MilitaryCanberra
Amphibious Assault Shipconfirmed
The Canberra class is a ship class of two landing helicopter dock (LHD) ships built for the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). Planning to upgrade the navy's amphibious fleet began in 2000, based on Australian experiences leading the International Force for East Timor peacekeeping operation. With a new climate for growing Australian Navy spending, a desire existed for forward defence capability for landing and supporting troops on Asian territory, that had never existed in Australian history, even with the old Majestic-class light fleet carriers, HMAS Melbourne and HMAS Sydney in the 1970s. In 2004, French company Direction des Constructions Navales (DCN) and Spanish company Navantia were invited to tender proposals, with DCN offering the Mistral-class amphibious assault ship and Navantia proposing the "Buque de Proyección Estratégica" design (later commissioned as Juan Carlos I).
Specifications
| Type | Amphibious Assault Ship |
| Origin | Spain |
| Manufacturer | Navantia, Ferrol, Spain and BAE Systems Australia, Victoria |
| Introduced | 2014 |
| Status | In service |
| Length | 230.82 m |
| Speed | 20 kn |
| Range | 9,000 nmi |
| Crew | 358 |
| Displacement | 27,500 t |
| Main armament | 4 × Rafael Typhoon 25 mm remote weapons systems * 6 × 12.7 mm machine guns |
Operators
| Country | Quantity | Confidence |
|---|---|---|
| Australia | capacity 18 hel; 4 LCM-1E; 110 veh; 12 M1 Abrams MBT; 1,000 troops | confirmed |
Text adapted from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Photo from Wikimedia Commons; see the Wikipedia article for author and license.
