Ship 01 Hobart, the first destroyer to have been completed under Project Sea 4000 (Air Warfare Destroyer), was handed over to the Navy today by builder the AWD Alliance in Adelaide.
The ship has recently completed a series of introduction into service trials in company with the Spanish Armada's Cristóbal Colón, built by Navantia using the same design.
Soon to be in service under the designation DDG (Destroyer Designated Guided), Hobart will be formally commissioned on 23rd September this year into the Royal Australian Navy and will be the 107th ship to join the fleet.
Alliance partner Raytheon Australia said the milestone also represented the achievement of 10 million hours of combat system integration work it had undertaken across various programs since its inception since 1999.
Lockheed Martin marked the occasion as a milestone for Australia joining the 'global Aegis fleet', with Australia now the sixth allied nation to operate the Aegis weapon system.