Navy vessel open for inspection in Ballina
The Royal Australian Navy vessel HMAS Brunei will open her gangway to the public this weekend during a visit to Ballina.
Brunei will be open to the Ballina community from noon until 4pm on Saturday, 24 November 2007, at Fawcett Wharf.
Commanding Officer, Lieutenant Scott Dixon, said the ship will be arriving in Ballina on Thursday for a five-day port visit.
“The crew and I are looking forward to the trip to Ballina and engaging the local community,” Lieutenant Dixon said.
“We can not wait to demonstrate Brunei’s capabilities and show Ballina what tasks we can accomplish.”
During her port visit Brunei will represent the Royal Australian Navy at the Australian Naval Association’s 25th Annual All Ships Reunion.
Brunei is a 45 metre Landing Craft Heavy (LCH) and is an extremely versatile vessel. The LCH class is capable of transferring large amounts of cargo, personnel and equipment between larger amphibious ships or to shore.
The ship’s shallow draft allows her to deliver loads to areas that are otherwise unreachable. The six LCHs are the oldest class of ship currently in service for the RAN.
Brunei has recently returned from an operational deployment to the Solomon Islands. The ship supported underwater explosive ordinance disposal training for the Royal Solomon Islands Police Force and conducted the removal of in excess of 400 items of unexploded World War II ordinance.
Some of Brunei’s crew participated in several community projects during the deployment to assist local communities and distributed donated books to schools throughout Honiara and the Western Provinces of the Solomon Islands.
