HMAS Adelaide in Cairns, after Exercise Sea Raiders off Cowley Beach, a sign more navy ships will visit
The Navy’s biggest ship and its 1000-strong crew have docked in Cairns with signs pointing to more defence vessels following in its wake. Read why it’s here.
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The Navy’s biggest ship, HMAS Adelaide, has docked in Cairns, offering its thousand-strong crew a chance to recuperate and explore.
Commanding Officer Captain Troy Duggan said they docked Thursday morning and had been looking forward to the stop.
“The crew are excited to be visiting Cairns and to explore the city. A number of crew will also be using the shore time to reunite with their families,” Capt Duggan said.
“HMAS Adelaide is visiting Cairns for three days for some rest and respite after the successful completion of Exercise Sea Raider – an Australian Defence Force joint Amphibious exercise conducted off Cowley Beach, as well as Exercise Trident 2022 – a bilateral exercise with Singapore Armed Forces.”
Cairns Mayor Bob Manning welcomed the stopover as a boon for the city.
“From our view it’s great to see a lot more people come into port, they might have a night in a hotel room or they’ll go out to a show,” Cr Manning said.
“They get a chance to get off the ship, that all helps the city.”
Cr Manning said Cairns would likely see more naval ships through the port in the future.
“We’re going to see more naval vessels visiting Cairns over the next year or so as Australia rebuilds its relationship with South-East Asian countries, and as military relationships change in the region,” he said.
The HMAS Adelaide can hold up to 18 helicopters in its hangars.
At 230.82 metres long the Canberra-class landing helicopter dock ship is the largest ever built for Australia.
The Adelaide has seen its share of adventures since becoming operational in 2016.
In 2016 Adelaide intercepted a former whaling vessel and found 186kg of cocaine on board, thwarting a drug deal off the coast of Victoria.
In 2020 she helped evacuate people trapped by the black summer bushfires, and in January this year provided disaster relief to Tonga after the volcanic eruption and tsunami – suffering power outages as volcanic debris affected the ship’s systems.
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