HMAS Adelaide (FFG 01)

HMAS Adelaide (FFG 01) was the lead ship of the Adelaide class of guided missile frigates built for the Royal Australian Navy, based on the United States Navy's Oliver Hazard Perry class frigates. She was built in the United States of America and commissioned into the RAN in 1980.

During her career, Adelaide was part of Australian responses or contributions to the 1987 Fijian coups d'état, the Iraq invasion of Kuwait, the Indonesian riots of May 1998, the INTERFET peacekeeping taskforce, the War in Afghanistan, and the United States-led invasion of Iraq. In 1997, the frigate rescued two competitors in the 1996–97 Vendee Globe solo, round-the-world yacht race. In 2001, a boat carrying suspected illegal immigrants was intercepted by Adelaide; the events of this interception became the centre of the Children overboard affair.

In 2008, Adelaide was the second ship of the class to be decommissioned, in order to offset the cost of an upgrade to the other four vessels. This ship was to be sunk off Avoca Beach, New South Wales as a dive wreck on 27 March 2010, until an appeal to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal by protest groups led to a postponement of the scuttling until additional cleanup work was completed. Despite further attempts to delay or cancel the scuttling, Adelaide was sunk off Avoca on 13 April 2011.

Design and construction
Following the cancellation of the DDL project in 1973, the RAN needed to procure a replacement for the Daring class destroyers. Foreign designs were considered, with two designs shortlisted: the Oliver Hazard Perry class guided missile frigate, and the Type 42 destroyer, modified to fire RIM-66 Standard missiles. Although the Perry design did not meet the operating conditions set down for the DDL, the impracticality of modifying the Type 42 design prompted the Australian government to approve the acquisition of two Perry class ships: HMA Ships Adelaide and HMAS Canberra (FFG 02).

The order was placed with Todd Pacific Shipyards at Seattle, Washington in February 1976. Adelaide was laid down to the Perry class' Flight I design on 29 July 1977, launched on 21 June 1978, and commissioned into the Royal Australian Navy on 15 November 1980. The frigate ran aground off Seattle in early 1981, during post-commissioning trials, but was freed with only minor damage. During construction, she was identified with the United States Navy hull number FFG-17. A total of four Adelaide class ships were constructed by Todd Pacific, with a further two built by Australian shipbuilder AMECON.

Armament
Adelaide's main weapon is the Mark 13 missile launcher located on the foredeck: this is used to fire both Harpoon and SM-1MR Standard missiles. A 76 mm Mark 75 OTO Melara gun is located on top of the superstructure, in front of the exhaust funnel. A triple-barrelled Mark 32 torpedo tube set is fitted to each side of the superstructure. For close defence, a 20 mm Mark 16 Mod 2 Phalanx CIWS sits at the aft end of the superstructure, above the frigate's two helicopter hangars.

The hangars housed two S-70B Seahawk helicopters from the 1990s onwards; before these were acquired by the RAN, Adelaide operated a Bell Kiowa, then an AS350B Squirrel.

Operational history
Following the decommissioning of the aircraft carrier HMAS Melbourne (R21) in 1982 and the disbandment of fixed-wing aviation squadrons in 1984, the RAN Fleet Air Arm became focused on helicopter operations, but had minimal experience flying helicopters from small ships. To remedy this, a Bell Kiowa was embarked aboard Adelaide during 1984.

In May 1987, Adelaide visited Fiji, and was alongside in Lautoka when the first of the 1987 Fijian coups d'état occurred on 14 May. Adelaide and sister ship HMAS Sydney (FFG 03), alongside in Suva, were instructed to remain off Fiji to aid in any necessary evacuation of Australian citizens; the first component of what became Operation Morris Dance. Adelaide remained on station until at least 29 May, when a phased withdrawal began.

On 3 July 1990, Adelaide became the first Australian warship to visit Tahiti since 1970. On 10 August, Adelaide, sister ship HMAS Darwin (FFG 04), and the replenishment ship HMAS Success (AOR 304) were deployed to the Middle East as part of Operation Damask, Australia's participation in the international coalition enforcing sanctions against Iraq following that nation's invasion of Kuwait. Adelaide and Darwin remained in the area until 3 December, and was used for surveillance and boarding operations.

In January 1997, the yachts of Thierry Dubois and Tony Bullimore (competitors in the 1996–97 Vendee Globe solo, round-the-world yacht race), capsized while attempting to cross the Southern Ocean. Adelaide successfully found and rescued the sailors after seven days of searching by ships and aircraft. During late May and early June, the frigate was deployed to the Philippines, and represented Australia at the Philippines Centenary International Naval Review.

Between 17 and 27 May 1998, Adelaide was one of four RAN ships placed on standby, in case Australian citizens required evacuation if the Indonesian riots of May 1998 escalated. The ships were not used. Starting in September, the frigate accompanied the destroyers HMAS Hobart (D 39) and HMAS Brisbane (D 41) on a cruise through South East Asia. During this deployment, the ships were present at a naval review by Indonesian president Bacharuddin Jusuf Habibie.

In February 1999, Adelaide was awarded the Duke of Gloucester Cup, awarded to the most efficient ship in the RAN during the previous year. The frigate was deployed to East Timor as part of the Australian-led INTERFET peacekeeping taskforce from 19 September to 19 October.

On 6 October 2001, Adelaide was the ship which intercepted SIEV 4, the event which sparked the Children overboard affair. Under orders to prevent SIEVs from entering Australian waters, Adelaide attempted to warn the craft, carrying over 200 passengers (including children), against crossing from international waters during the night and into 7 October. When the SIEV failed to heed these warnings, Adelaide fired warning shots and initiated a RHIB boarding action, with the boarding party took control of the craft that afternoon. Between this time and when the craft was manoeuvred from Australian territory late the next morning, several attempts were made to sabotage the craft, and some adult passengers jumped or were thrown overboard while others threatened to do so; the fourteen people that entered the water were recovered by the frigate's RHIB and taken back to the SIEV. Adelaide observed the craft as it headed towards Indonesia, and moved in to provide further assistance a few hours later, after systematic sabotage immobilised the small vessel. Adelaide was instructed to take the vessel in tow and head for Christmas Island. The SIEV began to take on water during the afternoon of 8 October, and despite the appearance that the problem had been rectified, the craft sank without warning at 17:00. All aboard were forced into the water, and were rescued by personnel from Adelaide. Reports of the sinking were conflated with information about those who jumped or were thrown overboard the day previous to give the impression that the threat of throwing children overboard had been made or carried out, a story that was later proven false but taken up at the time by the Howard government during the lead-up to the 2001 election to support their campaign promises to tighten border controls and immigration.

From November 2001 to March 2002, Adelaide and the amphibious warfare ship HMAS Kanimbla (L 51) were deployed to the Middle East as part of Operation Slipper, the Australian contribution to the War in Afghanistan. The ships also contributed to the continuing enforcement of the Iraq sanctions. Adelaide returned to the Middle East from July 2004 to January 2005 as part of Operation Catalyst, the Australian contribution to the reconstruction of Iraq following the United States-led invasion in 2003. During this deployment, in December 2004, several gunboats of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard attempted to capture a boarding party after it had inspected the freighter MV Sham, which had grounded near the Iraq-Iran maritime boundary. After completing their inspection, the boarding party returned to their two RHIBs, but were approached by an Iranian gunboat. The boarding party climbed back aboard Sham, took up defensive positions, and, according to BBC reporter Frank Gardner, "warned [the Iranians] to back off, using what was said to be 'highly colourful language'." During the next 45 minutes, four more gunboats arrived, and the stand-off lasted for four hours before the Australians were evacuated by Adelaide's Seahawk helicopter. No shots were fired during the incident, and two of the Australians were later awarded the Distinguished Service Medal for their conduct during the stand-off. The Australian Defence Force did not immediately report the incident to the media, as they felt no need to highlight it, and the attempted capture did not come to light until July 2007, when Gardner wrote about it following the capture of 15 British personnel during a similar incident in March 2007.

A March 2010 reorganisation of battle honours awarded to RAN ships saw Adelaide retroactively honoured for her service with INTERFET ("East Timor 1999") and during the War in Afghanistan ("Persian Gulf 2001–02").

Decommissioning and fate
Adelaide was originally scheduled to be paid off in November 2006, but delays with the project to upgrade four of Adelaide's sister ships required that she be kept in service for another fourteen months to minimise the impact on the fleet. Adelaide was decommissioned on 19 January 2008 at HMAS Stirling, before she was towed to Sydney and given to the New South Wales Government, which planned to sink her as a dive wreck off the coast near Terrigal: the first military ship dive wreck in New South Wales. After spending time alongside at HMAS Kuttabul (naval base), Adelaide was towed to White Bay at a point prior to November 2009.

The ship was prepared for scuttling during late 2009 and early 2010: her mast (which would have become a navigational hazard once the ship was scuttled) was removed, dangerous materials and toxins were removed, and access holes were cut in the ship's flanks. The ship was scheduled to be sunk on 27 March, 1.7 km offshore from Avoca Beach, New South Wales, in 32 m of water. Local resident action groups campaigned to prevent the scuttling, claiming that the wreck will affect tides and littoral sand drift, and that the removal of chemicals and hazardous materials in the ship has not been thorough enough, with the chance that marine life and people could be poisoned.

An appeal by the protest groups to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal three days before the sinking saw the project placed on hold until the case can be heard in full: supporters and opponents of the dive wreck agreed to participate in mediation in the meantime. The case was to be heard on 5 May, but was later postponed to July. On 15 September, the Tribunal ruled that scuttling of the ship could go ahead after the removal of any remaining wiring, which may contain polychlorinated biphenyls, canvas, insulation, and exfoliating red lead paint. The delays caused by the tribunal hearing meant that the original $5.8 million assigned to the scuttling project was expended, and the tribunal hearing, additional cleanup, and berthing fees brought the cost of the scuttling project to $8.5 million.

A new scuttling date was announced on 24 February 2011 by NSW Lands Minister Tony Kelly, with Adelaide scheduled to be sunk on 13 April 2011, after the additional cleaning ordered by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal was completed in March. Adelaide was towed from Sydney Harbour on the morning of 11 April for the voyage north. The action group attempted to cancel or delay the sinking of the warship; requesting that the New South Wales Ombudsman investigate the government's handling of the artificial reef project, filing a summons in the Land and Environment Court of New South Wales on the afternoon of 12 April, and asking an Aboriginal 'whale caller' to summon humpback whales to the planned wreck site. Despite this, the sinking went ahead just before midday on 13 April, after being delayed by over an hour by a pod of dolphins inside the 1 km exclusion zone. After the scuttling charges were fired, Adelaide submerged within two minutes.