Ships wrap up mission in Tasmania

Two mine hunters marked the end of this year’s Fleet Certification Period with a mine location and recovery mission off the coast of Tasmania on March 15.

CAPTION: RAN mine hunter HMAS Gascoyne sails in the waters off the coast of Northern Tasmania as part of Fleet Certification Period.

Farewelling the annual maritime exercise, which involves varying RAN ships, were the crews of HMA Ships Gascoyneand Diamantina, testing their mine-hunting abilities and drills in challenging conditions.

Gascoyne’s Officer of the Watch (under training) Maritime Warfare Officer Sub Lieutenant Noah Edberg said the deployment was one he would never forget.

“I was a little nervous about having to cross the notorious Bass Strait in a mine hunter, but thankfully the weather was favourable on both occasions,” Sub Lieutenant Edberg said.

“Seeing the mine warfare, clearance diving and seamanship skills come together to achieve our mission was a great way for the mine hunters to end the Fleet Certification Period.”

Hosted annually, the Fleet Certification Period is major fleet-training activity, which demonstrates Navy’s capability to fight and win at sea.

Gascoyne will now shift focus to route survey operations while Diamantina will enter a maintenance period.

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