Australian, Canadian warships exercise in South East Asia

Royal Australian Navy frigate HMAS Ballarat and Royal Canadian Navy ships HMCS Ottawa and Winnipeg recently completed a series of underway exercises in the waters of South East Asia.

The exercises, conducted in international waters from 19-21 April, included close quarters manoeuvring, practicing replenishment at sea activities and conducting anti submarine warfare training utilising helicopters from both navies.

Commanding officer Ballarat Commander David Landon said the underway exercises demonstrate the ease in which the two navies operate together.

“The camaraderie and complexity increased over the three days allowing us to maximise the value of the time we had operating together,” he said.

During her deployment Ballarat will conduct further bilateral exercises with regional nations and participate in the multilateral Exercise Bersama Shield, a Five Power Defence Arrangements activity between Australia, Singapore, Malaysia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom.