NUSHIP Brisbane, the second of three Hobart class Air Warfare Destroyers, has been formally named and launched at Techport Australia in Adelaide.
Following the official naming ceremony, the ship was lowered in the Common User Facility shiplift to float for the first time.
“Australia is undertaking an unprecedented upgrade of its naval capabilities, and the addition of the Brisbane to our fleet will help ensure our ongoing national security,” said Minister for Defence Personnel Dan Tehan, representing the federal government.
In the coming months, outfitting of the AWD (pennant D41) will continue, along with the loading of combat system equipment.
“We will continue to progress work on Brisbane, proving her engines and gas turbines before the ship undertakes builder’s sea trials at the end of 2017,” said AWD program manager Commodore Craig Bourke.
Meanwhile, the first ship, NUSHIP Hobart, is due to sail into waters off the coast of South Australia for sea trials early next year to undertake testing of combat and communications systems, and for further platform system testing, having completed builder sea trials in September.
And the third destroyer, Sydney, will now move into its final position in the shipyard, where it will finish being consolidated.
“Today’s launch is the culmination of more than a decade of work and dedication by thousands of Australians and other members of the AWD Alliance to deliver Australia’s most complex next-generation defence project,” said AWD Alliance general manager Lloyd Beckett.
“It is a significant achievement and an exciting moment in the history of the AWD project, with the milestone marking the AWD Alliance’s return to cost and schedule.
“Further progress will be evident in 2017 as the first destroyer, Hobart, completes acceptance sea trials and is delivered to the Department of Defence, while the third destroyer, Sydney, completes block consolidation and hull integration.”