Largest US amphibious assault ship USS America to dock in Brisbane
Keen ship spotters might be able to catch a glimpse of the US Navy’s mighty vessels off Mackay, Gladstone, Brisbane, Bowen or Townsville over coming weeks.
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The largest amphibious assault ship in the US Navy’s Seventh Fleet is expected to arrive in Brisbane on Tuesday afternoon.
It will be the second time in three years the USS America, which carries fighter jets and tiltrotor aircraft such as MV22-Ospreys, has visited Queensland, but only the first time it has been allowed to dock and its crew to come ashore.
With US Marines from the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit on board, the warship is pulling in for a port call before heading off to participate in the 10th iteration of Australia’s largest bilateral combined military training activity with the US, Exercise Talisman Sabre 2023.
The 2500 US sailors and Marines assigned to the landing helicopter assault (LHA 6)-class vessel during Exercise Talisman Sabre 2021 were not allowed off the ship because of Queensland’s Covid-19 pandemic restrictions.
The 257m-long USS America is designed to accommodate the F-35B Lightning II Joint Strike Fighters – or stealth multirole combat jets – as well as a combination of rescue, combat and support helicopters including MV22 Ospreys, CH-53E Super Stallions, AH-1Z Super Cobra and UH-1Y Venom aircraft.
Based in Sasebo, Japan, the America is the lead ship of the Seventh Fleet’s Amphibious Ready Group, which also includes the USS Green Bay, a San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock.
Though it won’t be open to the public, the USS America is expected to dock at the Fisherman’s Island Pier at the Port of Brisbane by about 4pm.
It is among the first of several foreign military ships expected to visit the state from at least five allied nations over the coming weeks.
The crews from the visiting ships are part of more than 30,000 military personnel from around the world – almost double the number involved in 2021 – expected to converge on Queensland, parts of northern NSW, Darwin and parts of Western Australia until early August.
The biennial exercise, which culminates in a mock war between all military branches on land, sea and in the air, is designed to train forces in all aspects of combined operations to help improve the combat readiness and interoperability between the Australian Defence Force and its allies.
The peak of the battle is scheduled to take place between July 22 and August 4, with the majority of the conflict generally held along and off the coast of Shoalwater Bay and other parts of Central Queensland.
In April, an Australian Department of Defence spokeswoman said TS23 would comprise a field training exercise incorporating force preparation (logistics) activities, amphibious landings, ground force manoeuvres, urban close combat operations, and air combat and maritime operations.
“Exercise Talisman Sabre is a bilateral, high-intensity war-fighting training activity led by Australia or the US, and other partners which has previously included Japan and New Zealand,” the spokeswoman said.
“It is designed to enhance interoperability, strengthen the Australian-US Alliance, enhance Defence co-operation with like-minded countries in the region, and improve combat readiness.”
Australia and the US take turns leading the biennial military exercise, with the most recent iterations increasingly including other allied forces as participants or observers.
Between 17,000 to 34,000 soldiers, sailors, Marines, airmen and women from around the world have participated in past years.
Troops from New Zealand, Canada, Japan, the Republic of Korea and Britain embedded with the Australian and US forces participated in Talisman Sabre 2021, while military officers from France, Germany, India, and Indonesia observed.
Nations taking part in Talisman Sabre this year include Fiji, Indonesia, Japan, Republic of Korea, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Tonga, France, Britain, Canada and Germany.
The Philippines, Singapore and Thailand are attending as observers.
The “high end” warfighting scenarios are mostly conducted throughout the ADF’s 454,500ha Shoalwater Bay training area in Byfield, about 80km north of Rockhampton, as well as in adjacent maritime and airspace areas of the Coral Sea.
Components of TS21 also took place in Hughenden, Atherton, Mareeba, Cairns, Townsville, the Charters Towers and Ingham regions, as well as along or off the coastal areas of Bundaberg, Bowen, Proserpine, Lucinda, Forest Beach, the ADF Cowley Beach Training Area near Innisfail and the Stanage Bay peninsula, northeast of Rockhampton.
Pilots of fighter jets, attack helicopters and other military aircraft also operated out of the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) base Scherger near Weipa in the Cape York Peninsula, RAAF Base Amberley, outside of Ipswich in southeast Queensland, and the RAAF Evans Head Air Weapons Range in NSW.
The initial Talisman Sabre in 2005 comprised 17,500 Americans and Australians with 27,500 personnel involved in the 2007 exercise.
More than 34,000 military personnel converged on the Sunshine state for Talisman Sabre 2019 – up from an originally anticipated 25,000 – along with more than 20 military ships, making it the nation’s largest joint US-Australian military exercise ever held, even piquing the interest of a Chinese spy ship for the second time.
It was also one of the largest gatherings of military ships to visit Brisbane for a single exercise in more than 30 years, and included visits from New Zealand, Canadian, Japanese and Korean vessels, as well as Royal Australian Navy ships.
The Seventh Fleet, which was formed in Brisbane in 1943, is the US Navy’s largest forward-deployed numbered fleet, and routinely interacts and operates with allies and partners in preserving a free and open Indo-Pacific region.
The ROKS Wang Geon, a Chungmugong Yi Sun-sin-class missile destroyer in the Republic of Korea navy also took part in TS21 for the first time after observing during 2019, while the Japanese Self Defense Force took part for their second time, after first being an observer during TS17, and sent the JS Makinami, a Takanami class destroyer.
The Royal Canadian Navy’s HMCS Calgary, a Halifax-class frigate, was also among the other foreign military ships that joined in with Exercise Talisman Sabre in 2021, while the HMAS Canberra and the HMAS Choules were two of the Royal Australian Navy ships that participated.
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