HMAS Tobruk (L 50)

HMAS "Tobruk" (L 50) is a Landing Ship Heavy (LSH) of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN), based on the design of the Round Table class of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary.

Laid down in February 1979, "Tobruk" was the first purpouse-built amphibious vessel of the RAN, and was intended to provide the Australian Defence Force with a sealift capability. She was commissioned into the RAN in April 1981, but was afflicted by several engine and sewerage treatment plant problems during the early part of her career; the latter causing a death onboard in 1981.

While the Government intended to retire her in the early 1990s, this did not go ahead, and "Tobruk" remains in service with the RAN. It is planned that "Tobruk" will remain active until 2012, when she will be replaced by one of the "Canberra" class Landing Helicopter Docks.

Design and construction

In the 1970s, it was decided that the Australian Army needed to be provided with a sealift capability. While the Army did not require that the ship be capable of beaching, the Navy set this as requirement to maximize the ship's flexibility. In 1975 the Navy successfully convinced Australian Military's Force Structure Committee to endorse this requirement over the Army's opposition and the committee authorised the purchase of a Landing Ship Heavy (LSH) on 19 March 1975. [Doolan (2007), pp. 8–13.]

The ship's name was selected in 1976 and refers to the Siege of Tobruk during World War II in which the RAN's so-called 'Scrap Iron Flotilla' supplied the besieged 9th Australian Division.Doolan (2007), p. 15.] She is the second RAN ship of this name; preceeded by the Battle class destroyer HMAS "Tobruk" (D37).

HMAS "Tobruk" is a variant of the Sir or Round Table class landing ship logistics in use with the Royal Fleet Auxiliary at the time. "Tobruk"’s design was based on RFA "Sir Bedivere", the second of the class which had been modified following the Royal Fleet Auxiliary's experience with operating RFA "Sir Lancelot". The Australian modifications to the design were kept to a minimum to simplify construction; the most significant changes were to improve the ship's ability to operate both large and multiple helicopters, fitting an operations room, and adding a derrick with a lift of 70 tonnes. Most of the other changes related to bringing accommodation conditions into line with Australian requirements. Like the other ships of the Round Table Class, "Tobruk" was built to commercial rather than military standards, and is unable to sustain as much damage as warships. [Doolan (2007), pp. 16–18.] The ship was fitted with different engines to those used in the British ships; these have proven unreliable. [Doolan (2007), pp. 28–30.]

"Tobruk" was built by Carrington Slipways Pty Ltd at Tomago, New South Wales. The company was selected following a competitive tender in May 1977, with contract negotiations completed on 3 November 1977. [Doolan (2007), pp. 25–26.] Construction of "Tobruk" formally began on 7 February 1979, when the ship's keel was laid. "Tobruk" was launched on 1 March 1980 and left the dockyard for the first time in December 1980. The ship's construction had been delayed by over four months by industrial disputes. [Doolan (2007), pp. 30–36.] The ship's sea trials were conducted in early 1981 off Newcastle and Port Stephens by a joint Navy-Army-civilian crew and fitting out was completed on 7 April 1981. "Tobruk" was handed over to the Navy on 11 April 1981 and was commissioned at Newcastle on 23 April. [Doolan (2007), pp. 45–49.]

HMAS Tobruk has received a number of modifications during her service. These include the removal of her two 40/60 Bofors guns in the mid-1990s. [cite web |url=http://www.navy.gov.au/w/index.php/Last_blast_for_Bofors |title=Last blast for Bofors |date=2007 |publisher=Royal Australian Navy |accessdate=2008-09-06]

Capabilities

"Tobruk" was the first purpose-built amphibious vessel in the RAN. She is designed as a multi-purpose, roll-on/roll-off heavy lift and transport vessel - the ship can be loaded via ramps at both the bow and stern, and can be purposely beached.

"Tobruk" can carry the Army's M1A1 Abrams main battle tanks [cite news|url=http://www.janes.com/extract/jni2004/jni01344.html|title=RAN clears amphibious ships for Abrams tank|date=2004-08-11|publisher=Jane's Navy International|accessdate=2008-09-14] and 40 M113 or ASLAV armoured personnel carriers. Before they were retired from service she was also capable of carrying up to 18 Leopard 1 tanks.cite web |url=http://www.navy.gov.au/HMAS_Tobruk |title=HMAS Tobruk |publisher=Royal Australian Navy |accessdate=2008-09-13] A pair of LCM-8 landing craft can be carried in specially designed cradles on the ship's vehicle deck, while a pair of LCVPs are mounted either side of the superstructure. The ship also has two landing platforms, one behind the superstructure and one in the well deck, which are rated for helicopters up to and including the size of the Chinook. "Tobruk" has a standard capacity of 300 troops, with an overload capacity of 520.

Operational history

1980s

Following her commissioning, "Tobruk" proceeded to her initial home port of Brisbane, Queensland for the first time, then undertook further sea trials. These trials were conducted during the winter of 1981 and tested whether the ship met her design specifications and included the development of procedures for landing helicopters and beaching. The trials were generally successful, although "Tobruk"’s engines continued to be unreliable and problems were encountered with the sewage system. [Doolan (2007), pp. 50–54.] The ship undertook its first tasking in the spring of 1981 when she transported elements of the 16th Air Defence Regiment, Royal Australian Artillery from Adelaide to Port Alma in Queensland. Following this "Tobruk" proceeded to Port Phillip Bay and suffered a serious engine malfunction while approaching Station Pier. While the engines were repaired, the main engine control mechanism was later found to be entirely unreliable and had to be redesigned and reconstructed at Brisbane. During trials following this repair the ship's sewerage system seriously malfunctioned, fatally gassing one of the Australian Army Cadets who had been embarked for seagoing experience. [Doolan (2007), pp. 54–56.]

HMAS "Tobruk" conducted her first trips outside Australia in the early 1980s. On 15 February 1982, the ship left Brisbane to transport eight Royal Australian Air Force UH-1 Iroquois helicopters and supporting stores to join the Australian contingent to the Multinational Force and Observers in the Sinai Peninsula. "Tobruk" arrived in Ashdod, Israel on 19 March, becoming the first Australian warship to visit the country, and arrived back in Brisbane on 30 April. The ship transported cyclone relief stores to Tonga in May and spent the remainder of the year undertaking tasks in Australian waters. These included supporting the 1982 Commonwealth Games, which were held in Brisbane. In early 1983, "Tobruk" travelled to Malaysia to assist the RAAF in withdrawing units from RAAF Base Butterworth. In February 1984, "Tobruk" took part in exercises in New Zealand, before travelling to Tuvalu in August, where she provided support and accommodation for delegates to the South Pacific Forum. [Doolan (2007), pp. 57–66.]

In May 1987, "Tobruk" formed part of the Australian military force which deployed to Fiji following the 1987 Fijian coups d'état. The goal of this deployment, which was designated Operation Morris Dance, was to evacuate Australian citizens if necessary. "Tobruk" left Sydney carrying Army stores and five helicopters on 21 May and embarked 'B' Company of the 1st Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment (1RAR) at Norfolk Island on 23 May. "Tobruk" joined HMA Ships "Sydney", "Parramatta" and "Success" off Suva on 26 May. By this time it had become clear that there would not be a need to evacuate Australians from Fiji and "Tobruk" proceeded to support the South Pacific Forum meeting at Apia, Samoa after cross-decking the troops and their supplies to the other ships. Operation Morris Dance revealed serious shortcomings in the Australian Defence Force's ability to deploy forces outside of Australia, with the Army unit having no previous experience of amphibious operations and the naval helicopters being unable to carry Army supplies. [Doolan (2007), pp. 69–73.]

After Operation Morris Dance, HMAS "Tobruk" returned to mainly routine duties. She travelled to New Zealand on a training cruise in early 1988 and was placed on alert to carry an Army force to evacuate Australian civilians from Vanuatu in April 1988 following a political crisis there. While "Tobruk" was loaded with stores and three Sea King helicopters, this deployment did not eventuate and the ship was unloaded on 24 May. The ship transported the 6th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment's vehicles and supplies to the west coast of the United States in early 1989 and participated in a joint Australian, British, Canadian and United States amphibious warfare exercise at Monterey Bay. Following this exercise the ship visited Canada before returning to Australia. In December 1989, "Tobruk" was forced to undergo unscheduled repairs at Newcastle to repair damage caused by excessive vibration, which had possibly been caused by her engines revving at a higher rate than the ship had been designed for. [Doolan (2007), pp. 74–82.]

1990s

HMAS "Tobruk" began the 1990s with another deployment at short notice to the South Pacific. On 26 January 1990, she was tasked to assist with evacuating Australian citizens from Bougainville in Papua New Guinea; this operation was cancelled in early February while the ship was travelling to the island from Sydney. On 5 March, "Tobruk" left Sydney bound for Gallipoli, Turkey in company with HMAS "Sydney" to participate in ceremonies marking the 75th anniversary of the landing at Anzac Cove. She carried vehicles, stores and support personnel for the ceremony on 25 April, with many of the ship's crew also going ashore to visit the battlefields on Anzac Day. [Doolan (2007), p. 82–88.]

In late December 1992, "Tobruk" was selected to take part in Operation Solace, Australia's contribution to the international peacekeeping effort in Somalia. The ship left Sydney on 26 December, embarked much of 1RAR's equipment at Townsville and departed for Somalia on 1 January 1993. The loading process had been delayed by another serious toxic gas incident in on of the ship's sewerage plants. She arrived at Mogadishu on 19 January and was ordered to remain in the area after unloading the battalion's equipment on 23 January. The ship remained off East Africa for four and a half months, and transported humanitarian supplies from Kenya as well as providing 1RAR with a communications link to Australia. "Tobruk" re-embarked 1RAR's equipment at Mogadishu on 14 May and returned to Sydney via Townsville on 21 June. The ship was awarded the Gloucester Cup for 1993 for her service off Somalia and subsequent operations during the year. [Doolan (2007), pp. 89–101.]

In 1993 the Australian Government decided to purchase two ex-United States Navy Newport class tank landing ships to replace "Tobruk" and the navy's training and sealift ship HMAS "Jervis Bay" in 1994. Plans were developed to place "Tobruk" in reserve or lease her to the Royal New Zealand Navy. While the New Zealand government was interested in obtaining a sealift ship, the RNZN did not feel that it could afford to crew and operate "Tobruk" and the negotiations with New Zealand ended unsuccessfully in September 1994. The unexpected difficulty of upgrading the two LSTs led to the date of "Tobruk"’s retirement being postponed to mid-1996, with the ship continuing normal operations. [Doolan (2007), pp. 105–107.] After the negotiations with New Zealand ended, the RAN opened negotiations with the Royal Fleet Auxiliary, which was considering scrapping one of their LSLs and replacing it with "Tobruk". A British team traveled to Australia to inspect the ship in December 1994, but this sale did not eventuate. The Portuguese Navy expressed interest in buying "Tobruk" in 1995 and sent a team to Sydney in 1996 to inspect the ship. During this period "Tobruk" remained in active service and in 1997 the new Liberal Party government decided to retain her until 2010 as the two LSTs could not fully replace her ability to carry heavy equipment. The period of uncertainty about the ship's fate led to a deterioration in her material condition, as she did not receive a major refit during the period she was up for sale. [Doolan (2007), pp. 110–113.]

HMAS "Tobruk" played an important role in efforts to end the civil war in Bougainville during the 1990s. In September 1994 she transported an Australian peacekeeping force to Bougainville to protect peace talks which were attempting to end the civil war on the island. These talks were not successful and during the deployment one of the ship's Sea King helicopters was damaged by small arms fire; the first damage sustained by a RAN unit since the Vietnam War. [Doolan (2007), pp. 107–110.] A peace agreement was signed in October 1997, and "Tobruk" returned to Bougainville in November of that year to deploy a peace monitoring group. The ship made several voyages to the island during the first four months of 1998 to support the peace process. Further voyages to Bougainville took place in September 1998, February 2000 and August 2003; the last of these was to extract the peace monitoring group following the successful conclusion of this mission. "Tobruk" also participated in a major international exercise in South East Asia in 1999. [Doolan (2007), pp. 115–119.]

In 1999 and 2000, "Tobruk" took part in the international peacekeeping effort in East Timor. On 30 August 1999, the day the referendum which led to East Timor's independence was held, she left Sydney for Townsville to load elements of the 3rd Brigade in case there was a need to evacuate Australians and other foreigners from East Timor. The referendum was followed by widespread violence and the Indonesian government agreed to an international peacekeeping force (the International Force for East Timor (INTERFET)) being deployed to East Timor in mid-September. HMAS "Tobruk" left Darwin on 18 September under escort by HMS "Glasgow" and arrived at Dili on 21 September. The ship made six further voyages between Darwin and East Timor in September and October 1999 and continued to make an important contribution to the peacekeeping operation until November when she returned to Sydney for maintenance. "Tobruk" made two further trips to East Timor in March and April 2000. [Doolan (2007), pp. 121–125.]

2000–present

In mid-2000 a civil war broke out in the Solomon Islands and HMAS "Tobruk" was ordered to the Islands' capital, Honiara, to evacuate Australian citizens. She arrived on 8 June and embarked 486 civilians, who were then transported to Cairns, Queensland. After a brief maintenance period, "Tobruk" returned to the Solomons in late June where she served as the venue for peace talks. She spent almost all of July at anchor off Honiara and returned to Australia after a cease-fire agreement was signed on-board the ship on 2 August. "Tobruk" made a further voyage to the Solomons in December 2000 to support the International Peace Monitoring team which had been established there. A peace treaty ending the conflict was signed on-board the ship on 7 February 2001 and she returned to Sydney on 15 February. [Doolan (2007), pp. 127–131.] "Tobruk" took part of Operation Relex in late 2001 and early 2002 where she transported would-be refugees to Nauru and Christmas Island. She also made a further voyage from Darwin to East Timor in April 2002 to deliver supplies to the Australian Defence Force units there. [Doolan (2007), pp. 133–136.]

In April 2005, HMAS "Toburk" left Sydney to transport 20 ASLAVs to Kuwait, where they would equip the Australian Army's Al Muthanna Task Group in Iraq. The ASLAVs were embarked at Darwin on 18 April and the ship arrived at Kuwait on 9 May. She returned to Australia via India, arriving back in Sydney on 22 June. [Doolan (2007), pp. 138–141.] "Tobruk" undertook a second voyage to the Middle East in late 2006 to transport the equipment for the Army forces in Army and the Reconstruction Task Force in Afghanistan and arrived home via the Philippines in April 2007. [cite news |url=http://www.defence.gov.au/news/navynews/editions/5005/features/feature1.htm |title=Tobruk spirit |last=Brooke |first=Michael |date=2007-04-05 |work=Navy News |accessdate=2008-08-12]

"Tobruk" traveled to Nias Island in Indonesia in March 2006 to support ceremonies commemorating the anniversary of the crash of Sea King helicopter Shark 02 there on 2 April 2005. Following this deployment, she took part in Exercise Croix du Sud off New Caledonia and then proceeded to the Philippines where she was to embark an OV-10 Bronco aircraft for the Australian War Memorial. [Doolan (2007), pp. 143–145.]

In mid-May "Tobruk" was recalled from her voyage to the Philippines to embark elements of the 3rd Brigade for an urgent deployment to East Timor following fighting caused by unrest in the country's military. She proceeded to Dili in company with the Navy's two Kanimbla class landing platform amphibious ships. This was the first time that an Australian amphibious readiness group had been formed since World War II. [cite web |url=http://www.navy.gov.au/Publication:Semaphore_-_Issue_12%2C_2006 |title=Operation Astute - the RAN in East Timor |date=2006 |publisher=Sea Power Centre - Australia |accessdate=2008-09-13] The Group departed from Townsville on 23 May and arrived at Dili a few days later. After unloading her cargo, "Tobruk" returned to Townsville where she embarked a second load of vehicles and supplies for the Australian forces in East Timor, arriving back at Dili in the first week of June. She returned to Sydney in late June. [Doolan (2007), pp. 145–147.]

Replacement

HMAS "Tobruk" will be replaced by a "Canberra" class Landing Helicopter Dock in 2012. [cite web |url=http://www.defence.gov.au/dmo/msd/jp2048/jp2048ph4A_4B.cfm |title=JP 2048 Phase 4A and 4B Amphibious Ships |publisher=Defence Materiel Organisation |accessdate=2008-08-03]

Notes

References

* [http://maritimequest.com/warship_directory/australia/aux_vessels/pages/tobruk_l50_page_1.htm MaritimeQuest HMAS Tobruk Photo Gallery]
*