HMAS Choules

HMAS "Choules" (L100) is a that served with the Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA) from 2006 to 2011, before being purchased by the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). The vessel was built as RFA "Largs Bay" by Swan Hunter in Wallsend, Tyne and Wear. She was named after Largs Bay in Ayrshire, Scotland, and entered service in November 2006. During her career with the RFA, "Largs Bay" served as the British ship assigned to patrol the Falkland Islands in 2008, and delivered relief supplies following the 2010 Haiti earthquake.
At the end of 2010, "Largs Bay" was marked as one of the vessels to be removed from service under the Strategic Defence and Security Review. She was offered for sale, with the RAN announced as the successful bidder in April 2011. After modifications to make her more suited for Australian operating conditions, the vessel was commissioned in December 2011 as HMAS "Choules", named after Royal Navy and Royal Australian Navy Chief Petty Officer Claude Choules. A propulsion transformer failure kept the ship out of service between July 2012 and April 2013.
Design and construction.
The Bay class was designed as a replacement for the logistics ships operated by the RFA. The new design was based on the Royal Schelde Enforcer design; a joint project between the Dutch and Spanish resulting in the and amphibious warfare ships. The main difference with the British ships is the lack of a helicopter hangar. The ships were originally designated "auxiliary landing ship logistics" or ALSL, but this was changed in 2002 to "landing ship dock (auxiliary)" or LSD(A), better reflecting their operational role. Four ships were ordered; two from Swan Hunter, and two from BAE Systems Naval Ships.
The Bay-class ships have a full load displacement of in RFA service; this increased slightly to after modifications for RAN service. "Largs Bay"/"Choules" is long, with a beam of , and a draught of . Propulsion power is provided by two Wärtsilä 8L26 generators, providing , and two Wärtsilä 12V26 generators, providing . These are used to drive two steerable propulsion pods, with a bow thruster supplementing. Maximum speed is , and the Bay-class ships can achieve a range of at . "Largs Bay" was fitted for but not with a Phalanx CIWS and a 30 mm DS30B cannon when required for self defence. The RAN's webpage for "Choules" does not specify any armament. In British service, the everyday ship's company consisted of 60 to 70 RFA personnel, with this number supplemented by members of the British Armed Forces when "Largs Bay" was deployed operationally. The RAN opted to maintain the ship at full operational crewing at all times, with a ship's company of 158, including 22 Army and 6 RAAF personnel.
As a sealift ship, "Largs Bay" is capable of carrying up to 1,150 linear metres of vehicles; equivalent to 24 Challenger 2 tanks, 32 M1A1 Abrams tanks, or 150 light trucks. The cargo capacity is equivalent of 200 tons of ammunition, or 24 twenty-foot equivalent unit containers. During normal conditions, a Bay-class ship can carry 356 soldiers, but this can be almost doubled to 700 in overload conditions. Helicopters are not routinely carried on board, but a temporary hangar may be fitted and the twin-spot flight deck is capable of handling helicopters up to the size of Chinooks, as well as Merlin helicopters and Osprey tiltrotor aircraft. The well dock can carry one LCU Mark 10, one LCM-8, or two LCVPs (either the Royal Marines version or the Royal Australian Navy version), and two Mexeflotes can be suspended from the ship's flanks. The LCM-1E landing craft being acquired by the RAN will not fit into the dock. Two 30-ton cranes are fitted between the superstructure and the flight deck.
"Largs Bay" and sister ship were ordered from Swan Hunter on 18 December 2000. "Largs Bay" was laid down at Swan Hunter's shipyard at Wallsend, Tyne and Wear on 28 January 2002; the first ship of the class work started on. The ship was launched on 18 July 2003. The ship was completed and accepted by the Ministry of Defence in April 2006, over a year late. "Largs Bay" was dedicated on 28 November 2006, the second of the class to enter service with the RFA. The Bay-class construction project saw major delays and cost overruns, particularly in the Swan Hunter half of the project. Shortly after "Largs Bay" was handed over, Swan Hunter was stripped from the project, with BAE taking full responsibility for the class and "Lyme Bay" towed to BAE's shipyard in Govan for completion in June 2006.
Operational history.
United Kingdom.
Four months after entering service, an engine room fire resulted in steering and propulsion issues, requiring "Largs Bay" to be towed to Plymouth for repairs. In late November 2007, "Largs Bay" embarked 815 Naval Air Squadron 215 Flight and left home waters for the Caribbean to conduct counter-drug operations. She visited eleven islands including Barbados, Curaçao, Grand Turk, Martinique, Trinidad and also the USA. Three days after leaving Barbados "Largs Bay"s patrolling helicopter spotted a small fishing vessel stopped in the water and detained her after a pursuit; of cocaine were recovered, with an estimated £20 million European street value. She participated in Navy Days while in port at Curaçao, where several hundred people toured her.
In late 2008, it was reported that "Largs Bay" was to replace for duties in the Falkland Islands. "Northumberland" was to have left for the Islands in December 2008, but was instead sent for pirate patrol off Somalia.
In early 2010, "Largs Bay" was deployed to the Arctic Circle. Following the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the ship was pulled from exercises and sailed on 3 February to deliver a load of relief supplies to Haiti. On 18 February 2010, she arrived at Port-au-Prince and unloaded of supplies plus of rations, while engineers from the ship began work on restoring electricity ashore. On 30 March 2010, she returned home. "Largs Bay"s actions were recognised in December 2011 with the awarding of the Firmin Sword of Peace.
In August 2010, the ship participated in the Bournemouth Air Festival.
Decommissioning and transfer.
In December 2010, it was announced that the ship would be decommissioned in April 2011 as part of the Strategic Defence and Security Review. Shortly after marking "Largs Bay" for disposal, the British Ministry of Defence contacted the Chilean government and suggested the vessel as a potential replacement for the landing ship tank vessel "Valdivia", which was due to leave service. In January 2011, the Australian Department of Defence announced that it was interested in purchasing the vessel for the RAN as a replacement for the heavy landing ship or one of the amphibious warfare ships. Interest in the ship was also shown by Brazil and India.
On 17 March 2011, the Australian Department of Defence announced that the RAN would be bidding for "Largs Bay"; this was followed on 6 April by news that a £65 million (A$100 million) bid had been successful. Sea trials during April showed that the ship was in good condition, although she would have to be modified before entering Australian service, particularly to allow operation in tropical conditions. During a 16-week docking at the A&P Group shipyard in Falmouth, the modifications were made, along with refit work to maintain the ship's Lloyds certification. The RAN also acquired two Mexeflote landing rafts for use with the ship.
On 13 August, it was announced that "Largs Bay" would be renamed HMAS "Choules" when commissioned into the RAN. The name comes from Chief Petty Officer Claude Choules, who served in both the Royal Navy and the RAN during his career, and was the last known living participant in World War I. "Choules" is the second RAN vessel to be named after an enlisted sailor, following the submarine . The ship was assigned the pennant number L100, reflecting the 100th anniversary of the RAN's origin in 2011. Her motto is "Face Difficulty With Zeal".
On 14 October, the vessel was handed over to the RAN. She arrived in Fremantle, Western Australia on 10 December, and was commissioned into the RAN on 13 December. "Choules" entered full operational service in early 2012, and is based at Fleet Base East.
Australia.
On 24 February 2012, "Choules" arrived in Townsville. This was in preparation for a month of amphibious warfare training exercises with the Australian Army's 3rd Brigade.
In June 2012, one of the two main electrical transformers involved in the ship's propulsion system failed, after an earlier engineers report highlighted "overheating of the propulsion motors and transformers". Inspection found that insulation failure had short-circuited the transformer, while other transformers aboard showed premature wear. Unable to find an available spare, a new unit had to be ordered from the manufacturer. In June, it was predicted that "Choules" would be out of service for four to five months, but by October, claims were made that the ship would be inoperable until at least January 2013, and if all of the wear-showing transformers were replaced, she would not return to service until April 2013. By December, the faulty transformer had been replaced, and the RAN had decided that although the other transformers (propulsion and others) had been shown to have acceptable levels of wear, all would be replaced before "Choules" was reactivated. These repairs were completed in early 2013, and the ship was assessed as ready to re-enter service on 12 April.
For a short time from July 2013, "Choules" was anchored offshore of the Manus Regional Processing Centre in Papua New Guinea to provide temporary accommodation for Department of Immigration and other personnel, due to a lack of accommodation at the Centre. In April 2015, the ship transported 46 Vietnamese asylum seekers back to Vũng Tàu, after their vessel was intercepted at sea on 20 March by Australian border protection units and their claims were rejected after interviews at sea lasting less than 40 minutes.
"Choules" operational role was reevaluated after the "Canberra"-class landing helicopter dock ships entered service in 2016, but will likely be kept on to fill the role of the strategic sealift ship envisioned by the .
In March 2017 "Choules" was sent to Queensland to support recovery after Cyclone Debbie.
"Choules" was deployed to Vanuatu on 30 September 2017 to aid in the rescue of 11,000 people from a volcanic eruption of Monaro Voui.
In January 2020, "Choules" was deployed to the coastal town of Mallacoota in East Gippsland, Victoria, to evacuate thousands of people trapped by bushfires and to ferry them south to Hastings in Western Port Bay.
On 14 February 2021, HMAS "Choules" left Australia for Papua New Guinea with 5 Isuzu fire trucks donated by Queensland Fire and Emergency Services.
On 11 March 2021, Gippsland officially announced Mallacoota as the new ceremonial homeport for HMAS Choules. 