HMAS Sirius has played a vital role in Exercise TALISMAN SABRE. Living up to her motto ‘to serve and provide’, the ship provided support to a number of task groups operating off Australia’s northern coast.
Sirius remained poised to provide assistance throughout the entire exercise. Fulfilling late notice fuel requests on more than one occasion. The ability to fuel a ship at sea enables operational commanders to keep ships at sea for longer periods, applying constant pressure to our simulated adversary.
Over the duration of the exercise, Sirius conducted 11 replenishments at sea with five different classes of ship passing a combined total of 8850cz of F76 marine grade diesel (almost 9 million litres). A total of 188cz of aviation fuel was also transferred to maintain air operations.
Sirius’s Deputy Engineering Officer, Lieutenant Filiberto Hernandez said the ship was up to the challenge.
“ It was the first opportunity Sirius has had to fully demonstrate its replenishment capabilities since commencing maintenance work in early 2014,” he said.
“The number of ships participating meant that Sirius was able to pump fuel from a wide variety of tanks, proving the reliability of its systems.”
After the exercise, Sirius set sail home for Fleet Base West for a busy month of preparations in support of her upcoming north-east Asian deployment.
Image: Australian Navy