Fleet Base East

The Fleet Base East is a Royal Australian Navy (RAN) major fleet base that comprises several naval establishments and facilities clustered around Sydney Harbour, centred on HMAS "Kuttabul". The Fleet Base East extends beyond the borders of "Kuttabul" and includes the commercially-operated dockyard at , and adjacent wharf facilities at nearby , east of the Sydney central business district in New South Wales, Australia. Fleet Base East is one of two major facilities of the RAN, the other facility being the Fleet Base West.
Confusingly, naval personnel often use the term Fleet Base East to mean the naval wharves at Garden Island where ships assigned to the Fleet Base usually berth but the official designation includes several other bases and facilities as well.
History.
Sydney was considered the centre of naval activity in Australia from the arrival of Europeans in 1788. Over the course of the 19th century the Royal Navy developed facilities around Sydney Harbour, most notably at Garden Island. Those facilities passed to the newly formed Royal Australian Navy in 1911 and Sydney became home port to the Australian Fleet. During World War II there was significant expansion of the naval facilities around Sydney Harbour, including a large expansion of the dockyards at Garden Island. After World War II, Australia began to have growing interests in the Indian Ocean areas to the west of Australia and the need for a major base on the west coast of the continent was identified. This resulted in the eventual construction during the 1970s of HMAS "Stirling", near in Western Australia. In 1987 the decision was taken to permanently split the basing of the Australian Fleet. The collection of facilities and bases on Sydney Harbour was designated Fleet Base East while "Stirling" was designated Fleet Base West.
Thales Australia has successfully operated at the Garden Island dockyards since the early 1980s and in 2014 signed a further five-year contract with the Department of Defence to provide ongoing dock operations and services, as well as ship repair and maintenance services at Garden Island.
During the 2013 federal election campaign, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd proposed that under a Labor government, the Sydney-based facilities of Fleet Base East would be relocated further north, with options of Queensland and the Northern Territory suggested. However, by 2017 and following the release of the 2016 Defence White Paper, a 213 million upgrade of the Garden Island dockyards were proposed. However, the white paper also stated that they are planning to come up with a long-term solution to space constraints at HMAS "Kuttabul."
Constituent bases and facilities.
Fleet Base East is home to more than sixty per cent of Australia’s surface fleet and comprises:
Former constituent bases.
HMAS "Platypus", located in Neutral Bay on the northern side of Sydney Harbour, was the home base for the Royal Australian Navy Submarine Service and its fleet of six Oberon class submarines from 1967. It closed in 1999 when the submarine fleet moved to Fleet Base West to coincide with the introduction of new Collins class submarines.
HMAS "Rushcutter" was a small base at Rushcutters Bay, on the southern side of Sydney Harbour. Used for a variety of training and small boat operations, it closed in 1979.
Ships stationed.
The following vessels are stationed at Fleet Base East:
"Canberra"-class landing helicopter dock
"Anzac"-class frigate
"Hobart"-class destroyer
"Huon"-class minehunters (at "Waterhen")
Bay-class landing ship
Multi-role Aircraft Training Vessel (at "Waterhen")
Sail training (at "Waterhen")