landing of Australian sailors in New Zealand in December 1860.

The Victoria Colony created a naval brigade in 1861 with a crew of two companies . NSW followed in 1863 with a corresponding unit. The task of this land-based force was to protect the port. The Colonial Naval Defense Act enabled independent naval defense of the colonies. In 1868 Victoria put Cerberus , built in Jarrow and armed with ten 4-inch muzzle-loaders, and a few gunboats into service. NSW acquired the HMS Wolverine in 1863 for training purposes , equipped with sixteen 8-inch, one 7-inch cannon and four 40-pounders.

HMVS Albert 's plan from Brassey's 1888

In 1884 Armstrong succeeded in selling five gunboats of the Rendell type it had developed to the colonies. South Australia received the Protektor (921 t, 14.15 kn, one 8-inch, five 6-inch guns) designated there as a cruiser , Victoria received the Victoria (544 t, 12.58 kn, one 10-inch gun) and the Albert (361 t, 10.18 kn, one 8-inch, one 6-inch gun) and Queensland the Paluma and Gayundah (both 385 t, 10.5 kn, one 8-inch, one 6-inch Gun).

The Australian colonies agreed in 1887 to set up the Royal Navy Auxiliary Squadron - independently of the remaining squadrons of the individual colonies - to defend their home waters. A subsidy was paid to the Royal Navy for its upkeep. She met on September 5, 1891 with the five cruisers HMS Katoomba , Wallaroo , Tauranga , Ringarooma , Mildura of the Pearl class (two of which should normally be out of service) and the two torpedo cannon boats Boomerang and Karrakatta of the Sharpshooter class in Sydney a.

The government of New South Wales dispatched the cruiser HMS Wallaroo (built as Persian, 2575 t) to Chinese waters to suppress the Boxer Rebellion . She was accompanied by the entire Navy of South Australia: the cruiser Protector (920 t; one 8-inch and five 6-inch cannons) built in 1884 . 260 men from NSW and 200 from Victoria were seconded to landing troops equipped with field guns. These were actually supposed to be sent to South Africa for the Boer War . After being equipped with new weapons in Hong Kong, they fought in Tientsin and Beijing until they left China in March 1901.

The HMS Challenger that was transferred to the RAN

According to the Naval Agreement Act of 1903, which regulated the stationing of Royal Navy units in the Empire and the participation of the colonies in the costs, the squadron of Australia Station should consist of one 1st class cruiser, two 2nd class cruisers and four 3rd class cruisers. Class to replace the now obsolete Auxiliary Squadron . In 1906 Australia Station reached the agreed strength with the older protected cruiser 1st class Powerful as flagship , the two newly built cruisers 2nd class Challenger and Encounter and the older Cambrian , as well as five 3rd class cruisers of the Pelorus type with HMS Psyche , Pegasus , Prometheus , Pioneer and Pyramus . The Challenger and the small cruisers also increasingly trained Australians.

In 1909 the British Crown decided to set up its own Australian fleet. It was planned to put a battleship, three cruisers, six destroyers, three submarines and some supply ships into service. The first two destroyers, the Yarra and the Parramatta , arrived in Australian waters in November 1910. In the following July 1911, King George V awarded the fleet the title "Royal Australian Navy". In June 1912 a third destroyer, the Warrego, arrived and in 1913 the battlecruiser Australia and two light cruisers ( HMAS Sydney and Melbourne ) entered service. A naval academy to train fleet officers was opened in Jervis Bay in 1915 .

1914 to 1918

The flagship HMAS Australia

The Torrens , one of the second three River-class torpedo boat destroyers to enter service in 1916

When war broke out in 1914 the fleet from the consisted battle cruiser HMAS Australia , four light cruisers ( Sydney , Melbourne , Encounter , Pioneer ), three destroyers of the River class ( Yarra , Parramatta , Warrego ), two submarines ( AE1 , AE2 ) and various Supply ships. The first victory is the destruction of the SMS Emden on November 9, 1914. The fleet was integrated into the British Royal Navy and used in all theaters of war. The fleet supported the marine infantry in the occupation of the then German colonies in the Pacific . B. German New Guinea . After that, the fleet was mainly occupied with escorting convoys. The fleet supported the Battle of Gallipoli and the Australian Navy also opened the Sea Battle of the Dardanelles . In doing so, she lost the submarine AE2 on April 30, 1915.

1919 to 1938

In December 1921, the fleet flagship Australia was decommissioned and finally sunk at sea. Thus Australia lost its only capital ship, but the battle cruiser was already out of date despite its young age and its maintenance represented a disproportionately large burden on the available naval budget. In 1924, the fleet was supplemented by six submarines and six destroyers. The people of the Solomon Islands rose against the British colonial government in 1927, which put down the uprising with a punitive military expedition. The Australian fleet was involved in these fighting. In 1928 the fleet received two heavy cruisers of Kent class . In the twenties and early thirties, the budget for the fleet was cut. Nevertheless, a seaplane tender was put into service in 1929 . Five more old destroyers were purchased in 1933. From 1935 three light cruisers of the Amphion class were purchased by the Royal Navy, which were also paid for with the Albatros seaplane tender .

1939 to 1945

HMAS Canberra

HMAS Sydney

HMAS Swan

When Great Britain and Australia entered the war, the fleet under British Rear Admiral Wilfred Custance had two heavy cruisers ( HMAS Canberra , Australia ) and three light cruisers ( Sydney , Hobart , Perth ), three destroyers ( Vampire , Vendetta , Voyager ), and two escort sloops ( Swan , Yarra ) and the survey vessel Moresby . In addition there was the depot ship Penguin and in reserve the older cruiser Adelaide and the two destroyers Stuart and Waterhen .

The ships used in World War II included:

HMAS Adelaide
HMAS Armidale , sunk on December 1st, 1942
HMAS Arunta
HMAS Australia
HMAS Ballarat
HMAS Bataan
HMAS Bendigo
HMAS Canberra , in the August 9, 1942 Battle of Savo Iceland dropped
HMAS Hobart
HMAS Kalgoorlie
HMAS Napier
HMAS Nepal
HMAS Nestor , sunk in the Mediterranean on June 16, 1942
HMAS Nizam
HMAS Norman
HMAS Parramatta , sunk off Tobruk on November 27, 1941
HMAS Perth , in the March 1, 1942 Battle of Sunda Strait sunk
HMAS Stuart
HMAS Swan
HMAS Sydney , to fight with the German on 19 November 1941 auxiliary cruiser Kormoran dropped
HMAS Vampire , sunk by Japanese aircraft on April 9, 1942 off Ceylon
HMAS Vendetta
HMAS Voyager , lost in the Battle of Timor in late September 1942
HMAS Warramunga
HMAS Warrego
HMAS Warrnambool
HMAS Waterhen , sunk in the Mediterranean on June 30, 1941, first Australian war loss
HMAS Yarra , in the March 4, 1942 Dutch East Indies sunk

Under the command of the British Royal Navy, the fleet operated on all theaters of sea war.

present

Since Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott took office in 2013, the Navy has been increasingly patrolling north of Australia to make it impossible for refugee boats to reach the Australian coast.

fleet

Prefix of ships

All warships of the Royal Australian Navy have the prefix HMAS = Her or His Majesty’s Australian Ship as part of their name .

Current inventory

Ship class	origin	Ships	Remarks
destroyer
Hobart	Spain Spain / Australia Australia	HMAS Hobart (DDG 39) HMAS Brisbane (DDG 41) HMAS Sydney (DDG 42)
Frigates
ANZAC	Germany Germany / Australia Australia	HMAS Anzac (FFH 150) HMAS Arunta (FFH 151) HMAS Warramunga (FFH 152) HMAS Stuart (FFH 153) HMAS Parramatta (FFH 154) HMAS Ballarat (FFH 155) HMAS Toowoomba (FFH 156) HMAS Perth (FFH 157)
Submarines
Collins	Australia Australia	HMAS Collins (SSG 73) HMAS Farncomb (SSG 74) HMAS Waller (SSG 75) HMAS Dechaineux (SSG 76) HMAS Shean (SSG 77) HMAS Rankin (SSG 78)
Amphibious units
Canberra	Spain Spain / Australia Australia	HMAS Canberra (L 02) HMAS Adelaide (L 01)
Bay	United Kingdom United Kingdom	HMAS Choules (L 100)
LCM-1E	Spain Spain	L 4401 L 4402 L 4403 L 4404 L 4405 L 4406 L 4407 L 4408	Four of the LCM-1E are or will be carried on board the dock landing ships of the Canberra class. Another four boats will be put into service in mid-2015, which will be used for training purposes and as replacement or replacement boats. These landing craft are not the successors to the decommissioned Balikpapan class boats.
Patrol boats
Armidale	Australia Australia	HMAS Armidale (ACPB 83) HMAS Larrakia (ACPB 84) HMAS Bathurst (ACPB 85) HMAS Albany (ACPB 86) HMAS Pirie (ACPB 87) HMAS Maitland (ACPB 88) HMAS Ararat (ACPB 89) HMAS Broome (ACPB 90) HMAS Wollongong (ACPB 92) HMAS Childers (ACPB 93) HMAS Launceston (ACPB 94) HMAS Maryborough (ACPB 95) HMAS Glenelg (ACPB 96)
Minesweepers
Huon	Australia Australia	HMAS Huon (M 82) HMAS Hawkesbury (M 83) HMAS Norman (M 84) HMAS Gasgoyne (M 85) HMAS Diamantina (M 86) HMAS Yarra (M 87)
Supply units
Sirius	Korea South South Korea / Australia Australia	HMAS Sirius (O 266)	Launched in 2004 as MT Delos , the tanker was put into service in 2006 after modifications in place of the HMAS Westralia (O 195) as a supply ship of the RAN.
Survey vessels
Leeuwin	Australia Australia	HMAS Leeuwin (A 245) HMAS Melville (A 246)	Both ships were put into service in 2000. To expand their area of application, they each carry a rigid inflatable boat and three boats of the Fantome class with them and can have a Eurocopter AS 350 operated from their helicopter deck .
Paluma	Australia Australia	HMAS Paluma (A 01) HMAS Mermaid (A 02) HMAS Shepparton (A 03) HMAS Benalla (A 04)	The catamarans were put into service between 1989 and 1990 and are unarmed.
Units with civilian crew
Bandicoot	Singapore Singapore	MSA Bandicoot (Y 298) MSA Wallaroo (Y 299)	Put into service in 1991 as anti-mine vehicles, since 2010 both ships have only been RAN reserve tugs .
Young Endeavor	United Kingdom United Kingdom	STS Young Endeavor	In 1988 in the service of the RAN and there subordinated to the command of Mine Warfare, Hydrographic and Patrol Boat Force , it is mainly used for sailing training of young people as part of the “Young Endeavor Youth Scheme” program.

Planned ships

After the Adelaide was put into service in the meantime, both HMAS Choules and ADV Ocean Shield were to be retired, which were then to replace their sister ship in service with the Australian customs and border security authorities.

The Royal Australian Navy currently has received their two new supply ships of the Supply class .

As part of the specifications of the White Paper Defending Australia in the Asia Pacific Century: Force 2030 published in 2009, the existing survey vessels, patrol and minehunting boats, similar to the British Future Surface Combatant program , are to be replaced in the medium to long term by a new class of Corvettes to be replaced. The planned twenty new Offshore Combatant Vessels (OCV), like the ships in the StanFlex or Littoral Combat classes, are to be equipped with modular naval ship systems.

Naval Base Sydney

Furthermore, successors were sought for the frigates of the ANZAC class . Associated with this is an increase in the submarine fleet from six to twelve units. In April 2016, as a conclusion to the Collins class submarine replacement project, an order for the manufacture and maintenance of 12 Barracuda class submarines with an order volume of over 50 billion US dollars was awarded to the French industrial group DCNS .

In 2019, Admiral Greg Sammut told the Senate that the twelve submarines would start operating in 2034 at the earliest and devour around 145 billion Australian dollars.

From the end of the 2020s, nine Hunter-class frigates are to be added to the fleet to replace the eight-unit ANZAC class . In 2018, the British industrial group BAE Systems received this order worth over 25 billion US dollars .

Naval bases

Naval aviators

The aeronautical organizations of the RAN are made along the lines of the same British OU created Fleet Air Arm (FAA) and the laser Airborne Depth Sounder Flight (LADS-Flight).

Fleet Air Arm

The FAA was on July 3, 1947 as Australian Navy Aviation Group launched and today comprises four helicopters - seasons with the numbers 723, 725, 808 and 816. Your base is the military airfield HMAS Albatross at Nowra . The FAA is commanded by Commodore Vince Di Pietro.

Since the last Hawker-Siddeley HS 748 aircraft were retired in 2000 , the Fleet Air Arm (FAA) naval aviators have been operating exclusively with helicopters. Some of the units are frigate helicopters . In addition, the naval helicopters are also deployed from the amphibious helicopter carriers , dock landing ships, Leeuwin-class ships and the ADV Ocean Shield .

Sikorsky S-70B2 of the RAN, a. D. 2017

Current inventory

Helicopter status at the end of 2017	origin	use	version	active	Remarks
Sikorsky MH-60	United States United States	Transport helicopter	MH-60R	24	Inflow 2013–2016
NH90	Europe Europe	Transport helicopter	MRH-90	6th	from pool with the army
Bell 429	United States United States	School helicopter		4th	In 2012
Airbus H135	Europe Europe	School helicopter	EC-135T2 +	15th	Inflow since 2016

There are also unmanned aerial vehicles of the Boeing ScanEagle and Camcopter S-100 types .

Laser Airborne Depth Sounder Flight

The LADS-Flight was established in 1992 for the purpose of mapping the territorial waters of Australia and is subordinate to the RAN, but is operated by the Australian Hydrographic Service , the Australian authority for maritime hydrography , in cooperation with the developer of the LADS system . The Laser Airborne Depth Sounder (LADS) is a system based on an Nd: YAG laser for surveying the sea floor , which is stationed on board a turboprop aircraft. Until 2009 this was a Fokker F-27 Friendship . LADS-Flight operates from the international airfield in Cairns and has been commanded by Lieutenant Commander Susanna Hung since the beginning of 2015 .

The LADS-Flight 2007 machine on the airfield in Essendon