Australian navy ship NUSHIP Canberra heads from contractor sea trials towards commissioning

Photo - Jesse Rhynard

With final contractor sea trials now completed, plans are well underway for the majority of NUSHIP Canberra’s ship’s company to move down to the ship, which is currently berthed at Williamstown, Victoria.Two-hundred out of the 380 strong Canberra team will move from Sydney to Williamstown on a RAAF KC-30 in the coming weeks, as momentum builds for the ship to be handed over to Navy.

Canberra’s Commanding Officer, Captain Jonathan Sadleir, said that the next three months will mark an end and a beginning.“The coming three months mark the completion of a significant project milestone in terms of delivering the first Landing Helicopter Dock (LHD) into Navy, but will also mark the beginning of a new platform in our fleet that will shift and grow the Australian Defence Force’s capability to a completely new level,” Captain Sadleir said.

“I sense a huge shift in the ship's company this month as we make final preparations to go to Williamstown and embark in the ship. “I think the team is really starting to absorb what it means to be a part the ship’s company that is bringing one of the largest and most complex acquisitions ever bought by the Australian Defence Force into our Navy,” he said. There’s already more than 100 Canberra personnel down at the ship, involved in a range of work including compartment and systems inspections.