HMAS Sydney (R17) - Final Years, Decommissioning and Fate

Final Years, Decommissioning and Fate

The ship was assigned the pennant number L134 during 1973. At the start of the year, Sydney was marked for a potential deployment to Mururoa in support of a Royal New Zealand Navy frigate sent to protest French nuclear testing at the atoll. The former carrier was chosen as she was capable of replenishing smaller vessels, and the RAN's dedicated replenishment oiler, HMAS Supply, was undergoing refits. The Australian government did not want to send a warship until all other avenues of protest had been exhausted; the length of this delay meant Supply's refit was finished before Sydney was deployed, and the oiler was sent instead. Sydney visited Singapore in March, returned to Australia, and sailed to New Zealand in April: she participated in training exercises during both visits. The troopship was then involved in a joint warfare exercise in Jervis Bay during May.

On 20 July 1973, the Australian government decided that Sydney was to be decommissioned. A refit planned to start late in the year was cancelled, and on 12 November 1973, Sydney was paid off and marked for disposal. The ship had sailed 711,549 nautical miles (1,317,789 km; 818,836 mi) since she was first commissioned: 315,958 nautical miles (585,154 km; 363,598 mi) as an aircraft carrier, and 395,591 nautical miles (732,635 km; 455,238 mi) as a fast troop transport. Several suggestions for disposal were made by various companies and agencies. The Geelong Regional Tourist Authority wanted the ship moored in Corio Bay for use as a maritime museum, convention centre, and floating casino. The Naval History Society of Australia suggested that the island superstructure be removed and located in The Rocks as a maritime museum, while the owners of the Sydney Opera House planned to use the ship as a floating car park. Tenders closed on 7 October 1975, and the ship was sold on 30 October for breaking up as scrap metal to the Dongkuk Steel Mill in Seoul, South Korea for A$673,516. Sydney was towed from her namesake city by a Japanese tugboat on 23 December 1975, leaving at 1300 hours.

Sydney had been originally slated for replacement in the 1960s, with rumours circulating that the new ship would either be an amphibious assault ship of the United States Iwo Jima class, or the British carrier HMS Hermes. The assault ship rumour was proven false by the early 1970s, while the acquisition of Hermes was still under discussion in the 1980s as a possible replacement for sister ship HMAS Melbourne. Following the decommissioning of Sydney, the Australian Defence Force did not possess a long-range troop transportation capability until the modified Round Table-class landing ship HMAS Tobruk was commissioned in 1981.

The ship's service, along with the previous two ships of the name, is commemorated by a stained-glass window at the Garden Island Naval Chapel. The carrier's chapel and bell were removed and installed at the naval base HMAS Moreton in 1974, then were relocated to the Australian National Maritime Museum's collection in the 1980s. One of Sydney's anchors is displayed at the Fleet Air Arm Museum at HMAS Albatross.