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HMAS Kanimbla (LPA-51) was acquired as a training and helicopter support ship, originally built as the ''Newport'' class tank landing ship (LST) USS ''Saginaw'' for the U.S. Navy. The Saginaw was constructed by the National Steel and Shipbuilding Company at San Diego in California. The ship was acquired by the Royal Australian Navy and recommissioned as Kanimbla on 29 August 1994, for use as an amphibious transport ship (LPA). To achieve this, the ship was extensively reconstructed, making it the lead ship in a new class of vessel; the ''Kanimbla'' class. Two LPAs are active in the RAN, Kanimbla and ''Manoora'', both of which are based at Sydney's Fleet Base East. The ship is named for the Kanimbla Valley, west of Blackheath in the Blue Mountains in New South Wales, Australia. A previous vessel also carried this name, a passenger ship pressed into service, first as a merchant cruiser and later a troop ship, during World War II. The ship's full motto is "And Ceasar's spirit ranging for revenge, with 'ate by his side come hot from hell, shall in these confines with a monarch's voice, cry "Havoc!" and let slip the Dogs of War", a quote from William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar
Operational History In 2001 Kanimbla participated in UN Sanction operations against Iraq following the September 11 attacks. Kanimbla was deployed to the Persian Gulf in 2003, during the invasion of Iraq Kanimbla's role was to provide a command and control platform to the Australian Navy Task Group and specialised capabilities to the greater multinational fleet in the invasion of Iraq. Kanimbla was part of Operation Sumatra Assist, the Australian Defence Force (ADF) humanitarian aid to victims of the 2004 tsunami in Indonesia. During its subsequent return voyage to Australia, it was recalled for Operation Sumatra Assist Phase II to help victims of the 2005 Sumatran earthquake. During this operation, at about 09:30 UTC 2 April 2005, one of the ship's Sea King helicopters crashed while approaching the village of Amadraya in the south of the island of Nias, off the west coast of Sumatra in Indonesia. Nine ADF personnel were killed — seven men and two women, from all three ADF services. Two others were recovered alive from the site by the other Sea King operating from Kanimbla and transferred to it for medical assistance in its well equipped hospital facilities. * * During early-mid 2006, HMAS Kanimbla operated near East Timor in Operation Astute. At the start of November 2006, Kanimbla was one of two Australian warships sent to Fiji amidst fears of a coup d'etat by Fijian military forces against Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase. Kanimbla and HMAS ''Newcastle'' are to be used in the event of an evacuation of Australian citizens and nationals, but not as a military force. | ||||||||
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