HMAS Sydney blasts away during Exercise Pacific Vanguard

One deck below the five-inch gun on the forecastle of HMAS Sydney, the ‘gunbusters’ are closed up in the gun machinery room, Mount 51, in preparation for an international naval gunfire serial.

The order comes through the headsets that the shoot is about to begin: “Mount 51, stand to surface.”

ABET Sanveet Singh, 27, from Blacktown, responds: “Mount 51, copy.”

The nine-metre-tall, 2.6 tonne structure of steel, pipes and wiring whirs loudly into action.

Two levels above the gun room, in the Combat Information Centre (CIC), ABET Angus Carter sits in the gun weapon system operator’s chair as his first five-inch live-fire shoot is about to commence.

AB Carter, from Marrickville in Sydney, 24, calls “shoot” loudly for the whole room to hear before pressing the trigger.

The floor of the CIC reverberates with each explosion from the gun.

“We had a 20-round consisting of both ballistic and high-explosive rounds,” AB Carter said.

The gunfire serial took place with international friends and partners during Exercise Pacific Vanguard off the coast of Guam in the western Pacific Ocean.

The high-explosive rounds had the desired effect and hit the target: an unmanned high-speed manoeuvring vessel from the Canadian ship HMCS Regina.

“It’s essentially a speedboat that can conduct evasive manoeuvres designed to replicate a high-speed surface threat,” AB Carter said.

He said the gun team had been performing drills in order to prepare for the shoot.

“I was very excited but also a little bit nervous. I didn’t want to mess it up,” he said.

“I had a great team supporting me and it all went smoothly.”

The gun captain on the day, LS Sam Hicken, 29, from the Central Coast of NSW, said it was always exciting to test the capabilities of the crew and the equipment.

“The opportunity to practise in an international live-fire exercise is great training for everyone on board,” he said.

CO Sydney CMDR Hayden Jenkins said Sydney’s participation in Pacific Vanguard demonstrated the ship’s warfighting capabilities and expertise.

“This exercise builds on the range of activities that the ship has conducted since commencing a regional presence deployment in early June 2026,” he said.

“By continuing to work with our allies and partners across the region, Sydney remains capable, credible and ready to operate in a complex maritime environment.”