Australia officially receives first air warfare destroyer Hobart

The Australian Ministry of Defense accepted delivery of its first Aegis-equipped air warfare destroyer, Hobart, in a ceremony at the Osborne naval shipyard on June 16.

Hobart is the first of three destroyers being built and integrated by the AWD Alliance which comprises the Department of Defence, Raytheon Australia and ASC with support from Navantia.

In the coming months, Hobart will transit from Adelaide to Sydney where she will be commissioned into service by the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) later this year.

AWD Alliance General Manager Paul Evans said today’s provisional acceptance is a testament to more than 5,000 Australian shipbuilders and systems integrators who have worked on the AWD program over the past decade.

“Ten years ago, the AWD Alliance was formed to undertake the complex task of designing, constructing, integrating and testing a new class of warships for Australia. Along the way, we have created an entire workforce of highly skilled Australian shipbuilders, program managers and systems integrators.”

“Hobart will play a critical role for Defence by providing new interoperable capabilities for the Royal Australian Navy,” Australian Minister for Defence Industry Christopher Pyne said.

“By using a combination of US and Australian technologies, these ships will allow us to work even closer with our allies.”

Work on Hobart kicked off in January 2010 with her hull consolidation in March 2014, official launch in May 2015 and builder’s sea trials in September 2016.

Hobart is 146.7 metres long, has a top speed of 28 knots (52km/h), a range of about 5000 nautical miles and room for more than 200 crew.

She carries a range of weapons, detection and electronic warfare systems onboard, which include an Aegis threat tracking system, SPQ Horizon Search Radar, 48 vertical launch missile cells, a 5″ gun for coastal operations and two quad launchers of anti-ship HARPOON weapon systems.

The AWDs have also been equipped with anti-surface, anti-submarine and naval gunfire capabilities.