MSA Brolga (1102)

For other ships of the same name, see Brolga (ship).
MSA Brolga in 2001
Career
Builder: Australian Shipbuilding Industries
Launched: 1975
Renamed: Lumen (1975-1988)
Retriever 1 (2003-present)
Reclassified: Lighthouse tender (1975-1988)
Minesweeper(1988-2003)
Recreational vessel, diving and salvage vessel
Status: Active in private service as of 2008
Career (Royal Australian Navy)
Name: MSA Brolga
Namesake: The Brolga
Acquired: 10 February 1988
In service: 1988
Out of service: 2003
Homeport: HMAS Waterhen
Fate: Sold in 2003
General characteristics
Displacement:268 tons full load
Length:28.45 m (93.3 ft)
Beam:8.1 m (27 ft)
Draught:3.5 m (11 ft)
Propulsion:1 Mirrlees Blackstone diesel 540 hp, 1 shaft
Speed:10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph)
Complement:8 (RAN)
Sensors and
processing systems:		I-band navigation radar

MSA (Minesweeper Auxiliary) Brolga (1102) was a minesweeper operated by the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) between 1988 and 2003. She was constructed in Fremantle, Western Australia by Australian Shipbuilding Industries (now Tenix) in 1975, and first served as the lighthouse tender Lumen for the Australian Department of Transport.

She was purchased by the RAN on 10 February 1988, and entered service as a Minesweeper Auxiliary (Small). Brolga was one of three Minesweeper Auxiliaries operating as part of the Craft of Opportunity Program[1] under the command of the Mine Warfare and Clearance Diving Group, along with MSA Bandicoot and MSA Wallaroo.[2]

MSA Brolga saw operational service off Bougainville, supporting the Peace Monitoring Group during Operation Belisi.[3]

In 2003, Brolga was sold at auction for A$255,000. She was returned to Fremantle, Western Australia, where statements given at the time of the auction indicated that she was to be used as a mothership for a fishing fleet.[4] Instead, the ship was used for recreational purposes for 2 years, such as in a local protest for Port Coogee, and then sold to a private customer.

Converted to a diving and salvage platform, the renamed Retriever 1 was suspected to be linked to the disappearance of conman Peter Foster in January 2007. She was detained and searched multiple times by Vanuatuan police, and three of the ship's eight crew were arrested on immigration and firearms charges.[5] Three crew members were charged with harbouring Foster, but they denied the charges.[6] However, according to Andrew Kelman, head of Transnational Crimes Unit for Vanuatu, Peter Foster had claimed he had been on the boat and had tried to make a deal with Kelman implicating the crew.[6]

References

  1. ↑ Sharpe, Richard (ed.), Janes Fighting Ships 2000-2001, Janes Information Group, London, 2000. ISBN 0-7106-2018-7
  2. ↑ LEUT Michael Marley, RANR (7 November 2002). "HMAS Waterhen – we're about ships' influence" (PDF). Navy Reserve News (Office of Director General of Reserves – Navy). pp. 4–5. Retrieved 16 December 2008.
  3. ↑ POMW Andrew Hayward (5 March 2001). "Every thing she did was magic". Navy News (Defence Public Affairs and Corporate Communication). Retrieved 16 December 2008.
  4. ↑ LCDR Mick Gallagher (26 February 2004). "Brolga flys home to Freo". NAVY News (Defence Public Affairs and Corporate Communication). Retrieved 16 December 2008.
  5. ↑ Kearney, Simon (13 January 2007). "Three Australians held over missing conman". The Australian (News Corporation). Retrieved 16 December 2008.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Trio stuck in Foster's web, Hedley Thomas, The Australian, 20 January 2007, retrieved 14 August 2009

External links