Australia — HMAS Manoora retired as Navy’s future beckons

After 17 years of ded­i­cat­ed ser­vice, the Roy­al Aus­tralian Navy’s amphibi­ous trans­port ship, HMAS Manoo­ra, was decom­mis­sioned at her home­port of Gar­den Island, in Syd­ney, today.

Fol­low­ing a time hon­oured tra­di­tion, the Aus­tralian White Ensign was low­ered for the last time and hand­ed to Com­mand­ing Offi­cer, Com­man­der Stephen Dry­den, RAN. 

Com­man­der Dry­den said Decom­mis­sion­ing the ves­sel was a bit­ter sweet moment. 

“It is always sad to farewell a ship like Manoo­ra, which has pro­vid­ed sig­nif­i­cant amphibi­ous capa­bil­i­ty to the Aus­tralian Defence Force over her many years of ser­vice,” said Com­man­der Dryden. 

“Manoo­ra has proven her­self to be ver­sa­tile and resilient, sup­port­ing human­i­tar­i­an aid and dis­as­ter mis­sions in the Solomon Islands and East Tim­or and under­tak­ing active ser­vice in the Mid­dle East as part of Oper­a­tions Slip­per and Falconer.” 

“Her hard work has paved the way for the future of the Navy by pro­vid­ing an under­stand­ing of how to car­ry out amphibi­ous and expe­di­tionary war­fare,” said Com­man­der Dryden. 

“Today it is also impor­tant to acknowl­edge the hard work of the cur­rent and for­mer crews who have called Manoo­ra home. Their ded­i­ca­tion has enabled the plat­form to respond to sit­u­a­tions in war and peace, when­ev­er tasked by Gov­ern­ment to do so.” 

Manoo­ra is a heli­copter capa­ble amphibi­ous trans­port ship with a 40 bed hos­pi­tal, which has seen an army con­tin­gent embed­ded as part of her crew. 

Press release
Min­is­te­r­i­al Sup­port and Pub­lic Affairs,
Depart­ment of Defence,
Can­ber­ra, Australia 

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