The second Landing Helicopter Dock (LHD) ship, NUSHIP Adelaide, has departed from the Williamstown shipyard in Melbourne to begin sea trials.
BAE Systems Australia stated that the LHD left Williamstown on June 17. After initial trials carried out in Port Phillip Bay, the future Royal Australian Navy (RAN) ship is expected to spend 10 days travelling to Sydney.
While in Sydney, NUSHIP Adelaide will be dry-docked so that the hull and flight deck can be cleaned and painted. The LHD will then set sail and undertake further sea trials during the return voyage to Melbourne, where she is anticipated to arrive in mid-July.
BAE Systems said in a statement that the current testing is paving the way for a second period of sea trials in August that will focus on the communications and combat systems, ahead of delivery to the RAN later this year.
“We will undertake approximately 240 hours of testing over 20 days to ensure all systems perform to their capability,” said Bill Saltzer, Director of Maritime. “Some of the trials will run concurrently, and cover everything from basic systems operations such as alarms to the ship’s manoeuvrability while at sea.
“We are on track to deliver NUSHIP Adelaide at the end of September this year. The ship is even more ready than HMAS Canberra was for her first sea trials, reinforcing that we have implemented lessons learned from the first of class, and we have continued to improve our productivity.”
The first LHD was formally commissioned into the Fleet in November.
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