Training Amphib Style
26 July 2010 By LEUT Ian Walker and WO Ken Long
HMAS Kanimbla (CMDR Timothy Byles) is the largest and most versatile of the Australian warships taking part in RIMPAC 2010. With a crew of 234 as well as embarked flight and forces, Kanimbla has over 500 personnel onboard for the exercise.
More than 100 people are embarked purely for on-the-job training purposes and over 200 are working through Competency Task Journals. During just the two week transit from Fleet Base East in Sydney to Pearl Harbor, Kanimbla personnel completed well over 50 competencies and on average each trainee completed over ten percent of their journals.
RIMPAC, as with all exercises, provides excellent opportunities for all rank levels, rates and categories to develop both individually and collectively through the multitude of complex evolutions demanded of the LPA class of ship.
Kanimbla sailors’ have undertaken invaluable training in areas as diverse as aviation, gunnery, seamanship, and most importantly, Amphibious Operations. The training opportunities presented have also been enriched by the embarkation of elements of the Canadian and Indonesian Armies, as well as Amphibious Assault Vehicles (AAV) and a Company of US Marines.
The crew of Kanimbla have had to deal with multiple challenges to ensure that the training objectives for the exercise were met and all involved learnt new skills, from operating in company with a larger than normal force to operating helicopters and launching AAVs concurrently. The lessons being identified and training being conducted onboard Kanimbla today will be invaluable for the new Canberra Class LHDs when they come online in 2014.
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