Take a look onboard the USS Emory S. Land docked in Cairns
A hulking US navy vessel described as a “floating shipyard” has made a port call into Cairns for the first time bringing with it 500 sailors looking to enjoy the best the region has to offer. Why the USS Emory S. Land has stopped off in Cairns.
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A hulking US navy vessel has made a port call into Cairns for the first time bringing with it 500 sailors looking to enjoy the best the region has to offer.
The USS Emory S. Land is a 644ft-long, 12-storey logistics and maintenance hub described by its captain as a “floating shipyard”, usually tasked with supporting deployed submarines.
Commanded by Captain Brent Spillner, the ship arrived in Cairns on Saturday for a routine visit to enhance U.S. – Australian relations and afford the crew the opportunity to experience Cairns and to contribute to the community.
“We can do very elaborate work and we aim to provide everything sailors would have on a base onshore wherever we might need it around the world,” he said.
“We have about 500 sailors on board with a pretty unique hybrid crew of 345 active duty US navy 17 Australian navy and around 130 civilian merchant marine.”
The vessel is fitted out with extensive repair capability as well as anything sailors may need while on deployment such as a dental and medical offices, a US-diner styled dining hall, a barber, gym and post office.
US Consul General Christine Elder said the visit was a sign of more collaboration to come between the US and Australia.
“It’s worth noting that 17 Australian naval officers are on board the USS Emory S. Land, that is the embodiment of the collaboration we have had for more than 100 years side-by-side training and working together and that is something very special,” she said.
“Cairns is a very special place for us from the importance it played in the Pacific theatre during World War II, to the co-operation during Exercise Talisman Sabre which has grown from just two countries to now over 11 and continues to grow in importance.”
Captain Spillner said there was a new sense of scale and urgency to the deepening ties between Australia, the US and the UK thanks to AUKUS.
“Our Australian officers are fully integrated doing the same jobs as our US sailors,” he said.
“One of them is in qualifications to learn how to do the major upkeep of a submarine and he will be doing that during this southern winter when we meet a US submarine later on.
“We have different navies but we have the same mission, the same values, and we are a lot stronger when we work together.
“We are proving that we can do things in partnership to ensure the operability of both our navies.”
Later this week the crew will have the unique opportunity to have HMS Tamar and the HMAS Leeuwin alongside simultaneously with all three nations of AUKUS in a line cooperating together.
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Originally published as Take a look onboard the USS Emory S. Land docked in Cairns
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