HMAS Anzac (III) was decommissioned on 18 May at HMAS Stirling in Western Australia after 28 years of service in the Royal Australian Navy (RAN), Australian Defence Magazine reports.
Anzac, the lead ship of the 10 strong Anzac class, was launched in Victoria on 16 September 1994 and commissioned into the RAN on 18 May 1996.
On 20 March 2003 Anzac was the first RAN ship since the Vietnam War to fire a shot in anger when it participated in the Battle of Al Faw, supporting British Royal Marines ashore.
Anzac was originally scheduled to commence the cancelled Transition Capability Assurance Program (TransCap) suite of upgrades in 2023, however, it was later laid up before the Government announced that it would be decommissioned as part of its response to the Independent Analysis into Navy’s Surface Combatant Fleet.
HMAS Anzac completed its last deployment with the RAN in August 2023, following a regional presence deployment to the Indo Pacific.
HMAS Arunta, based at HMAS Kuttabul in Sydney, is also scheduled to be decommissioned in 2026.
