Kanimbla class landing platform amphibious
_returns_to_Joint_Base_Pearl_Harbor-Hickam_after_participating_in_Rim_of_the_Pacific_(RIMPAC)_2010_exercises.jpg)
HMAS Kanimbla entering Pearl Harbor during RIMPAC 2010
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| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Kanimbla |
| Builders: |
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| Operators: | Royal Australian Navy |
| Built: | 1971 (for US Navy) |
| In service: | 1999–2010 |
| In commission: | 1994–2011 |
| Completed: | 2 |
| Retired: | 2 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Modified Newport-class tank landing ship |
| Type: | Landing Platform Amphibious |
| Displacement: | 8,534 tons |
| Length: | 159.2 m (522 ft) |
| Beam: | 21.2 m (70 ft) |
| Draught: | 5.3 m (17 ft) |
| Propulsion: | 6 × ALCO V16 diesel engines, 2,750 hp (2,051 kW) each driving two shafts (3 engines per shaft) |
| Speed: | 22 knots (41 km/h; 25 mph) |
| Range: | 14,000 nautical miles (26,000 km; 16,000 mi) at 14 knots (26 km/h; 16 mph) |
| Boats & landing craft carried: |
2 x LCM8 landing craft |
| Capacity: | 450 embarked forces, 955 square metres of usable tank deck and cargo space |
| Complement: | 23 naval officers, 2 army officers, 197 sailors, 18 soldiers |
| Armament: | 1 × 20 mm Phalanx Mk 15 close–in weapon system, 6 × 12.7 mm Machine guns |
| Aircraft carried: | 4 x Blackhawk or 3 x Sea King |
| Aviation facilities: |
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The Kanimbla class was a class of amphibious transport ships (designated Landing Platform Amphibious) operated by the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). Two ships (originally built as Newport-class tank landing ships for the United States Navy) were purchased by Australia in 1994 and modified. Problems during the handover process and the need to repair previously unidentified defects meant the ships did not enter operational service until the end of the decade.
Between them, the two ships have deployed to the Solomon Islands in 2000–01, Vanuatu in 2001, and participated in the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, the Australian response to the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, the Australian deployment to East Timor following the 2006 political crisis, and Operation Quickstep off Fiji.
After a large number of defects were found in both ships during late 2010, the vessels were docked. It was decided that Manoora was beyond economic repair, and she was decommissioned in May 2011. Kanimbla was to be repaired and returned to service, but the estimated cost and time to do this, plus the successful acquisition of the British landing ship dock RFA Largs Bay as an interim capability replacement, prompted the government to decommission Kanimbla in November 2011. Both ships were sold in 2013 and broken up for scrap.
In the early 1990s, the RAN initiated a procurement project to replace HMAS Jervis Bay with a dedicated training and helicopter support ship. Meeting the vague specifications of the project required a purpose-built vessel at an approximate cost of A$500 million. The high cost of the project led to its cancellation by the Minister for Defence in 1993, with the instructions to find a cheaper alternative. At around the same time, the United States Navy (USN) began plans to decommission fifteen of their twenty Newport-class tank landing ships, offering them for purchase by various countries.
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Wikipedia