The Interesting and Varied Role of the HMAS Canberra

Have you visited us yet? Fridays from 5 pm at Tanunda Recreational Park. Visitors are welcome. 

HMAS Canberra is the Royal Australian Navy’s flagship and one of its two Landing Helicopter Dock (LHD) amphibious assault ships. 

HMAS Canberra

Its core role is to project Australian military power, deliver humanitarian assistance, and conduct joint amphibious operations with the Army and international partners. Over the past two years, it has been heavily involved in interoperability training, amphibious capability development, and medical readiness exercises.

The ship:

1. acts as Australia’s primary amphibious assault ship, capable of deploying troops, vehicles, helicopters, and landing craft.
2. Serves as a joint-force integration platform, hosting U.S. Marines and Australian Army units for combined amphibious operations.
3. Provides sealift capability for heavy Army equipment, including modern armoured vehicles
4. Functions as a medical support hub with scalable medical facilities for casualty care during operations, and
5. Enhances regional stability and deterrence through alliance training with the United States. 

This year has been a busy year for the crew who have, in Exercise Capital Reach:

1. Embarked 350+ Marines from the Marine Rotational Force – Darwin.
2. Conducted joint amphibious manoeuvre planning, landing craft drills, and multi‑domain integration.
3. Strengthened U.S.–Australia alliance readiness and Indo‑Pacific deterrence.

Assisted in the Army Modernisation Trials by: 

1. Validating sea transport of new Australian Army armoured vehicles: AS21 Redback IFV, AS9 Huntsman SPH, and the AS10 Resupply vehicle
   
2. Repeated loading/unloading trials in Sydney Harbour to confirm compatibility with Navy landing craft and littoral deployment.

The Canberra's Medical Operational Health Unit has also conducted training in a range of complex medical readiness exercises.

Our ADF has numerous interesting activities occurring that we never hear about in the mainstream media.