The third and last Hobert class air warfare destroyer (AWD) has been handed over to the Royal Australian Navy by its shipbuilder, the AWD Alliance.
In a ceremony on February 27, NUSHIP Sydney was provisionally accepted by the RAN at the Osborne shipyard in Adelaide after the completion of builder’s sea trials, initial provisioning, and acceptance trials. Sydney will now make its way to its namesake city for additional trials and a workup period, prior to its planned commissioning in May.
“While the delivery of NUSHIP Sydney marks the end of this program, it represents an exciting time for the National Naval Shipbuilding Enterprise, as we continue to build upon the unique skills developed at this precinct and transfer them across the whole shipbuilding ecosystem,” Minister for Defence, Senator Linda Reynolds said in a statement.
“I congratulate the 5000 workers who have worked directly on this program over the past decade, from the design phase through to the construction, integration and delivery of these magnificent ships,” she added. “The significance of this success cannot be understated and is reflected in the truly world-class capability of these warships, and the naval shipbuilding and combat system integration skills that have been developed at Osborne.”
Built under Project SEA 4000 along with sister guided missile destroyers (DDGs), HMA Ships Hobart and Brisbane, Sydney was launched in May 2018, and commenced and initial two-month period of builder’s sea trials in September 2019.
The three new DDGs replace the fleet air defence capability previously conducted by the Adams/Perth class DDGs which were retired in 2001, and more recently by the Perry/Adelaide class FFGs, the last of which was decommissioned in late 2019.