DEFENCE MEDIA RELEASE
Issued by Coordination and Public Affairs, Department of Defence, Canberra, ACT
Phone: 02 6265 3343, Fax: 02 62656946
CPA 147/08
Friday, 26 May 2008
TWO’S COMPANY
Two of the Royal Australian Navy’s Mine Countermeasure ships have today departed
Sydney for a deployment, which will see them travel in company around South East
Asia.
HMA Ships Gascoyne and Diamantina’s first port visit will be HMAS Cairns,
followed by Darwin Naval Base, before transiting to Surabaya, Brunei, Singapore,
Phuket and Semerang.
“The deployment provides the ships’ companies of both Gascoyne and Diamantina a
chance to build goodwill with our regional neighbours. This plays a vital role in
terms of improving our interoperability,” said Commanding Officer HMAS
Gascoyne, Lieutenant Commander Max Muller.
From Semerang, Gascoyne and Diamantina will return to waters off northern
Australia, where they will take part in the nation’s largest multilateral maritime
exercise, Kakadu 2008.
The two Huon Class Minehunters will join RAN assets including HMA Ships
Melbourne,
Toowoomba, Collins, Pirie and Sirius for the biennial exercise. Other
countries taking part in the 2008 iteration include the Forces of New Zealand,
Singapore, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Philippines and Thailand. The exercise will
also have participating forces or observers from Indonesia, France, Japan, Pakistan,
South Korea and Vietnam.
“Kakadu is an important exercise, which aims to develop interoperability in
multilateral maritime operations in a regional maritime coalition environment and
involves a wide range of exercises and evolutions,” said Commanding Officer HMAS
Diamantina, Lieutenant Commander Doug Griffiths, RAN.
Gascoyne and Diamantina are two of the six Huon Class Minehunters commissioned
into the RAN. They represent the latest in mine countermeasures technology and are
able to undertake extended operations in widely dispersed and environmentally
diverse areas within Australia and regional waters.
Media contact: Defence Media Liaison: 02 6265 3343 or 0408 498 664
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