HMAS Sydney (FFG 03)

HMAS Sydney underway during Pacific Bond 2013
History
Australia
Namesake:	City of Sydney
Builder:	Todd Pacific Shipyards, Seattle, Washington
Laid down:	16 January 1980
Launched:	26 September 1980
Commissioned:	29 January 1983
Decommissioned:	7 November 2015
Motto:	"Thorough and Ready"
Nickname(s):	FFG-35 (US hull designation during construction)
Honours and awards:	Battle Honours: Kuwait 1991 East Timor 1999 Persian Gulf 2001–03 Iraq 2003 plus ten inherited honours Other awards: Meritorious Unit Citation
Status:	Decommissioned, awaiting disposal
Badge:
General characteristics
Class and type:	Adelaide-class guided missile frigate
Displacement:	4,100 tons
Length:	138.1 m (453 ft) overall
Beam:	13.7 m (45 ft)
Draught:	7.5 m (25 ft)
Propulsion:	2 × General Electric LM2500 gas turbines, 41,000 horsepower (31,000 kW), 1 shaft 2 × 650-horsepower (480 kW) auxiliary propulsors
Speed:	29 knots (54 km/h; 33 mph)
Range:	4,500 nautical miles (8,300 km; 5,200 mi) at 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph)
Complement:	184 (including 15 officers, not including aircrew)
Sensors and processing systems:	AN/SPS-49 air search radar AN/SPS-55 surface search and navigation radar SPG-60 fire control radar (Mark 92 fire control system) AN/SQS-56 hull-mounted sonar
Armament:	1 × Mark 13 Missile Launcher for Harpoon and Standard missiles 1 × 8-cell Mark 41 VLS with Evolved Sea Sparrow missiles 2 × Mark 32 torpedo tubes 1 × OTO Melara 76 mm naval gun 1 × 20 mm Phalanx CIWS Up to 6 x 12.7-millimetre (0.50 in) machine guns 2 × M2HB .50 calibre Mini Typhoons (fitted as required)
Aircraft carried:	2 helicopters

HMAS Sydney (FFG 03) was an Adelaide-class guided-missile frigate of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). The frigate was one of six modified Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigates ordered from 1977 onwards, and the third of four to be constructed in the United States of America. Laid down and launched in 1980, Sydney was named for the capital city of New South Wales, and commissioned into the RAN in 1983.

During her operational history, Sydney has been involved in Australian responses to the 1987 Fijian coups d'état and the Bougainville uprising. The frigate was deployed to the Persian Gulf on five occasions in support of United States operations during the Gulf War, War in Afghanistan, and the 2003 invasion of Iraq, and has completed two round-the-world voyages.

Sydney was originally expected to remain in service until 2013, but was retained in service until 2015; ceasing active deployments on 27 February and serving as a moored training ship until her decommissioning on 7 November. The frigate will be replaced in service by a Hobart-class destroyer.

Following the cancellation of the Australian light destroyer project in 1973, the British Type 42 destroyer and the American Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigate were identified as alternatives to replace the cancelled light destroyers and the Daring-class destroyers. Although the Oliver Hazard Perry class was still at the design stage, the difficulty of fitting the Type 42 with the SM-1 missile, and the success of the Perth-class acquisition (a derivative of the American Charles F. Adams-class destroyer) compared to equivalent British designs led the Australian government to approve the purchase of two US-built Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigates in 1976. A third (Sydney) was ordered in 1977, followed by a fourth, with all four ships integrated into the USN's shipbuilding program. A further two ships were ordered in 1980, and were constructed in Australia.