HMAS Warramunga in 2010
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History | |
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Australia | |
Namesake: | The Warumungu people |
Builder: | Tenix Defence Systems |
Laid down: | 26 July 1997 |
Launched: | 23 May 1998 |
Commissioned: | 31 March 2001 |
Homeport: | Fleet Base East |
Motto: | "Courage In Difficulties" |
Honours and awards: |
Six inherited battle honours |
Status: | Active as of 2016 |
General characteristics | |
Class and type: | Anzac-class frigate |
Displacement: | 3,810 tonnes full load |
Length: | 118 m (387 ft) |
Beam: | 15 m (49 ft) |
Draught: | 4 m (13 ft) |
Propulsion: |
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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: |
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Electronic warfare & decoys: |
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Armament: |
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Aircraft carried: | 1 × SH-60 Seahawk |
Notes: | Post-Anti-Ship Missile Defence Project upgrade. See class article for original configuration. |
HMAS Warramunga (FFH 152) is an Anzac-class frigate of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). One of ten frigates built for the Australian and New Zealand navies, Warramunga was laid down by Tenix Defence Systems in 1997 and commissioned in 2001. During her career, the frigate has operated in the Persian Gulf as part of Operation Catalyst, and undertaken anti-piracy operations off Somalia. Warramunga underwent the Anti-Ship Missile Defence (ASMD) upgrade during 2014. She is active 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 Defence) would build the modified MEKO 200 design. The Australians ordered eight ships, while New Zealand ordered two, with an unexercised option for two more.