HMAS Maryborough comes home

22 October 2008

It was home sweet home for the crew of HMAS Maryborough following their five week deployment on exercise to New Zealand.

Exercise Maru marked the first time a Royal Australian Navy Armidale Class Patrol Boat visited our trans-Tasman neighbour.

LCDR Jeff Davison said the exercise gave the ship's company the opportunity to show off our capability to our New Zealand neighbours and the wider regional audience.

"The ship's company thoroughly enjoyed the deployment and we never lost a day at sea or failed to meet an objective," he said.

The ship's company visited the ports of Noumea in New Caledonia, Auckland and Nelson in New Zealand, as well as Sydney and Cairns.

LCDR Davison said what was particularly pleasing was that we were able to balance the engagement with supporting our home audience.

"We were a feature of Navy Open Day in Sydney, and we also hosted two Naval Cadet Sea Ride Events as we transited north," he said.