Old HMAS Darwin to be scuttled off Tasmania’s East Coast as a dive wreck

A FORMER Australian warship is expected to inject about $4 million into the Tasmanian economy when it is scuttled off the state’s East Coast.

IN a massive win for Tasmania, the state has secured decommissioned HMAS Darwin as a dive wreck for waters off the East Coast.

MORE: HMAS DARWIN TIPPED AS NEW DIVE WRECK IN TASMANIA

Federal Defence Minister Marise Payne said after a long and distinguished service in the Royal Australian Navy, the former warship would call Tasmania home after sailing more than one million nautical miles during her 33 years of service.

“The Government is pleased that ex-HMAS Darwin will be used in Tasmania as a dive wreck, particularly given the significant tourism and economic benefits that will flow from the decision,” Ms Payne said.

“My Tasmanian Coalition Senate colleagues have played an important part in demonstrating the benefits of sending ex-HMAS Darwin to Tasmania one last time.”

Nationals Senator Steve Martin said the scuttling of the vessel would be the culmination of about four years of him fighting alongside the Break O’Day Council and Mayor Mick Tucker for a decommissioned navy ship to be used as a dive wreck off the coast of Tasmania.

It would result in millions of dollars being injected into the economy by attracting thousands of divers to the wreck each year.

The HMAS Darwin decommissioning Ceremony at Garden Island in Sydney. Picture: JENNY EVANS

The senator said he would lobby the State Government to provide funding for ex-HMAS Darwin to be stripped at a Tasmanian port to create even more jobs and economic activity before the scuttling — possibly at Skeleton Bay, near Binalong Bay.

Liberal Senator for Tasmania Jonathon Duniam said he had long championed a dive wreck on Tasmania’s East Coast.

“The addition of a dive wreck will supercharge our already booming tourism industry, attracting diving enthusiasts from all around the world, who will stay longer, and spend more in our local communities, particularly in the St Helens region,” Senator Duniam said.

It’s great news for the Tasmanian tourism industry after it missed out on ex-HMAS Tobruk to Queensland in 2016.

Ex-HMAS Darwin was commissioned in July 1984 and was a long-range escort frigate that undertook roles including area air defence, anti-submarine warfare, surveillance, reconnaissance and interdiction.

In August 1990, HMAS Darwin became the first Australian ship to deploy to the Persian Gulf.

In 2014, she intercepted over 1000kg of heroin and over 6000kg of hashish off the African coast.

Two years later she intercepted heroin worth $800 million and a cache of weapons from a fishing vessel off the coast of Oman.