Australien — Navy’s premiere ship deploys to strengthen maritime ties

Inter­na­tion­al mar­itime ties will be strength­ened with Roy­al Aus­tralian Navy frigate HMAS New­cas­tle depart­ing Gar­den Island, Syd­ney today for Japan, Cana­da and the US (Hawaii).

HMAS New­cas­tle Source: Roy­al Aus­tralian Navy

New­cas­tle set sail for Yoko­su­ka, Japan to exer­cise with the Japan Mar­itime Self Defence Forces in exer­cise Nichi Go Tri­dent, a com­bined mar­itime exer­cise aimed at enhanc­ing the two Navies’ abil­i­ty to work togeth­er dur­ing mar­itime coali­tion operations. 

Fol­low­ing Nichi Go Tri­dent, New­cas­tle will tran­sit to Esquimalt, Cana­da in com­pa­ny with Ships Te Kaha and Endeav­our, to join up to 25 nations from the Indo-Pacif­ic region at the Cana­di­an Navy Cen­ten­ni­al Inter­na­tion­al Fleet Review. 

Com­mand­ing Offi­cer of HMAS New­cas­tle, Com­man­der Justin Jones, says the ship is proud to rep­re­sent the Roy­al Aus­tralian Navy at the Cana­di­an Navy’s Inter­na­tion­al Fleet Review. 

“The event pro­vides a forum for us to engage with inter­na­tion­al navies and dis­cuss inter­na­tion­al mar­itime secu­ri­ty issues,” Com­man­der Jones said. 

From Cana­da, New­cas­tle will pas­sage to Hawaii with a multi­na­tion­al Task Group led by the air­craft car­ri­er USS Nimitz, before join­ing ships from across the Pacif­ic for Exer­cise RIMPAC 10. 

Ear­li­er this month, New­cas­tle was award­ed the Glouces­ter Cup by the Gov­er­nor-Gen­er­al, Her Excel­len­cy Ms Quentin Bryce AC, which recog­nised the ship as being the fore­most fleet unit in all aspects of oper­a­tions, safe­ty, sea­man­ship, reli­a­bil­i­ty and unit lev­el training. 

New­cas­tle was also pre­sent­ed with the Spa­da Shield, which recog­nis­es the sur­face com­bat­ant fore­most in oper­a­tions, safe­ty, reli­a­bil­i­ty, war­fare and unit lev­el train­ing, and the Aus­tralia Cup for excel­lence in marine engineering. 

Press release:
Roy­al Aus­tralian Navy