The Landing Platform Amphibious ship HMAS Kanimbla will be warmly farewelled on Friday 25 November in a traditional ceremony to be held at the ship’s home port of Garden Island, Sydney.
Chief of Navy, Vice Admiral Ray Griggs AM CSC RAN and Commander Australian Fleet, Rear Admiral Steve Gilmore AM CSC RAN will attend the ceremony in which the Australian White Ensign will be symbolically lowered from the ship’s quarterdeck for the very last time.
Kanimbla ’s Commanding Officer, Commander Brendon Zilko said Kanimbla had been part of several farewells but this time it will be her own.
“ Kanimbla departed for active service in the Middle East in both 2001 and 2003 and these were both very proud occasions for family and friends of Kanimbla ’s ship’s company”.
“All those who served in Kanimbla will feel some sense of loss this November but we can rejoice in the long and faithful service she provided to the country and the outstanding accomplishments of her crew” Commander Brendon Zilko said.
Kanimbla provided 17 years of service to the ADF including participation in Operations SLIPPER, BASTILLE and FALCONER in the Middle East. She played a central role in clearing the waterways leading to Umm Qasr during the 2003 Gulf War and later became the first Coalition vessel to supply urgently needed medical supplies to civilian hospitals in Baghdad.
Kanimbla has also provided amphibious and sea lift capability in many humanitarian aid and disaster missions and undertook border protection duties.
The decommissioning of Kanimbla is making way for a bold new amphibious capability in the ADF with the first of two Landing Helicopter Dock (LHD) amphibious assault ships due to enter service in 2014.
The LHDs will enable a scale and duration of joint amphibious operations that is unprecedented in the ADF .
[mappress] Naval Today Staff, November 23, 2011; Image: navy