A shared effort at sea

In the South China Sea, two Australian warships operated with each other for the first time in years to conduct a replenishment at sea (RAS).

The bridge teams and conning officers of HMA Ships Supply and Perth expertly navigated their ships together to allow for fuel to be transferred from the replenishment ship Supply to the frigate Perth.

Officer of the watch SBLT Lucas Bird said the pressure zones can create a vacuum when the ships come together in a RAS manoeuvre.

“If you get too close, one ship can pull in the other and then you’ve got bigger problems than just a dwindling fuel tank,” SBLT Bird said.

“We’ve been away from Australia for more than a month now, so it was nice to see a friendly red kangaroo on the water with us.”

Perth conducted a RAS with US civilian tanker MT Badlands Trader and practised RAS manoeuvres with HTMS Bangpakong earlier in the week, keeping the ship’s personnel ready to conduct RAS operations with different types of vessels at sea.

Earlier in her deployment, Supply completed a RAS with USS Santa Barbara, as its first international customer while deployed in support of Commander Task Force 73.

Perth’s SLT Jun Jie Liang was part of the engineering team overseeing the operations. He is on a secondment from the Royal New Zealand Navy and is embarked in the Australian frigate for the year.

Two ships sail side by side linked by a fuel line. — HMAS Supply conducts a RAS with HMAS Perth in the South China Sea during an RPD. Photo: LS Daniel Hueston

“We refuelled about 220 cubes from Supply, which is the equivalent of about 1467 bathtubs worth of marine diesel fuel and some aviation fuel for our embarked helicopter, Banshee,” SLT Liang said.

“There was a nice moment when two of my Australian oppos [friends] from Supply sent over some postcards to me.”

During the RAS, the two Australian ships’ companies exchanged coins, sending them over in a mail bag.

CO Supply CMDR Kylie Turnbull praised the performance of both ships.

“Today, we demonstrated Australia’s commitment to maintaining a near continuous presence in the Indo-Pacific region,” CMDR Turnbull said.

“That’s because RAS evolutions extend our fleet’s endurance and enable our ships to remain on task for longer.

“It’s always a real pleasure working with our shipmates in Perth and with partner nation ships, and it’s a privilege to provide them with logistical support to help maintain regional security and stability.”

Both ships are at sea on regional presence deployments, which demonstrate Australia’s commitment to and engagement with the region.