Australian DDGs The Fiji crisis continues. Australia and New Zealand have announced that there is no way in which they would become involved in the crisis militarily, even if asked. Sanctions are planned if democracy is not restored and joint military contacts will be broken. Street demonstrations by ethnic Indian Fijians living in Australia have called for troops to be sent etc., but this is quite unlikely. While not agreeing with the removal of a democratically elected government, Australia would not interfere in what is (very basically) an argument between indigenous Fijians and ethnic Indians. The Navy has, however, been placed on stand by in case of the need to evacuate civilians etc. The position on long term Indian Fijian refugees has not been decided, but in the short term shelter will be offered as is customarily given to refugees from any country in these circumstances. The attitude and stance of India to the current situation is of concern. During the earlier coups India considered sending a fleet to cruise in the waters off Fiji to protect the interests of Fijians of Indian extraction. No such rumbles have been heard this time, but India does not currently have an operational carrier. Eastern New Guinea, now known as IRIAN JAYA, to the Indonesians, continues to rumble with internal rebellion. This has been somewhat strengthened by the success of East Timor in breaking away. However the region is so rich in gold and other minerals that it is no surprise that Djakarta has announced that dissent and regional liberation movements will not be tolerated. The people of the region are as ethnically different from Indonesians as could be imagined and it is amazing that the UN ever allowed Indonesia to exert control of the country in the first place. Considerable numbers of combat troops are required to keep the more remote areas safe for farmers and miners from a ragged bunch of rebels with an incredible arsenal of home made and smuggled weapons. Some weapons are of WW II vintage and include machine guns salvaged from crashed aircraft, refurbished and mounted on extemporized ground mountings. New Zealand is considering selling its ANZAC class frigates back to Australia to overcome serious financial problems. No firm decision has yet been made, but unofficially it is supposed to include NZ retaining some of its naval personnel and making these available for joint manning in times of crisis. Presumably this would involve NZ Naval personnel spending time on Australian ships. The move is understandably unpopular with many New Zealanders, but the very strong peace movement are well behind it. Australia has reformed its No.2 Squadron, RAAF at Williamstown air base. The reformed squadron will fly the new Wedgetail AEW&C aircraft and its operations will be expanded as more aircraft arrive. For political reasons the aircraft will be stationed on the East Coast, as the Indonesians are already annoyed with Australian military build ups. However it is merely a short flight to their operation areas staging out of Tidal, Curtin, etc. HMAS Hobart (DDG 39) [Royal Australian Navy] The RAN decommissioned HMAS Hobart on May 12th. This sprightly old unit of the Charles F. Adams class DDG, had recently shown how well she has been maintained by reaching 35 knots during one of her last runs with the navy. The ship served three tours on the gun line in Vietnam, 1967, '68, and '70. On one of these occasions she lost several crew due to 'friendly fire' when a US aircraft attacked the (US built) ship, having apparently mistaken her for a North Vietnamese torpedo boat. Her sister ship Perth was decommissioned last year and her remaining sister Brisbane will go in 2001. The two ships decommissioned so far are both designated for expenditure as artificial reefs that divers will be permitted to explore. It is uncertain if they will be sunk in live firing. The final disposition of Brisbane is not known but as with her sisters she will not be available for international sale. The first Australian-built Hawk training aircraft has been completed and five more are due soon. Production of these aircraft in Australia will enable the type to continue in service and undergo upgrades for some years. In the meantime the first BAe Hawk to be rebuilt in Australia has been finished five months early. All other Hawks will now undergo the rebuild which is very extensive and includes replacing much of the original fuselage. The Defence Industry 2000 exhibition has been postponed due to expected coming announcements on the future of Australian defence spending. The exhibition will be held later this year instead. The major announcement on Australian defence future plans is due in the next few months. It is expected that the Navy, Army and Air Force will all be in receipt of new weapons and equipment purchases. The Navy in particular is expected to announce its solution for the 'air defence' problem. The decision not to purchase the decommissioned Kidd class DDGs was made recently on the basis that their age and the funds required would be better used in another way. It is understood that the navy will be getting ships with en-hanced air capability, this having also been stated at the time when it has decided not to spend money rebuilding the ANZAC class for better AAW capability. Speculation on the new AAW ships for the RAN revolve around early units of the American Aegis cruisers. (Block 0). The sale of ships with this technol-ogy would require the permission of the US Congress, however, rumors have been reinforced by recent statements in Washington that the Congress will shortly commence hearings on its stance regarding the transfer of advanced technology to allies in the near future. As the Aegis system has been provided for Japanese ships, it seems the precedent has been set for the same sort of provision for Australia. The Australian DoD has announced a large increase in spending on readiness capability for the Australian reserve forces. This will not be spent on weapons, but on the systems and infrastructure that was found to be in serious need of upgrading during the recent East Timor crisis. The funds will make it quicker and easier to call on the reserves, deploy and support them. The rebuilt ex-Newport class LST's are now entering service. HMAS Manoora was the first completed and ran trials through December and January. She recently completed an extended tour of sea duty and exercises. Two helicopters were embarked for these, one Sea King and one Blackhawk. The trials were declared a success and the ship has now sailed on normal duties. Kanimbla is also about to enter service. Several of her crew went to sea with the Manoora to gain vital experience in handling the class. Cadets from the Australian Defence Academy also went to sea during the deployment. As rebuilt, the ships retain a lot of amphibious capability but have enhanced helicopter deployment and support facilities. Each can operate up to 4 Army Black Hawks, or 3 Naval Sea Kings. This provides the ability to support amphibious operations, or in an emergency, an ASW coverage for an advance operational area. Each ship carries two LCM8 landing craft. As first purchased these ships were in terrible condition, resulting in them being nicknamed 'The Lemon Class'. However they have now had so much money spent on them, and so much of the original hulls and equipment replaced, that they are like new ships. Their profiles are very different from the original US configuration. The names of these ships are taken from WW II armed merchant cruisers also used as troopships. The WW II ships had been taken up from Australian merchant service and were small liners. These new vessels have been renamed in honor of the hard service the WW II ships saw. The Australian LCH class vessels have been seeing considerable service in East Timor and various exercises. It was originally intended that only 5 would be retained and Wewak be used as spares. This has been changed and Wewak has also now been rebuilt. All six are to be kept in service for now, however, it is expected the Navy will be looking around for potential replacements. With the completion of the Manoora class, the amphibious forces of the Australian Navy are to be combined into a single command for the first time since WW II The ships are somewhat diverse. Tobruk is a single unit and will soon undergo a major refit as soon as the Manoora can relieve her. The new command is to be stationed on Townsville, rather than Darwin, again for political reasons, but as many of the units will operate from the west and north on a regular basis this is probably a more cosmetic move than anything else. Townsville still being the home of the rapid deployment forces, makes it a logical place for these ships to operate from. Jervis Bay has proved extremely useful as a second wave follow-up ship during the East Timor operations. This very fast ocean-going catamaran vessel has a large troop capacity and is capable of speeds in excess of 40 knots. She was leased by the RAN for two years but this will probably now be extended and it is speculated that the new defence initiatives may include a purpose-built version. Proposed Multi-Role Auxiliary This "Multi-Role Auxiliary" has extensive aviation facilities, including a full length flight deck! Methinks the RAN are trying to pull the old "Through Deck Cruiser" trick the RN used on the British Parliament in the 1970s. Although in our case its not to fool the Parliament so much as to "keep the neighbors quiet." The current ship is not strengthened for helicopters, which has proved a disadvantage, however her large lift capacity and ability to deliver troops rapidly from one point to another with minimum ocean travel effects (sea sickness) has impressed all observers, including the USN who have apparently crawled all over this vessel with great interest. Between May and June of this year, the vessel transported 12,000 passengers too and from East Timor, 500 vehicles and 4,000 tons of stores. Her capacity is 500 troops in full battle order and with full equipment, or 867 normal passengers. Australia is concerned that despite having a lot of F/A-18 aircraft (71) there are only ever approximately 40 pilots available for immediate call. Others can be called back from civil airlines and reserves, but this could take time. A considerable amount of money was thrown at this problem, but recently the RAAF has had to admit that it has not worked. The $25M spent on the pilot retention plan has not particularly worked and other means will now be examined. Overseas recruitment is not ruled out. Australian defence personnel and senior officers have continued with friendly visits to the People's Republic of China. These contacts have ex-panded considerably and are apparently proving to be of a very open, frank, yet friendly nature. Where this is all going is unclear but the PRC has also sent its people to visit Australian forces and the level of cooperation has been described as 'high'. Similar visits to Vietnam have been taken place and the Foreign Minister visited there recently for the opening of a new 'Friendship bridge'. France and Australia have been in very friendly moods toward each other following the visit of the PM Mr. Howard to France recently. The PM who has direct family links to the battlefields of WW I, was treated with great respect and honor by the French, who have even renamed a street in Paris, to commemorate the sacrifice of Australians who have fought in the defence of France. The relationship between Australia and France has always been like two quarrelsome friends who like to have a good argument now and then, but always stand together in times of crisis. Disputes over wine exports to Europe and French nuclear testing soured relationships at times, however,, in the East Timor crisis the French were very quick to offer support and to send both troops and a warship. Far quicker in fact than the USA. French fashion experts also visited Australian clothing trade fairs and etc. expressing high praise. Mal Wright, moderator talkingwargames@egroups.com Battles and Research Page for Wargamers. http://www.users.bigpond.com/gallopingjack BT Back to The Naval Sitrep #19 Table of Contents Back to Naval Sitrep List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 2000 by Larry Bond and Clash of Arms. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com