Farewell, HMAS Anzac (for now)
With her replacement– the planned first general-purpose frigate– still at least six years down the road, the Royal Australian Navy decommissioned the lead ship of its license-built Blohm & Voss MEKO 200 design, HMAS Anzac (FFH 150), completing 28 years of service on 18 May.
Ten 4,000-ton Anzac-class frigates (eight Australian, two for the Royal New Zealand Navy) were built by Tenix Defence Systems (now BAE Systems) at the company’s Williamstown yard in Melbourne between 1993 and 2006.
HMAS Anzac operating in the Persian Gulf region in 2002, one of her three extensive tours to the region. Note her original layout
Subsequent Phase 2A/2B and 4B upgrades saw her SPS-49 radar replaced with a distinctive CEAFAR phased-array radar mast which gave the ”First Lady of the Fleet” a very peculiar appearance.
HMAS Anzac returns to Fleet Base West in September 2023 after her final deployment. Note her phased array retrofit mast
She was the third such ship to carry the name of the famed Australian and New Zealand Army Corps in the RAN, after a Great War-era Parker-class destroyer leader that served under the Australian flag in the 1920s and a Battle-class destroyer that served in the 1950s and 60s.
For sure, the name will return.