HMAS Canberra (FFG 02)

HMAS Canberra in 1988
History
Australia
Namesake:	City of Canberra
Builder:	Todd Pacific Shipyards, Seattle, Washington
Laid down:	1 March 1978
Launched:	1 December 1978
Commissioned:	21 March 1981
Decommissioned:	12 November 2005
Motto:	"For Queen And Country"
Nickname(s):	FFG-18 (US hull designation during construction)
Honours and awards:	Battle honours: Persian Gulf 2002 plus four inherited battle honours
Fate:	Sunk as dive wreck 4 October 2009
General characteristics
Class and type:	Adelaide-class guided missile frigate
Displacement:	4,100 tons
Length:	138.1 m (453 ft) overall
Beam:	13.7 m (45 ft)
Draught:	7.5 m (25 ft)
Propulsion:	2 × General Electric LM2500 gas turbines, 41,000 horsepower (31,000 kW), 1 shaft 2 × 650-horsepower (480 kW) auxiliary propulsors
Speed:	29 knots (54 km/h; 33 mph)
Range:	4,500 nautical miles (8,300 km; 5,200 mi) at 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph)
Complement:	184 (including 15 officers, not including aircrew)
Sensors and processing systems:	AN/SPS-49 air search radar AN/SPS-55 surface search and navigation radar SPG-60 fire control radar (Mark 92 fire control system) AN/SQS-56 hull-mounted sonar
Armament:	1 × Mark 13 Missile Launcher for Harpoon and Standard missiles 2 × Mark 32 torpedo tubes 1 × OTO Melara 76 mm naval gun 1 × 20 mm Phalanx CIWS Up to 6 x 12.7-millimetre (0.50 in) machine guns 2 × M2HB .50 calibre Mini Typhoons (fitted as required)
Aircraft carried:	2 helicopters

HMAS Canberra (FFG 02) was an Adelaide class guided missile frigate of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). Based on the Oliver Hazard Perry class design, Canberra was one of four Adelaide class ships constructed in the United States of America, and one of six to serve in the RAN.

The frigate entered service in 1981. During her career, Canberra was assigned to escort the Royal Yacht Britannia during Queen Elizabeth II's visit in 1988, helped enforce the post-Gulf War United Nations' sanctions against Iraq during 1992 and 1993, was part of the Australian responses to the 1998 Indonesian riots and the 2000 Solomon Islands Civil War, and returned to the Persian Gulf in 2002 as part of the War in Afghanistan.

In 2005, Canberra became the first ship of her class to be decommissioned. The frigate was marked for conversion into a dive wreck and artificial reef off Barwon Heads, Victoria, and was scuttled on 4 October 2009.

Following the cancellation of the Australian light destroyer project in 1973, the British Type 42 destroyer and the American Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigate were identified as alternatives to replace the cancelled light destroyers and the Daring-class destroyers. Although the Oliver Hazard Perry class was still at the design stage, the difficulty of fitting the Type 42 with the SM-1 missile, and the success of the Perth-class acquisition (a derivative of the American Charles F. Adams-class destroyer) compared to equivalent British designs led the Australian government to approve the purchase of two US-built Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigates (including Canberra) in 1976. A third was ordered in 1977, followed by a fourth, with all four ships integrated into the USN's shipbuilding program. A further two ships were ordered in 1980, and were constructed in Australia.

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