HMAS Sydney (IV) entered Sydney Heads for the final time as a Royal Australian Navy ship this morning, before being welcomed alongside Garden Island by former sailors, officers and support staff.
The Adelaide Class Guided Missile Frigate is scheduled to be decommissioned at the end of the year to make way for the Navy’s new fleet of Hobart Class Air Warfare Destroyers.
Commanding Officer Sydney, Commander Karl Brinckmann said the significance of the final passage was not lost on the ship’s company of 235.
Sydney (IV) was commissioned on 29 January 1983 and is the fourth ship to bear the name. During her service life, the ship received battle honours for service in Kuwait, East Timor, the Persian Gulf and Iraq.
During the months before she is decommissioned, Sydney will support alongside training.
When Sydney decommissions the harbour city won’t be without a namesake ship for long, with the third Hobart Class Air Warfare Destroyer to be commissioned HMAS Sydney (V).
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Image: Australian Defence