RAN says goodbye to final Adelaide-class frigate
The Royal Australian Navy’s (RAN’s) HMAS Melbourne (III) has returned to Australia from its final overseas mission ahead of its decommissioning in October.
Melbourne is the RAN’s oldest Adelaide-class warship, having been in service for almost three decades.
The vessel’s final deployment was a three-month stint throughout the Asia-Pacific region conducting maritime security operations with partner nations, including participating in China’s International Fleet Review.
The 138m-long guided missile frigate, currently docked in Gladstone Port in Queensland, will now visit several ports around Australia before becoming the final Adelaide-class frigate to be withdrawn from service when it is decommissioned in Sydney on 26 October 2019.
The six Adelaide-class frigates were commissioned between 1980 and 1993, and are being replaced by three Hobart-class Air Warfare Destroyers.
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