Canberra Class Landing Helicopter Dock
The Canberra class is a ship class of two Landing Helicopter Dock (LHD) ships being built for the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). Planning to upgrade the navy's amphibious fleet began in 2000, based on Australian experiences leading the International Force for East Timor peacekeeping operation. In 2004, French company Direction des Constructions Navales (DCN) and Spanish company Navantia were invited to tender proposals, with the companies offering the Mistral class amphibious assault ship and the "Buque de Proyección Estratégica" design (later commissioned as Juan Carlos I) respectively. The Spanish design was selected in 2007, with Navantia responsible for construction of the ships from the keel to the flight deck, after which the hulls will be transported to Australia for completion by BAE Systems Australia.
Construction of the first ship, HMAS Canberra, commenced in late 2008, and the hull was launched in early 2011. Work on the second vessel, HMAS Adelaide, started in early 2010. The ships are expected to enter service during 2014 and 2015, to replace one of the Kanimbla class landing platform amphibious ships and the heavy landing ship Tobruk. At over 27,851 tonnes (27,411 long tons; 30,700 short tons) displacement, they will be the largest warships ever operated by the RAN.
Read more about Canberra Class Landing Helicopter Dock: Planning and Selection, Design and Capabilities, Construction
Famous quotes containing the words class, landing and/or dock:
“God of justice, save the people
From the clash of race and creed,
From the strife of class and faction,
Make our nation free indeed;”
—William Pierson Merrill (1867–1954)
“I foresee the time when the painter will paint that scene, no longer going to Rome for a subject; the poet will sing it; the historian record it; and, with the Landing of the Pilgrims and the Declaration of Independence, it will be the ornament of some future national gallery, when at least the present form of slavery shall be no more here. We shall then be at liberty to weep for Captain Brown. Then, and not till then, we will take our revenge.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“You turn
To speak to someone beside the dock and the lighthouse
Shines like garnets. It has become a stricture.”
—John Ashbery (b. 1927)