Fleet tanker HMAS Sirius is returning to its Fleet Base West home port having concluded four months of repairs and upgrades at the Garden Island dockyard in Sydney.
The 25,000 tonne double-hulled tanker entered the Captain Cook Graving Dock at Fleet Base East in November last year after it was found she had a defective stern tube bearing. A scheduled maintenance period planned for April this year was brought forward and conducted in conjunction with the repair. An upgraded sewage treatment plant has also been fitted during the docking.
Prior to commencing her transit home the ship bunkered fuel at Gore Cove, the first such instance since HMAS Westralia did so in 1993.
During the docking the replenishment rigs were tested and a basin trial was conducted to test the propulsion system. The ship will undergo a shakedown followed by a period of Sea Training Group covered training during the transit.
A contract was signed with Spanish shipbuilding company Navantia last year to build Australia’s two replacement replenishment ships, with the first to be delivered by 2019.