Australia’s second AWD destroyer completes Category 5 sea trials

Australia’s second air warfare destroyer ‘Brisbane’ recently completed her Category 5 (CAT 5) sea trials off the coast of Adelaide, the Royal Australian Navy has announced.

The destroyer got underway for the trials in November 2017.

The Air Warfare Destroyer Alliance which is in charge of delivering the three ships in the class to the navy first tested the Brisbane’s propulsion, control and navigation systems before undertaking the more advanced phase of evaluating the ship’s combat and communications systems.

During CAT 5 sea trials, the functional performance of the Mission System as a whole was verified as a pre-requisite to enable the AWD Alliance to deliver Brisbane to the defense department for provisional acceptance.

“During this period some of Brisbane’s crew were fortunate enough to participate and support the trial process, and played a crucial role in assisting the civilian contractors through this process to achieve the desired outcome,” the navy said.

The successful completion of NUSHIP Brisbane’s CAT 5 trials is another critical milestone that places Brisbane within firing distance of her October commissioning date.

Brisbane is the second of three AWD destroyers to be built for the Australian Navy. The lead ship in the class, HMAS Hobart, is already in service and the third ship was launched earlier this month.