HMAS CANBERRA / HMAS ADELAIDE

* Amphibious assault ships
* 27,800 tonnes
* 230 metres long
* 32 metres wide
* 202 metre flight deck 28 metres above water
* 360 crew and up to 1600 troops
* 100 vehicles and 12 tanks
* 4 X 24 metre landing craft
* Internal well dock to load and unload craft
* 16 helicopters, six operating at once
* 40-bed hospital and two operating rooms
* Maximum speed above 20 knots (35km/hr)

HMAS Canberra 

This Canberra is known as a Landing Helicopter Dock (LHD) and she dwarfs anything else in the Royal Australian Navy fleet. She is the first of a $3 billion two-ship build. The second, HMAS Adelaide, will arrive early next year.

It is Australian engineering and technical expertise at the BAE Systems' Williamstown shipyard that is putting the finishing touches on vessels that will alter the nation's power projection capabilities forever.

Navy doctrine will change significantly with the arrival of the two LHDs and three Adelaide-built Hobart Class Air Warfare Destroyers, the most lethal warships ever to serve in the RAN.

The two amphibious assault ships and the AWDs will be home ported at Garden Island in Sydney, but the big ships will spend a great deal of time operating with the 2nd Battalion Royal Australian regiment out of Townsville or representing the nation around the region or the world.
  
Being able to carry up to 1600 fully equipped combat troops (1000 comfortably), 110 trucks and vehicles and up to a dozen Abrams main battle tanks, not to mention 16 helicopters including Chinook heavy lift machines and Tiger attack helicopters and thousands of tonnes of humanitarian aid, gives the government previously unimaginable power projection capability.

In terms of capability and technology, the Canberra represents a quantum leap for the RAN. For example she has 65,000 control and monitoring points compared to just 1500 on an Anzac frigate and the vessel is fitted with more water tight doors than the entire eight-ship Anzac frigate fleet combined.

The hull and vehicle, aircraft, flight and accommodation decks and machinery spaces were all built in Spain, but the four modules that contain the "brains" of the ship were constructed in Newcastle, Perth and at Williamstown where they are being installed at BAE's shipyard.

This includes the bridge, operations rooms including the deployable joint force headquarters, command and control rooms, communications and combat systems. All the sensitive areas of the ship are encased in 25mm thick ballistic steel and the bridge is built from the same alloy used to protect the Abrams main battle tank.

Wherever soldiers will be moving around the ship passageways are extra wide with built in slides for packs to be moved between decks. The light vehicle deck, where Bushmaster infantry vehicles, light trucks and Land Rovers will be stored covers a massive 2400 square metres and can handle a maximum load of 611 tonnes. It includes workshop facilities on each side that will enable virtually any maintenance task to be undertaken in-house.

Vehicles can be moved between decks via a ramp on the port (left) side or a light vehicle elevator. There are also two aircraft elevators, two personnel elevators, an ammunition elevator and a hospital elevator running between the decks.

Between the light vehicle and heavy vehicle decks are the accommodation, recreation and living spaces as well as the 40-bed hospital fitted with two operating theatres, intensive care unit and X-ray room as well as mess decks, galleys and office spaces.
    
There are two internet cafes and two gyms and all recreation areas are equipped with satellite TV, internet and projectors and CCTV so they can double as briefing rooms.

The state-of-the-art central galley is huge and includes a bakery section to bake bread for 1500 people a day. Up to 25 chefs will work around the clock to dish up a maximum of 6000 meals a day using equipment that can cook 400 chicken breasts at once as well as enough meat sauce to feed 300 people.

The fourth deck down on the ship is the heavy-vehicle deck that covers 1400 square metres and can accommodate 196 shipping containers and a maximum load of 1524 tonnes. It is located forward of a 70m by 17m welldock that is flooded to allow four 24m-long landing craft and other boats to operate inside the ship.

The welldock, landing craft and helicopters mean that all troops, equipment and supplies can be landed without wharves or docking facilities.

The ship's gas turbine generator produces 19.5 megawatts of electricity and two diesel generators seven megawatts each, which is enough to power a city the size of Darwin.