THE Royal Australian Navy will soon take ownership of the first of two new giant ‘landing helicopter dock’ (LHD) ships being built at the Williamstown shipyards.
Defence Minister Stephen Smith (pictured with Attorney-General Nicola Roxon and Defence Materiel Minister Jason Clare), who inspected one of the ships last Monday, said the two LHDs would give Australia an enormous ship-to-shore capacity.
The ship can be used for combat, peacekeeping, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief operations and can transport equipment, personnel and medical facilities. “It’s the biggest warship the Royal Australian Navy has ever operated — bigger than the last aircraft carrier,” Mr Clare said.
“It’s also a floating city. This is a ship which can hold over 1000 soldiers, 100 trucks and 12 helicopters.”
BAE Systems, which is building the LHDs, employs 1200 people at the Williamstown shipyards.
