HMAS Kanimbla (L 51)
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 HMAS Kanimbla leaving Port Jackson for Operation Falconer |
|
| Career (United States Navy) | |
|---|---|
| Name: | USS Saginaw (LST-1188) |
| Namesake: | City of Saginaw, Michigan |
| Builder: | National Steel and Shipbuilding Company |
| Laid down: | 24 May 1969 |
| Launched: | 7 February 1970 |
| Sponsored by: | Wife of R. James Harvey |
| Commissioned: | 23 January 1971 |
| Homeport: | Little Creek, Virginia |
| Career (Royal Australian Navy) |  |
| Commissioned: | 29 August 1994 |
| Homeport: | Fleet Base East |
| Motto: | "Cry Havoc" |
| Honours and awards: |
Meritorious Unit Citation |
| Badge: |  |
| General characteristics as Kanimbla | |
| Class and type: | Kanimbla class Landing Platform Amphibious |
| Displacement: | 8,534 tons |
| Length: | 159.2 metres |
| Beam: | 21.2 metres |
| Draught: | 5.3 metres |
| Propulsion: | 6 x ALCO V16 diesel engines, 2,750 hp each driving two shafts (3 engines per shaft) |
| Speed: | 22 knots (41 km/h) |
| Range: | 14,000 nautical miles (26,000 km) at 14 knots (26 km/h) |
| Boats and landing craft carried: |
2 x LCM8 landing craft |
| Capacity: | 400 embarked forces, 955 square metres of useable tank deck space |
| Complement: | 23 naval Officers, 2 army Officers, 197 sailors, 18 soldiers |
| Armament: | 1 × 20 mm Phalanx Mk 15 close–in weapon system, 6 × 12.7 mm Machine guns |
| Aircraft carried: | 4 x Blackhawk or 3 x Sea King |
HMAS Kanimbla (L 51) (formerly USS Saginaw (LST-1188)) is the lead ship of the Kanimbla class Landing Platform Amphibious. Constructed for the United States Navy as Newport class tank landing ship USS Saginaw, the ship was acquired by the Royal Australian Navy in 1994 for conversion into a amphibious warfare transport ship. Since entering RAN service, Kanimbla has participated in numerous worldwide deployments, and has lost two helicopters in crashes.
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[edit] Design and construction
The ship was laid down by National Steel and Shipbuilding Company at San Diego, California for the USN on 24 May 1969 as Newport class tank landing ship USS Saginaw.[1] She was launched on 7 February 1970, sponsored by the wife of R. James Harvey, a Congressman and former mayor of Saginaw, Michigan, and commissioned into the United States Navy on 23 January 1971.[1]
[edit] RAN conversion
The ship was acquired by the Royal Australian Navy and recommissioned as Kanimbla on 29 August 1994, for use as an amphibious warfare transport ship. To achieve this, the ship was extensively reconstructed, making her the lead ship in a new class of vessel; the Kanimbla class Landing Platform Amphibious (LPA). Two LPAs are active in the RAN, Kanimbla and Manoora, both of which are based at Sydney's Fleet Base East.
[edit] Name
The ship was originally named after the city of Saginaw, Michigan.
Upon entering RAN service, the ship was renamed Kanimbla Valley, west of Blackheath in the Blue Mountains in New South Wales, Australia. The name was previously used by the passenger ship Kanimbla, which was commissioned into the Royal Navy and Royal Australian Navy during World War II, and converted to a troopship. The ship's full motto is "And Caesar's spirit ranging for revenge, with 'ate by his side come hot from hell, shall in these confines with a monarch's voice, cry "Havoc!" and let slip the Dogs of War", a quote from William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar
[edit] USN operational history
[edit] RAN operational history
[edit] Persian Gulf deployment
Kanimbla was deployed to the Persian Gulf from February to May 2003, during the invasion of Iraq.[2] Kanimbla's role was to provide a command and control platform to the Australian Navy Task Group and specialised capabilities to the greater multinational fleet in the invasion of Iraq. Kanimbla also carried 12 extra boarding parties from the Royal Navy and United States Navy, enabling her to carry out round the clock boardings and patrols within the K.A.A. On the morning of 19 March 2003, Two RHIBs from Kanimbla intercepted and boarded two Iraqi minelaying vessels attempting to block Coalition access to Iraqi waters. The vessels were carrying 26 luggam World War One-era drift mines and 60 Italian Manta state of the art acoustic mines.[citation needed]
Kanimbla was awarded the Meritorious Unit Citation on 27 November 2003 for her service during this deployment.[2]
[edit] Operation Sumatra Assist
Kanimbla was part of Operation Sumatra Assist, the Australian Defence Force humanitarian aid to victims of the 2004 tsunami in Indonesia. During its subsequent return voyage to Australia, she was recalled for Operation Sumatra Assist Phase II to help victims of the 2005 Sumatran earthquake.
During this operation, at about 09:30 UTC 2 April 2005, Shark 02, one of the ship's Sea King helicopters crashed while approaching the village of Amadraya in the south of the island of Nias, off the west coast of Sumatra in Indonesia. Nine ADF personnel were killed — seven men and two women, from all three ADF services. Two others were recovered alive from the site by the other Sea King operating from Kanimbla and transferred to the ship for medical assistance in her hospital facilities.[3][4]
[edit] Operation Astute
During early-mid 2006, HMAS Kanimbla operated near East Timor as part of Operation Astute.
[edit] 2006 Fiji coup
At the start of November 2006, HMAS Newcastle was one of three Australian warships sent to Fiji as part of the ADF response to threats of a coup d'etat by Fijian military forces against Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase. Kanimbla sailed to waters south of Fiji two days after Newcastle, and the two ships were joined by HMAS Success later in November. The three vessels are to be used in the event of an evacuation of Australian citizens and nationals, but not as a military force.[5]
On 29 November 2006, an Australian Army S-70A Black Hawk helicopter operating from Kanimbla, and carrying ten Army personnel on board, crashed whilst attempting to land on the ship's deck, killing the helicopter's pilot (Captain Mark Bingley) and a Special Air Service Regiment soldier (Corporal Joshua Porter) and injuring seven of the people onboard the helicopter (with one not injured.)[6][7][8][9][10] Porter's body, and the wreckage of the helicopter, were not recovered until 5 March 2007, nearly three months after the accident.[11]
[edit] References
- ^ a b Saginaw-II. Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. Naval Historical Center - United States Navy. Retrieved on 2008-02-22.
- ^ a b It's An Honour - Honours. Retrieved on 2008-02-22. “Citation: For meritorious service in warlike operations in the war against weapons of mass destruction, IRAQ, during Operations BASTILLE and FALCONER between February and May 2003.”
- ^ ADF :: Online Media Room
- ^ Nine Australians die in Nias chopper crash. 03/04/2005. ABC News Online
- ^ Aussie warships heading for Fiji. The Daily Telegraph (Australia), November 2, 2006.
- ^ "One dead, one missing in Black Hawk crash off Fiji", ABC, 2006-11-29. Retrieved on 2006-11-29.
- ^ "BLACK HAWK HELICOPTER LOST NEAR FIJI (.wmv)", Australian Defence Force, 2006-11-29. Retrieved on 2006-11-30.
- ^ "Black Hawk Helicopter Accident", Australian Defence Force, 2006-11-30. Retrieved on 2006-11-30.
- ^ "Black Hawk Helicopter Accident Q&A (.wmv)", Australian Defence Force, 2006-11-30. Retrieved on 2006-11-30.
- ^ "ADF releases name of missing SAS soldier", Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 2006-12-01. Retrieved on 2006-12-01.
- ^ "Remains of SAS soldier found off Fiji", The Age, 2007-03-06. Retrieved on 2007-03-06.
[edit] External links
