Captain Cook Graving Dock turns 75
Royal Australian Navy’s most important strategic asset, the Captain Cook Graving Dock at Garden Island, Sydney, turned 75 today.
CAPTION: HMAS Adelaide rests on blocks in Captain Cook Graving Dock at Fleet Base East, Sydney, for maintenance. Photo by Leading Seaman Peter Thompson. Story by Lieutenant Geoff Long.
The Captain Cook Graving Dock has been in near-continuous service since construction completed in 1945, servicing the needs of the Navy, Australia’s allies and commercial ships.
The dock receives an average of 27 ships per year for maintenance and, since 1998, has been operated and maintained by Defence partner Thales Australia.
Superintendent Garden Island Defence Precinct Captain Gavin Irwin said the Graving Dock plays an integral role in maintaining a fleet capable of preserving maritime security for the nation and regional partners.
“The dock is a critical-infrastructure asset that ensures we can continuously sustain an agile and lethal naval capability,” Captain Irwin said.
“The facility also highlights the close ties the Royal Australian Navy has with industry as a strategic partner in maintaining our capability.”
The 347m-long dry dock is one of the largest in the southern hemisphere, and is the last remaining facility in Australia that is capable of docking ships with a displacement over 12,000 tonnes.
Two underwater gates, known as caissons, separate the dock from the harbour. These are the oldest structural vessels in the Navy and enable sections of the dock to be drained separately.
The dry dock is emptied by three massive bronze centrifugal pumps with the capacity to empty the dock in eight hours, at a rate of 320,000 litres per minute – equivalent to emptying an Olympic-size swimming pool in 37 seconds.
At the time of construction, the Graving Dock was the largest and most complex engineering task ever undertaken in Australia.
It was surpassed only by the Snowy Mountains Hydro Scheme in the 1950s.
Captain Cook Graving Dock was officially opened by the Governor-General of Australia His Royal Highness the Duke of Gloucester on 24 March 1945.
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