Parliamentary Secretary for Defence visits Warramunga

19 May 2011

Senator Feeney (third from left) is hosted by CMDR Michael Turner (third from the right) and Warramunga ship’s company.

HMAS Warramunga (CMDR Michael Turner) recently hosted a visit by Senator David Feeney, the Parliamentary Secretary for Defence, alongside Fleet Base West.

The visit was the first opportunity for Senator Feeney to conduct a tour of a FFH since taking up his portfolio. As Parliamentary Secretary for Defence, Senator Feeney has responsibility for Reserves, Cadets, the Civil-Military Centre, Defence Honours and Awards and the ADF Parliamentary Program (ADFPP), which gives members of Parliament an opportunity to experience life with the ADF.

The ADFPP facilitates defence personnel attachments to parliamentary staff to gain an insight into the operations of parliament, which any Navy personnel can request for when volunteers are called for. Senator Feeney’s visit coincided with the completion of Warramunga’s extended maintenance period, including a docking. One of the more interesting and complex tasks included the removal and replacement of two of the ship’s Auxiliary Generator Engines.

This required a large hole to be cut into the hangar deck, through the Junior Sailor’s Cafe, and then all the way down to the keel of the ship.

Additionally both the Gas Turbine electronic control and port propulsion diesel engine underwent depot level maintenance. Senator Feeney’s visit coincided with the start of the Basin Trial process whereby all propulsion equipment are set to work and started in controlled conditions whilst alongside. This timing of Senator Feeney’s visit to Warramunga allowed him to witness the process of returning a ship to operational service after significant maintenance.

Senator Feeney enjoyed a steel deck BBQ while onboard, as the ship’s galley was in the process of being re-activated after major defect rectification was conducted on the galley.

CPOET Andrew Spencer, Warramunga's weapons and systems chief maintainer, shared lunch with Senator Feeney. "The Senator was very interested in learning about our weapons capabilities and anti-missile defences and also asked about the crew’s opinion on the ASMD upgrade,” CPO Spencer said.

While Warramunga’s recent focus has been on completing the maintenance activity and setting to work all equipment, the Operations Room staff have continued honing their war-fighting skills in preparation for unit readiness workup. The Operations Room staff were put through their paces with a complex simulator battle problem, immersing the Senator in a multi-threat ‘hot war’.

“There is just no substitute for seeing an ANZAC class frigate and its crew at work to understand its capabilities and the outstanding professionalism of its people,” said Senator Feeney.

Commanding Officer, CMDR Michael Turner said that the crew enjoyed showing Senator Feeney what they have been working on for the past few months.

“We were able to show Senator Feeney two very different elements of Warramunga’s preparations to return to sea – the set to work of our propulsion system and the command team training in complex high end warfare,” CMDR Turner said.

“The visit also allowed members of ship’s company to directly engage with our elected defence officials on wider maritime and contemporary issues in an open and frank dialogue.”

HMAS Warramunga has returned to sea after completing the Mariner Skills Evaluation and is now conducting System Qualification Trials.