HMAS Toowoomba (FFH 156)

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HMAS Toowoomba (FFH 156) is the seventh Anzac-class frigate of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). She was laid down in 2002 by Tenix Defence and commissioned in 2005.

In 2007, Toowoomba was deployed to the Persian Gulf as part of Operation Slipper. Her second deployment to the Middle East occurred during the second half of 2009. As part of this, she became the first RAN vessel to operate with the counter-piracy Combined Task Force 151.

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 name="GrazebrookSail" /><ref>Wertheim, The Naval Institute Guide to Combat Fleets of the World, pp. 20–1</ref> Each frigate has a Template:Convert full load displacement. 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">Sharpe (ed.), Jane's Fighting Ships 1998–99, pgs. 25, 470</ref> 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="GrazebrookSail" /><ref name=Sharpe25.470/> 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="GrazebrookSail" /><ref name=Sharpe25.470/><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 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), and a second Mark 41 launcher (which has not been added).<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 use a 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>

Toowoomba was laid down at Williamstown, Victoria on 26 July 2002.<ref name=Wertheim20/> 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 16 May 2003 by Judy Blight, and commissioned into the RAN on 8 October 2005.<ref name=Wertheim20/>

Operational history

Toowoomba began her first deployment to the Middle East Area of Operations (MEAO) as part of Operation Slipper on 4 January 2007.<ref>Department of Defence, HMAS Toowoomba sails for operational duties in Gulf</ref>

On 18 June 2008, the frigate became the first RAN warship to fire an MU90 Impact anti-submarine torpedo, after they replaced the American Mark 46 anti-submarine torpedoes originally fitted.<ref name=FishGrevatt/>

In June 2009, Toowoomba sailed from Fleet Base West, Western Australia to embark upon the ship's second MEAO deployment.<ref name=ToowooHome/> In September, the frigate was assigned to Combined Task Force 151 (CTF-151); Toowoomba was the first Australian warship to work with CTF-151, a US-led, multinational force tasked with protecting merchant vessels from pirate attacks off the coast of Somalia.<ref name=ToowooFirst>RAN Website, Counter-Piracy First for Toowoomba</ref> Toowoomba was assigned to escort merchant shipping and conduct overt patrols in the International Recommended Transit Corridor (IRTC), a shipping lane extending the Gulf of Aden towards the Somali Basin and the Horn of Africa, in support of United Nations Security Council Resolutions 1846 and 1851.<ref name=ToowooFirst/> The frigate also operated with the counter-terrorism Combined Task Force 150 (CTF-150) in the Arabian Sea.<ref name=ToowooHome/>

On 20 September 2009, Toowoomba responded to a call for assistance from the merchant vessel BBC Portugal, and successfully prevented an act of high-seas piracy.<ref name=Cowan>Cowan, Deter and disrupt</ref><ref name=ToowooDisarm>RAN Website, Toowoomba disarms pirate threat</ref> A Japanese P-3 Orion aircraft and a naval helicopter from the German frigate Bremen provided surveillance support while Toowoomba closed in.<ref name="Cowan"/><ref name=ToowooDisarm/> A boarding party from Toowoomba confiscated several weapons from the attackers, including a rocket-propelled grenade launcher, six AK-47 assault rifles, and a G3 assault rifle, before the skiff was directed to leave the IRTC.<ref name=Cowan/><ref name=ToowooDisarm/>

Toowoomba returned to Fleet Base West on 7 December 2009, having been relieved in the MEAO by Template:HMAS.<ref name=ToowooHome>RAN Website, HMAS Toowoomba welcomed home</ref> The ship and her company were awarded with a "Certificate for Exceptional Services Rendered to Shipping and Mankind" by the International Maritime Organization in November 2009.<ref name=IMO-24-11-2009>International Maritime Organization, 2009 IMO Awards for Exceptional Bravery at Sea presented to a rescue swimmer and American sailors</ref> The deployment is the subject of Australian Pirate Patrol, a four-episode documentary series produced by Prospero Productions, and first aired on the National Geographic Channel on 18 October 2010.<ref name=ABCsales>ABC Commercial, Pirate Patrol</ref><ref>HMAS Toowoomba to star in new show, in Toowoomba Chronicle</ref>

In early April 2013, Toowoomba operated with the U.S. Navy's Carrier Strike Group Three in the South China Sea.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In late March 2014, Toowoomba was pulled from asylum seeker patrols and directed to join the hunt for the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, allowing Template:HMAS to return to port for replenishment.<ref>McPhedran, HMAS Toowoomba diverted from asylum seeker patrols to search for Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 debris</ref>

Toowoomba will be docked in October 2015 to undergo the Anti-Ship Missile Defence (ASMD) upgrade.<ref name=NavalTechnology3Sep15>Template:Cite news</ref> The upgrade will include 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 early 2020 she was deployed to the Strait of Hormuz during the 2019 Persian Gulf crisis.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In November 2023 Toowoomba operated off Japan as part of Operation Argos, which is Australia's contribution to efforts to enforce sanctions against North Korea.<ref name="HMAS Toowoomba supports">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Several RAN divers were slightly injured by sonar from a Chinese warship during this deployment, when the sonar was activated close to the Australian frigate while they were removing a fishing net from its propellers.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>