Ballarat Rides Out Some Rough Weather

20 September 2009

After bidding farewell to HMAS Sydney off the coast of Hawaii, HMAS Ballarat has continued her Northern Trident 2009 journey across the Pacific Ocean toward Japan for a series of diplomatic engagements and goodwill exercises to further the already close bonds existing between the two nations.

Ballarat's Pacific Ocean transit has been made all the more eventful due to the weather generated by the remnants of Typhoon Dujuan. Though now downgraded to a tropical depression, Dujuan has brought the roughest weather of the deployment to date and has seen crew members lurching about in the passageways and has lead many to be thankful for the rough weather railings on their racks (bunks) at night.

The weather has lead to some challenges for the crew, not only in their movement around the ship but also for the completion of scheduled training onboard and attending to their every day work tasks.

While some changes to the ship's daily program have inevitably occurred, life has largely continued as usual onboard despite the rolling of the ship. Cooks in the galley have continued to turn out three hot meals a day, the Stewards in the wardroom have balanced their delivery of meals to the table against the swell and the Marine Technicians have continued with their everyday maintenance work on the ship's propulsion systems – all while the ship pitches and rolls around them.

Though the weather is expected to clear prior to their arrival in Japan, the crew of Ballarat will continue to ride out the remnants of the Dujuan influenced weather pattern before rendezvousing with HMAS Success. Together the two ships will continue to operate in Japanese waters over the next week and will be keeping a keen eye out for other typhoons forecasted to be in the area during their visit.