HMAS Adelaide Commissioned into Royal Australian Navy

Landing Helicopter Dock HMAS Adelaide was commissioned into the Royal Australian Navy’s fleet today at Garden Island, Sydney.

General Sir Peter Cosgrove, Governor-General of Australia, presided over the ceremony.

Minister for Defence Marise Payne and Chief of Navy Vice Admiral Tim Barrett also attended the traditional ceremony held in Adelaide’s hangar deck.

About 1,000 guests, made up of crew families, as well as industry and government representatives from Australia and Spain, witnessed the commissioning crew of Navy, Army and Air Force members march onboard, and saw the Australian White Ensign raised for the first time.

Commanding Officer of HMAS Adelaide, Captain Paul Mandziy, said it was an historic day.

“This is a proud and momentous occasion that symbolises the culmination of the time, support and hard work that has gone into realising this capability,” Captain Mandziy said.

“As the second of class, lessons learnt from HMAS Canberra, our sister ship, has sped up our introduction into service, but a lot of effort and energy was still required from my ship’s company to get us prepared for today.

“But, our work doesn’t stop with commissioning. In the New Year, we will conduct further trials at sea before commencing our work-up cycle.”

Captain Mandziy said it was humbling to bring the proud name Adelaide back into the RAN fleet.