The first of Australia’s new Spanish-designed 27,000-ton amphibious-assault ships, to be named Canberra, is pictured here being launched on 18 February at Navantia Dockyards in Ferrol, Spain. The ship is expected to arrive in Australia next year, where she will be fitted out for planned service entry in 2014. A second unit of the class, to be named Adelaide, will enter service in 2015. The Royal Australian Navy has suffered a number of recent setbacks to its amphibious fleet, including the discovery of major hull corrosion on HMAS Manoora, a retired U.S. Newport-class auxiliary transport (ex–Fairfax County, LST-1193). The problem forced the early retirement of the 8,000-ton vessel and put a significant strain on the fleet. Sister ship Kanimbla (ex-Saginaw, LST-1188) faces serious, though less dramatic, challenges and is undergoing repairs that are expected to be completed by mid-2012. To make matters worse, the acquisition of six new LCM landing craft was canceled early this year due to a number of problems with the program. As a stopgap measure, the Australian government announced in April plans to acquire the surplus 16,000-ton dock landing ship Largs Bay from the rapidly shrinking British Royal Navy.
The Indian government recently approved the purchase of four more P-8I Poseidon long-range maritime-patrol and antisubmarine aircraft, in addition to the eight units already under contract with Boeing. Negotiations for this next batch remain in the early stages, with price and delivery timelines yet to be finalized. Production began on P-8Is last December in Wichita, Kansas, with final assembly of the airframes to take place in Renton, Washington. They are expected to begin entering Indian service around 2013. The P-8I variant of the Poseidon is a slightly modified version of the P-8A, 117 of which are planned for service with U.S. Navy to replace the P-3 Orion.
During the final week of March, the U.S. Coast Guard decommissioned two of its 378-foot High-Endurance Cutters, the USCGC Hamilton (WHEC-715) and Chase (WHEC-718). The retired Hamilton, pictured here, is to be transferred to the Philippine Navy, and at press time the Nigerian Navy appeared likely to acquire the Chase. Both ships were built by Avondale Shipyard in Louisiana and entered service in the late 1960s. The two cutters served off Vietnam, taking part in Market Time operations, with the Hamilton alone firing more than 4,600 gunfire-support rounds during the conflict. Over the course of their careers the vessels took part in the full spectrum of Coast Guard operations, including search-and-rescue, maritime security, and counter-drug patrols. The cutters most recently were armed with 76-mm, 25-mm, and 20-mm guns, and each carried an HH-65 Dolphin helicopter. Additional retirements are planned for the future, as the class is now being replaced by the 418-foot National Security Cutters that began entering service in 2008.