The Minister for Defence, Stephen Smith, and Minister for Defence Materiel, Jason Clare, announced last week that the amphibious ship HMAS Kanimbla would be decommissioned.
After an operational pause was placed on the vessel in September 2010 by the Chief of Navy due to seaworthiness concerns, Defence has been assessing the future of HMAS Kanimbla.
This included a detailed assessment of the capability provided by Kanimbla, an assessment of its materiel state and a cost and risk assessment.
The outcome of this assessment is that the most cost effective and lowest risk option is to decommission it.
The cost to complete the extensive remediation work required on Kanimbla is estimated to be up to $35 million.
With the ship due for decommissioning at the end of 2014 and unavailable for operations until at least mid-2012, it was decided that it did not represent value for money to pursue further maintenance on the ship.
This announcement follows a number of announcements relating to Navy’s amphibious capability in 2011.
In February the Government announced that HMAS Manoora would be decommissioned on the advice of the Chief of Navy that the ship was beyond economical repair to bring it back into operational service, given the vessel’s remaining planned life.
HMAS Manoora was formally decommissioned in May.
The Government also announced in February that it was pursuing the acquisition of the United Kingdom amphibious ship the RFA Largs Bay.
The Government indicated at the time that, should this acquisition proceed, it would consider the decommissioning of the HMAS Kanimbla.
In April the Government announced that it had successfully acquired Largs Bay for £65 million (approximately $100 million).
Largs Bay will be commissioned into Navy service as HMAS Choules in honour of Mr Claude Choules, the last known veteran to have served on active service in the First World War.
HMAS Choules is expected to arrive in Australia for a commissioning ceremony in Fremantle in December 2011.