HMAS Adelaide makes final port of call
12 December 2007
HMAS Adelaide (II) comes into the City of Adelaide for the last time before her decommissioning in early 2008.
HMAS Adelaide, the Royal Australian Navy ship famous for its search and rescue operation of stricken yachtsmen Thierry Dubois and Tony Bullimore deep in the Southern Ocean has visited the City of Adelaide for the last time as part of her decommissioning cruise.
HMAS Adelaide was the first of the Adelaide Class Guided Missile Frigates to be commissioned into service for the RAN, on the 15 November 1980. She was built in the United States by Seattle's Todd Pacific Shipyard Corporation and after nearly 27 years of service, Adelaide is still fully operational.
Adelaide's accomplished career has included a range of taskings. She was one of the first RAN warships to deploy to the Persian Gulf in 1990 as part of Operation Damask. Since then, Adelaide has deployed twice to the Middle East as part of Operation Slipper in 2002 and Operation Catalyst in 2004. Adelaide also assisted in both East Timor operations in 1999 and 2006.
Adelaide is to be decommissioned in early 2008. However, the name Adelaide will not be missing from the Australian Fleet for long, with one of the new Canberra Class amphibious ships (LHD) intended to bear the name.
Following her decommissioning, HMAS Adelaide will be gifted to the New South Wales Government and sunk off the NSW Central Coast, near Terrigal, to become an artificial reef and a recreational dive attraction.
