HMAS Stuart (FFH 153)

HMAS Stuart in 2014
History
Australia
Builder:	Tenix Defence Systems
Laid down:	25 July 1998
Launched:	17 April 1999
Commissioned:	17 August 2002
Homeport:	Fleet Base West
Motto:	"Always Prepared"
Nickname(s):	"The Tartan Terror"
Honours and awards:	Eight inherited battle honours
Status:	Active as of 2016
General characteristics
Class and type:	Anzac-class frigate
Displacement:	3,600 tonnes full load
Length:	118 m (387 ft)
Beam:	15 m (49 ft)
Draught:	4 m (13 ft)
Propulsion:	1 × General Electric LM 2500 gas turbine providing 30,000 hp (22.5 mW) 2 × MTU 12v 1163 TB83 diesels providing 8,840 hp (6.5 mW)
Speed:	27 knots (50 km/h; 31 mph)
Range:	6,000 nautical miles (11,000 km; 6,900 mi) at 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph)
Complement:	approximately 170 sailors
Sensors and processing systems:	Sonars: Thomson Sintra Spherion B Mod 5; hull-mounted; active search and attack; medium frequency. Provision for towed array Air search radar: Raytheon AN/SPS-49(V)8 ANZ (C/D-band) Surface search radar: CelsiusTech 9LV 453 TIR (Ericsson Tx/Rx) (G-band) Navigation: Atlas Elektronik 9600 ARPA (I-band)
Electronic warfare & decoys:	ESM: Racal modified Sceptre A (radar intercept), Telefunken PST-1720 Telegon 10 (comms intercept) Countermeasures: Decoys: G & D Aircraft SRBOC Mk 36 Mod 1 decoy launchers for SRBOC
Armament:	Guns and missiles: 1 × 5 in/54 (127 mm) Mk 45 Mod 2 gun, various machine guns and small arms, 2 × 4 Harpoon anti-ship missiles, Mk 41 Mod 5 VLS for Sea Sparrow and Evolved Sea Sparrow Torpedoes: 2 × triple 324 mm Mk 32 Mod 5 tubes Fire control: CelsiusTech 9LV 453 (J-band) Combat data systems: CelsiusTech 9LV 453 Mk 3.Link 11 Weapons control: CelsiusTech 9LV 453 optronic director with Raytheon CW Mk 73 Mod 1
Aircraft carried:	1 × Sikorsky S-70B-2 Seahawk

HMAS Stuart (FFH 153) is an Anzac-class frigate of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). She was built at Williamstown in Victoria, and commissioned into the RAN in 2002. The frigate is operational as of 2016.

The Anzac class originated from RAN plans to replace the six River-class destroyer escorts with a mid-capability patrol frigate. The Australian shipbuilding industry was thought to be incapable of warship design, so the RAN decided to take a proven foreign design and modify it. Around the same time, the Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN) was looking to replace four Leander-class frigates; a deterioration in New Zealand-United States relations, the need to improve alliances with nearby nations, and the commonalities between the RAN and RNZN ships' requirements led the two nations to begin collaborating on the acquisition in 1987. Tenders were requested by the Anzac Ship Project at the end of 1986, with 12 ship designs (including an airship) submitted. By August 1987, the tenders were narrowed down in October to Blohm + Voss's MEKO 200 design, the M class (later Karel Doorman class) offered by Royal Schelde, and a scaled-down Type 23 frigate proposed by Yarrow Shipbuilders. In 1989, the Australian government announced that Melbourne-based shipbuilder AMECON (which became Tenix Defense) would build the modified MEKO 200 design. The Australians ordered eight ships, while New Zealand ordered two, with an unexercised option for two more.