The first wave-piercing catamaran-hulled ship to enter naval service, the Royal Australian Navy's (RAN) Jervis Bay, was chartered this April for two years and is operated by two mixed crews of 15 naval and 5 Australian Army personnel. The 900-ton, 284-foot, waterjet-driven craft is able to carry up to 500 troops and has a range of 1,500 nautical miles at 40 knots with a payload of 380 tons. The vehicle deck, with two access doors, as seen in this starboard quarter view, can accommodate the equivalent of 200 automobiles. Seen here just after being handed over on 17 May by her builder, Incat Tasmania, the Jervis Bay's only alteration for military service, aside from a coat of gray paint, was an increase in fuel capacity. The RAN also has reactivated the 503-ton landing craft Wewak from reserve, and both craft are based at Darwin to deal with contingencies involving insurrection or natural disaster in areas to the north of Australia.
Germany's U.S.-built Charles F. Adams (DDG-2)-class guided-missile destroyer Rommel was deactivated last October and stricken on 30 June 1999. She is seen here in late April, after having been stripped of radars, guns, and missile launchers (including two Mk 49 launchers for RIM116A rolling airframe missiles). Sisters Lutgens and Molders are planned to serve until 2002-3, when they will be replaced by units of the larger Sachsen (Type 124) frigate class. The Royal Australian Navy, which also commissioned three new ships of the Charles F. Adams class in 1965-67, plans to retire the Perth this October and the Brisbane next year. Greece leased four retired U.S. Navy sisters in 1991-92 and acquired a fifth for spares; the active quartet were to be retired to provide crews and operating funds for the planned transfer of the four Kidd (DDG-993)-class guided-missile destroyers, a deal that seems to be on hold.
The only one of three new NATO countries to have a navy, Poland is taking its new responsibilities as seriously as budgetary constraints will allow and has been updating several of the aging ships in its small but highly professional and well maintained navy to allow them to interoperate with NATO forces. The 32-year-old Krogulec-class, steel-hulled minesweeper Mewa is seen here on trials this May after completion of a major overhaul and conversion to mine hunter. New Polish-made hull-mounted and towed sidescan high frequency minehunting sonars have been added, along with the Polish-designed Ukwial remotely operated minehunting submersible, new acoustic and magnetic sweep arrays that can be operated simultaneously, and a two-compartment decompression chamber. In addition, NATO compatible communications gear and fueling couplings were added, and the 503-ton ship received a new degaussing system and overhauled engines. A sister, the Czajka, is undergoing a similar modernization, and the Rybitwa is planned to follow. The Polish Navy also is seeking new surface combatants, and the United States tentatively has offered the guided missile frigates Clark (FFG-11) and Sides (FFG-14) for transfer in fiscal years 2000 and 2001, respectively.