Royal Australian Navy
The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) is Australia's navy and is part of the Australian Defence Force.Its front-line fleet currently comprises six Adelaide (Oliver Hazard Perry) class guided-missile frigates, six ANZAC class patrol frigates (of eight to be built) and six of the Swedish designed but locally built Collins class submarines. These were expected to be the best conventional (i.e. diesel-electric, not nuclear powered) submarines in the world, but massive problems with noise and the weapons software suite have resulted in a series of delays and scandals, though as of 2004 the government claims these are now solved or on their way to resolution. The Navy also operates SH-60 Seahawk helicopters.
Ships and Establishments are named HMAS, where HMAS means "Her Majesty's Australian Ship". This follows the form of the Royal Navy in which ships are named HMS (Her Majesty's Ship). ("Her Majesty" is Queen Elizabeth II).
See also: List of ships of the Royal Australian Navy
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The Navy is commanded by the Chief of Navy (CN), Vice Admiral Chris Ritchie AO RAN.
There are two commands:
After settlement, naval protection was done by the British Royal Navy. In 1883-4 several small cruisers, torpedo-boats and gunboats were built so that the various colonies could protect themselves without having to rely on the British Navy.
After independence (1 January 1901), in 1904 a group of obsolete gunboats of the state navies was assimilated into the Commonwealth Naval Forces and assigned to protect harbours and coastal installations while the seaward, or blue water tasks were the responsibility of a Royal Navy squadron subsidised by the Australian Government. A growing number of people, among them Captain William Rooke Creswell, the Director of the Commonwealth Naval Forces, demanded an autonomous Australian navy, financed and controlled by Australia. In 1909 Creswell represented Australia at the Imperial Conferences, convened to settle the question of naval defences, and won his campaign for an Australian Navy. His name lives on as the name of base, HMAS CRESWELL, the site of the Royal Australian Naval College at Jervis Bay on the coast of the Australian state, New South Wales.
The first Australian warship, the destroyer HMAS Parramatta, was launched at Govan in Scotland on Wednesday 9 February 1910 and its sister ship HMAS Yarra, was launched at Dumbarton in Scotland on Saturday 9 April 1910. Both ships were commissioned into the Royal Navy on Monday 19 September 1910 and sailed for Australia. They arrived at Port Phillip Bay on Saturday 10 December 1910 and, as they passed through The Rip, Engineer Lieutenant Commander W. Robertson, RN, was washed overboard from Parramatta and drowned.
In October 1911 King George V fixed his signature to the approval for the Royal Australian Navy and the ships now received the prefix HMAS, His Majesty's Australian Ship. The manpower of the fleet stood at four hundred officers and men and, for the next two years, ships were built for the fledgling navy. On Saturday 4 October 1913 the first fleet review of the Royal Australian Navy took place, the battle cruiser HMAS Australia, the cruisers HMAS Melbourne and HMAS Sydney, the protected cruiser HMAS Encounter and the torpedo boat destroyers HMAS Parramatta, HMAS Yarra and HMAS Warrego, entered Sydney Harbour to a tumultous welcome.
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