HMAS Ballarat (FFH 155)

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HMAS Ballarat (FFH 155) is an Anzac-class frigate of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). The frigate was laid down in 2000 and commissioned into the RAN in mid-2004. Since entering service, Ballarat has been involved in border protection as part of Operation Relex II, was deployed to the Gulf for Operation Catalyst, and was one of the two ships involved in the Operation Northern Trident 2009 round-the-world voyage. Ballarat has undergone the Anti-Ship Missile Defence (ASMD) upgrade, completing in 2015.

Design and construction

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} The Anzac class originated from RAN plans to replace the six River-class destroyer escorts with a mid-capability patrol frigate.<ref name=Jones244>Jones, in Stevens, The Royal Australian Navy, p. 244</ref><ref>Fairall-Lee, Miller, & Murphy, in Forbes, Sea Power, p. 336</ref><ref name=GrazebrookSail/> The Australian shipbuilding industry was thought to be incapable of warship design, so the RAN decided to take a proven foreign design and modify it.<ref name=Jones244/><ref name=GrazebrookSail/> Around the same time, the Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN) was looking to replace four Leander-class frigates; a deterioration in New Zealand-United States relations, the need to improve alliances with nearby nations, and the commonalities between the RAN and RNZN ships' requirements led the two nations to begin collaborating on the acquisition in 1987.<ref>Greener, Timing is everything, pp. 23–9</ref><ref name=Jones245>Jones, in Stevens, The Royal Australian Navy, p. 245</ref> Tenders were requested by the Anzac Ship Project at the end of 1986, with 12 ship designs (including an airship) submitted.<ref name=Jones244/><ref name=Greener30>Greener, Timing is everything, p. 30</ref> By August 1987, the tenders were narrowed down in October to Blohm + Voss's MEKO 200 design, the M class (later Karel Doorman class) offered by Royal Schelde, and a scaled-down Type 23 frigate proposed by Yarrow Shipbuilders.<ref name=Jones245/><ref name=Greener31>Greener, Timing is everything, p. 31</ref> In 1989, the Australian government announced that Melbourne-based shipbuilder AMECON (which became Tenix Defence) would build the modified MEKO 200 design.<ref name=GrazebrookSail>Grazebrook, Anzac frigates sail diverging courses</ref><ref name=Jones245/><ref name=Greener31/> The Australians ordered eight ships, while New Zealand ordered two, with an unexercised option for two more.<ref name=Wertheim20>Wertheim (ed.), The Naval Institute Guide to Combat Fleets of the World, p. 20</ref><ref>Greener, Timing is everything, pp. 43–4</ref>

The Anzacs are based on Blohm + Voss' MEKO 200 PN (or Vasco da Gama-class) frigates, modified to meet Australian and New Zealand specifications and maximise the use of locally built equipment.<ref>Wertheim, The Naval Institute Guide to Combat Fleets of the World, pp. 20–1</ref><ref name=GrazebrookSail/> Each frigate has a Template:Convert full load displacement.<ref name=Sharpe25.470>Sharpe (ed.), Jane's Fighting Ships 1998–99, pgs. 25, 470</ref> The ships are Template:Convert long at the waterline, and Template:Convert long overall, with a beam of Template:Convert, and a full load draught of Template:Convert.<ref name=Sharpe25.470/> A Combined Diesel or Gas (CODOG) propulsion machinery layout is used, with a single, Template:Convert General Electric LM2500-30 gas turbine and two Template:Convert MTU 12V1163 TB83 diesel engines driving the ship's two controllable-pitch propellers.<ref name=Sharpe25.470/><ref name=GrazebrookSail/> Maximum speed is Template:Convert, and maximum range is over Template:Convert at Template:Convert; about 50% greater than other MEKO 200 designs.<ref name=Sharpe25.470/><ref name=GrazebrookSail/><ref name=Wertheim21>Wertheim, The Naval Institute Guide to Combat Fleets of the World, pp. 21</ref> The standard ship's company of an Anzac consists of 22 officers and 141 sailors.<ref name=Sharpe25.470/>

As designed, the main armament for the frigate is a 5-inch 54 calibre Mark 45 gun, supplemented by an eight-cell Mark 41 vertical launch system (for RIM-7 Sea Sparrow or RIM-162 Evolved Sea Sparrow missiles), two Template:Convert machine guns, and two Mark 32 triple torpedo tube sets (initially firing Mark 46 torpedoes, but later upgraded to use the MU90 Impact torpedo).<ref name=Sharpe25.470/><ref name=GrazebrookSail/><ref name=FishGrevatt>Fish & Grevatt, Australia's HMAS Toowoomba test fires MU90 torpedo</ref> They were also designed for but not with a Mark 15 Phalanx close-in weapons system (two Mini Typhoons fitted when required from 2005 onwards). Two quad-canister Harpoon anti-ship missile launchers (which were installed across the RAN vessels from 2005 onwards) were previously fitted, but were replaced by two quad-canister Naval Strike Missile launchers in 2025. A second 8-cell Mark 41 VLS was also fitted for but not with.<ref name=GrazebrookSail/><ref name=Scott05>Scott, Updating ANZACs to meet changed strategic posture</ref><ref name=ScottEnhanced>Scott, Enhanced small-calibre systems offer shipborne stopping power</ref> The Australian Anzacs used a single Sikorsky S-70B-2 Seahawk helicopter; plans to replace them with Kaman SH-2G Super Seasprites were cancelled in 2008 due to ongoing problems.<ref name=GrazebrookSail/><ref name=Grevatt>Grevatt, Australia cancels troubled Super Seasprite programme</ref><ref name=Forbes>Forbes, How a helicopter deal flew into trouble</ref> Instead, the S-70B-2 was replaced with the Sikorsky MH-60R Seahawk by late 2017.

Ballarat was laid down at Williamstown, Victoria on 4 August 2000.<ref name=RANpage>Royal Australian Navy, HMAS Ballarat</ref> The ship was assembled from six hull modules and six superstructure modules; the superstructure modules were fabricated in Whangarei, New Zealand, and hull modules were built at both Williamstown and Newcastle, New South Wales, with final integration at Williamstown.<ref name=GrazebrookSail/> She was launched on 25 May 2002, and commissioned into the RAN on 26 June 2004.<ref name=RANpage/> She was the eighth ship of the class to be constructed, and the sixth to enter service in the Royal Australian Navy.<ref name=RANpage/> The motto and badge of HMAS Ballarat are references to the events of the Eureka Stockade, which occurred at Ballarat in 1854.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Operational history

At the start of 2005, Ballarat was involved in Operation Relex II, a border protection operation in Australia's northern waters.<ref name=probe>Navy opens frigate probe, in The Courier</ref> Ballarat ran aground off Christmas Island near Flying Fish Cove on 22 January 2005 causing damage to the rudder and propellers from the sand and coral.<ref name=probe/> There were no injuries to the crew.<ref name=probe/>

In March 2006, Ballarat was deployed to the Persian Gulf to relieve HMAS Parramatta as part of Operation Catalyst, the Australian Defence Force's contribution to the rehabilitation and reconstruction of Iraq.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In December 2006 a request by members of the ship's company led to a re-launching of Ballarat Bitter, a beer originally brewed in Ballarat but stopped in 1989.<ref name=buyingup>Buying up big on Bertie beer, in The Courier</ref> Proceeds from the sale of the two limited releases were donated to the United Way charities.<ref name=buyingup/> The brand's mascot, Ballarat Bertie, has been adopted by the ship as a mascot.<ref>Oliver, Ballarat Bitter kegs released to city pubs</ref>

On the morning of 13 March 2009, Ballarat was one of seventeen warships involved in a ceremonial fleet entry and fleet review in Sydney Harbour, the largest collection of RAN ships since the Australian Bicentenary in 1988.<ref>Marching into History, in Navy News</ref> The frigate was one of the thirteen ships involved in the ceremonial entry through Sydney Heads, and anchored in the harbour for the review.

On 20 April 2009, Ballarat and the Adelaide-class frigate Template:HMAS departed from Sydney as part of Operation Northern Trident, a six-month round-the-world voyage by the two vessels, with numerous diplomatic visits and joint exercises with foreign navies.<ref name=RANTrident>Royal Australian Navy, Northern Trident 2009</ref> During the night of 17 May, Ballarat and Sydney provided aid to two merchant vessels in the Gulf of Aden, driving off two separate groups of Somali pirates attacking the ships.<ref name=DoddPirates>Dodd, RAN warships to the rescue as Somali pirates flee</ref> Ballarat escorted an impromptu convoy of eight ships, including the two that were attacked, to safety, while Sydney remained in the area to report the incidents to Combined Task Force 151.<ref name=DoddPirates/>

Ballarat completed the Anti-Ship Missile Defence (ASMD) upgrade in September 2015.<ref name=NavalTechnology3Sep15>Template:Cite news</ref> The upgrade included the fitting of CEA Technologies' CEAFAR and CEAMOUNT phased array radars on new masts, a Vampir NG Infrared Search and Track system, and Sharpeye Navigational Radar Systems, along with improvements to the operations room equipment and layout.<ref name=thenavy16.17>ASMD Upgrade commences on Perth, in The Navy</ref>

In September 2018, Ballarat sailed at short notice to participate in the rescue of two round-the-world sailors in the southern Indian Ocean. The ship transported one of them back to Australia from Île Amsterdam after he was rescued by a French fishing boat.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In April 2021, Ballarat took part in the search for the missing Indonesian Navy submarine KRI Nanggala (402).Template:Citation needed The next month the ship participated in efforts to enforce sanctions against North Korea as part of Operation Argos.<ref name="Kadib Ballarat joins Operation Argos">Template:Cite news</ref>

Between 10 and 18 November, Ballarat participated in the 2025 edition of Exercise Malabar along with Template:JS, Template:INS and Template:USS of the Japanese Navy, Indian Navy and US Navy. The ship, with a crew of 177 sailors and officers, was equipped with an integral MH-60R Romeo helicopter and supported by a P-8A Poseidon aircraft of the Air Force which was deployed from the Andersen Air Force Base. The exercise included complex drills in anti-submarine warfare, air defence and replenishment at sea. The harbour phase was conducted on 10–12 November at Naval Base Guam followed by the Sea Phase on 13–17 November in the west Pacific training area.<ref>Template:Cite press release</ref><ref>Template:Cite press release</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

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