‘First lady of the fleet’ HMAS Success decommissioned at Garden Island

The largest Navy ship ever built in Sydney, HMAS Success, has been decommissioned at Garden Island in front of hundreds of Naval officers after playing a “vital” role over the past 33 years.

There was a time when Sydney used to build weapons of war and today Naval officers said goodbye to one of their best.

Hundreds of current and former Naval officers and their families gathered at Garden Island to celebrate the decommissioning of HMAS Success.

The 157m support ship was last and largest Navy ship ever built at Cockatoo Island — finished in March 1984.

The shipyards at the western end of Sydney Harbour employed thousands of people before they were closed in 1991.

Former and current Naval officers farewelled the ship at Garden Island. Picture: David Swift

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Commander Grant Zilko was the ship’s commander from November 2016 to December 2018.

He said Navy ships last between 25 and 35 years.

“There’s quite a bit of history here with the ship,” he said.

“As a mid shipman I went over the ship when it was being built at the time. It was cutting edge then.”

Commissioned in 1986, the “first lady of the fleet “ served in Kuwait, East Timor and sailed during Australia’s bicentennial celebrations in 1988.

It was also involved in the search for missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH370.

“It is the largest ship entirely built in Australia and the largest ever built in Sydney,” NSW Governor Margaret Beazley said.

HMAS Success in the Persian Gulf in 1991.

HMAS Success was commissioned in 1986. Picture: David Swift.

“It has played such a vital role in the promotion of peace in a turbulent world.”

The support ship primarily provided food, ammunition, fuel and replenishment to other ships.

One of its recent trips was when it travelled with the landing helicopter docks HMAS Adelaide.

Its giant fuel pumps on top of the vessel meant other Australian and Allied war ships didn’t have to go into ports all the time.

Assistant Defence Minister Alex Hawke thanked those who served, saying that “this came at great sacrifice to your families”.

“This bittersweet feeling can be tempered by the knowledge that so many who served in Success, many of them here today, are proud of her achievements on behalf of Navy and Australia,” he said.

While some old Navy ships have ended up as artificial reefs off the coast, HMAS Success looks destined for the scrap heap.

“At this stage I believe that it will be broken up,” Commander Grant Zilko said.

“To clean it up — because it is laden with oils, plastics, electricals and other materials — would be very expensive.”

Originally published as ‘First lady of the fleet’ HMAS Success decommissioned at Garden Island