Voyages Extraordinaires

“It's a dangerous business...going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you might be swept off to” ― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings

Firstly, let me thank everyone who left messages of support here while I was away - your thoughts and well wishes were most appreciated.  I thought I might yield a few more details of where I've been in the last six months.

Having completed some rather intensive training over the first months of the year, we departed Sydney in April and steamed to the Middle East via Perth, Diego Garcia ( a beautiful little spot) and Kochi in India.  We then commenced our patrols as part of the Combined Maritime Force which comprises some 28 nations.  Our primary roles were piracy suppression and anti-terrorist related functions, and over the period in theatre they took us far and wide indeed.  We visited Fujairah in the UAE, and then ended up being tasked down off the Horn of Africa, through the Somali Basin where we ended up doing Search and Rescue on a disabled merchant ship with injured crew

Seahawk Helicopter winches injured crewmen off MV Perla - detail here

We then operated off the African coast and stopped at Dar es Salaam in Tanzania.  This was a pretty fascinating spot, having been the capital of German East Africa and the site of some serious fighting both on land and at sea during WW1.  In fact, we were there on the anniversary of the city being shelled by Australian Navy Cruisers which was interesting, and I managed to locate the grave of an Australian sailor from Australian cruiser Pioneer who died there in 1916.  (You can read more the RAN blockade of German east Africa here).

Ship's company of PIONEER in East African waters, 1915

From Tanzania we were back on the beat and stopped briefly in the Seychelles, which was a thoroughly beautiful spot, before battling the monsoonal conditions again.  We then did a range of patrols though the Gulf of Aden, the Straits of Bab el Mandeb and the Southern Red Sea with a brief stop in unforgettable Djibouti.  Having survived that experience, we transited the Straits of Hormuz to enter the Arabian Gulf.  We spent almost a month in there, stopping in Bahrain and Dubai, before returning to the Gulf of Aden.  After some patrolling both there and the Red Sea, we journeyed north to the city of Aqaba in the Kingdom of Jordan and what an amazing place that was.

The awesome city of Petra - made famous in "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade"

A number of posts to follow on that fantastic country but briefly the highlights included the ancient city of Petra, Al Karak Crusader Fortress, Wadi Rum (where a certain chap called Lawrence stirred up a spot of trouble with the locals), swimming in the Dead Sea and visiting Christ's baptism spot.  Just amazing.

The Seven Pillars of Wisdom, Wadi Rum

Completing further patrols in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, we stopped again briefly at Fujairah before starting the trek home, fuelling at Diego Garcia and Perth en route to Sydney.

Boarding a typical Arabian dhow

Looking back at this synopsis, of course it doesn't do the deployment any justice whatsoever.  Severe seas in the Somali Basin coupled with Arabian Summer conditions made it brutally draining at times.  In the end we directly operated with military forces from over 19 countries, completed over 150 boarding of all types, some in very challenging and uncertain conditions, and two Search and Rescue missions.  Overall we steamed over 50,000 nautical miles.  It was an amazing experience to Command such a fine ship out on operations and represent our country.

PS Yes - everyone came home in one piece!