Australian Navy Builds Up Landing Fleet Before Stormy Season

19.09.2011 In order to build up landing and rescue capabilities before the stormy season, Australian Navy is going to lease a vessel named Windermere to be used as landing ship, said Australia's defense minister and defense technology minister on defence.gov.au.

For the period of stormy season, landing fleet of Australian Navy will operate three ships.

Windermere will be leased since Oct 14, 2011 till Jan 31, 2012 with possible prolongation till late Feb 2012; lease cost is $ 9.4 mln. The ship is chartered via P & O Maritime Services.

The ship is capable to transport up to 100 passengers and up to 1,000 tons of cargo. Windermere will join landing ships Choules (to arrive in Australia in Dec) and Tobruk (to be recommissioned in Nov after repairs).

Along with New Zealand's landing ship Canterbury, Windermere will serve in fast-response Pacific Flotilla which is to be founded jointly by Australian and New Zealand Navy.

Earlier on, in May and Aug 2011 Australian defense ministry decommissioned two landing ships Manoora and Kanimbla under Chief of Naval Staff's recommendation as ships which recovery and repairs were economically inadvisable.

Instead one of them, Australian defense ministry purchased British landing dock ship Largs Bay with displacement of 16,000 tons and carrying capacity larger than the entire landing fleet available to Australian Navy in the past (Tobruk, Manoora and Kanimbla). The contract cost was GBP 65 mln (about $ 100 mln).

Largs Bay is a new ship commissioned into Royal British Navy in 2006. In Australian Navy she would be renamed into Choules; the solemn commissioning ceremony is scheduled in Dec 2011 at naval base Fremantle.