HMAS BALLARAT DEPARTS AUSTRALIA

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Department of Defence Media Mail List
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CPA 040/06 Wednesday, 1 March 2006

HMAS BALLARAT DEPARTS AUSTRALIA
FOR DUTY IN PERSIAN GULF

Commander Malcolm Wise, RAN and the 165 ship’s company of the ANZAC Class Frigate HMAS Ballarat, today farewelled family and friends as the ship departed her homeport of Fleet Base East at Garden Island in Sydney for passage to the Persian Gulf.

HMAS Ballarat will take over duties from HMAS Parramatta to continue the contribution to the rehabilitation and reconstruction of Iraq. This includes the important work of protecting Iraq’s offshore export oil terminals and monitoring, intercepting and boarding vessels suspected of illegally trafficking cargo that diverts funds from the Iraqi economy.

After months of training and preparation, the ship’s company of HMAS Ballarat are well prepared and are looking forward to this deployment.

The Maritime Commander Australia, Rear Admiral Davyd Thomas, AM, CSC, RAN, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Defence, Senator Sandy Macdonald, as well as family and friends, farewelled Ballarat as she left Fleet Base East today.

Rear Admiral Davyd Thomas also thanked the families and friends of the Navy personnel deploying to the Gulf for their ongoing support.

“Support from home for the men and women who deploy on operations makes a positive difference to the ability of our personnel to do the job they are tasked with,” he said.

This is HMAS Ballarat’s first deployment to the Persian Gulf and it is the thirteenth rotation of Navy ships as part of coalition operations since 2001.

HMAS Parramatta has been stationed in the Gulf as part of Operation Catalyst since November 2005. Her role has included protecting Iraq’s offshore export oil terminals and monitoring, intercepting and boarding vessels suspected of illegally trafficking cargo that diverts funds from the Iraqi economy.

During this time, HMAS Parramatta has conducted more than 900 individual boat operations, including 86 boardings and 76 security patrols. The security plan established by the ship for the North Persian Gulf has had a significant effect on piracy and trans-national crime in the region.

HMAS Parramatta has also been involved in training other coalition warships as well as the Iraqi Navy, which involved Iraqi Officers spending considerable amounts of time on board Parramatta.

Media Contact: Defence Media Liaison (02) 6265 3343 or 0408 498 664

Images of HMAS Ballarat’s departure will be available at http://www.defence.gov.au/media/download/2006/Feb/index.cfm after 2:00pm on 1 March 2006. Further information on HMAS Ballarat is at: http://www.navy.gov.au/ships/ballarat/default.htm .

DEFENCE MEDIA RELEASE

Issued by Coordination and Public Affairs, Department of Defence, Canberra, ACT
Phone: 02 6265 3343, Fax: 02 6265 6946
Media Releases are available via e-mail if you register at the Media Centre at http://www.defence.gov.au/media