Construction
Navantia is contracted to construct the hulls from 104 'blocks' or 'modules', which are fabricated individually at Navantia's facilities in Ferrol and Fene, then combined on the slipway at the Ferrol shipyard. The Canberras will be built up to the flight deck, launched, then transported by heavy lift ship to Williamstown, Victoria, where the installation of the island superstructure and the internal fitout of the hull is to be completed by BAE Systems Australia (which acquired Tenix in mid-2008).
Construction of Canberra began in September 2008, when the first steel was cut. The first three blocks were laid down on 23 September 2010. The hull was launched on 17 February 2011. Canberra is expected to arrive at Williamstown in October 2012, with the ship predicted to commission into the RAN in January 2014.
Work on Adelaide began during February 2010, when the first steel was cut. The first hull blocks were laid down on 18 February 2011, and Adelaide was launched on 4 July 2012. She is due to arrive in Australia for superstructure completion and fitting out in early 2013. Entry into RAN service was originally planned for mid-2015, but as of July 2011, this had been pushed back to sometime in 2016.
Although Canberra was identified as "LHD01" and Adelaide as "LHD02" during construction, the ships will be commissioned with the pennant numbers "LHD 02" and "LHD 01" respectively. The reversal of the numbers will cause the new ships' pennants to correspond to the Adelaide class frigates with the same names.
The first batch of four LCM-1E craft will be delivered to the RAN in March 2014.
Read more about this topic: Canberra Class Landing Helicopter Dock
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