HMAS Success (AOR-304)
Encyclopedia
HMAS Success (OR 304) is a Durance class
Durance class tanker
The Durance class is a series of multi-product replenishment oilers, originally designed and built for service in the French Navy. Besides the five ships built for the French Navy, a sixth was built for the Royal Australian Navy, while the lead ship of the class currently serves with the Argentine...
multi-product replenishment oiler
Replenishment Oiler
A replenishment oiler or fleet tanker is a naval auxiliary ship with fuel tanks and dry cargo holds, which can replenish other ships while underway in the high seas. Such ships are used by several countries around the world....
serving in the Royal Australian Navy
Royal Australian Navy
The Royal Australian Navy is the naval branch of the Australian Defence Force. Following the Federation of Australia in 1901, the ships and resources of the separate colonial navies were integrated into a national force: the Commonwealth Naval Forces...
(RAN). Built at Cockatoo Island Dockyard in Sydney, Australia, during the 1980s, she is the only ship of the class to be constructed outside of France, and the only one to originally not serve in the Marine Nationale (French Navy). The ship was part of the Australian contribution to the 1991 Gulf War
Australian contribution to the 1991 Gulf War
Australia was a member of the international coalition which contributed military forces to the 1991 Gulf War, also known as Operation Desert Storm. While the Australian forces did not see combat, they did play a significant role in enforcing the sanctions put in place against Iraq following the...
, and was deployed to East Timor in response to incidents in 1999 and 2006. The ship was fitted with a double hull
Double hull
A double hull is a ship hull design and construction method invented by Leonardo da Vinci where the bottom and sides of the ship have two complete layers of watertight hull surface: one outer layer forming the normal hull of the ship, and a second inner hull which is some distance inboard,...
during the first half of 2011, to meet International Maritime Organisation standards.
Construction
Seeing a need to replace the ageing oiler , the RAN placed an order in 1971 for a combat support ship-a replenishment vessel capable of supplying ammnition and stores in addition to fuel-to be named HMAS Protector. However, concerns about the cost of construction prompted the order's cancellation in 1974. Instead, the Directions Techniques Des Constructions Naval was approached about constructing a Durance class replenishment oiler for the RAN, and a design contract was awarded to the Government of France in 1977. The $68.4 million (in 1978 prices) construction contract was awarded to Vickers Cockatoo Dockyard in October 1979, with ship delivery by 31 July 1983.Success was laid down by Cockatoo Island Dockyard in Sydney, New South Wales on 9 August 1980. She was launched on 3 May 1984, and commissioned into the RAN on 23 April 1986. Success is the largest ship to ever be built in Australia for the RAN, and is the largest ship to be built in Port Jackson
Port Jackson
Port Jackson, containing Sydney Harbour, is the natural harbour of Sydney, Australia. It is known for its beauty, and in particular, as the location of the Sydney Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge...
(the port of Sydney). She was also the last major vessel to be constructed at Cockatoo Island Dockyard.
In June 1983 the contract were renegotiated while construction was underway, with the acceptance date being extended by three years and the project cost increased to $187.3 million. The cost and time overruns was primarily due to protracted dispute between the Commonwealth and the builder over the drawings and specifications received from France, with evidence that the Department of Defence underestimated the extent of the differences between the original Australian building specifications and those supplied. Additional factors in the time and cost increases were a lack of tradesmen skilled in naval construction, overly bureaucratic management, and low labour productivity. The final project cost was estimated at $197.41 million; the dramatic increase in cost prevented the construction of a planned second ship.
Operational history
In 1986, Success was part of the multi-national fleet that entered Sydney Harbour to mark the 75th anniversary of the RAN. Prior to the ceremonial entry, Success and two other replenishment ships (one United States Navy, one Royal Navy) were tasked with replenishing the assembled fleet: a competition between the three ships saw Success replenish more vessels than the other two.Success formed part of the Australian contribution to the 1991 Gulf War
Australian contribution to the 1991 Gulf War
Australia was a member of the international coalition which contributed military forces to the 1991 Gulf War, also known as Operation Desert Storm. While the Australian forces did not see combat, they did play a significant role in enforcing the sanctions put in place against Iraq following the...
. The ship was deployed to East Timor
East Timor
The Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, commonly known as East Timor , is a state in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the nearby islands of Atauro and Jaco, and Oecusse, an exclave on the northwestern side of the island, within Indonesian West Timor...
as part of the Australian-led INTERFET
INTERFET
The International Force for East Timor was a multinational peacekeeping taskforce, mandated by the United Nations to address the humanitarian and security crisis which took place in East Timor from 1999–2000 until the arrival of United Nations peacekeepers...
peacekeeping taskforce from 19 September to 28 October 1999. Although not recognised at the time, an overhaul of the RAN battle honour
Battle honour
A battle honour is an award of a right by a government or sovereign to a military unit to emblazon the name of a battle or operation on its flags , uniforms or other accessories where ornamentation is possible....
s system, completed in March 2010, saw Success granted the honours "Kuwait 1991" and "East Timor 1999" for these deployments.
In 2005, Success was one of several Australian warships to participate in Exercise Talisman Sabre 2005, a series of joint RAN-USN war games.
During 2006, Success was deployed to East Timor as part of the Australian response to the 2006 East Timorese crisis. In late November 2006, Success was one of three Australian warships sent to Fiji during the leadup to the 2006 coup d'état
2006 Fijian coup d'état
The Fijian coup d'état of December 2006 occurred as a continuation of the pressure which had been building since the military unrest of the 2000 Fijian coup d'état and 2005-2006 Fijian political crisis....
by Fijian military forces against Prime Minister
Prime Minister of Fiji
The Prime Minister of the Republic of Fiji is the head of government of Fiji. The Prime Minister was appointed by the President under the terms of the now-suspended 1997 constitution....
Laisenia Qarase
Laisenia Qarase
Laisenia Qarase is a Fijian political figure. He served as the sixth Prime Minister of Fiji from 2000 to 2006. After the military quashed the coup that led to the removal of Mahendra Chaudhry, Qarase joined the Interim Military Government as a financial adviser on 9 June 2000, until his appointment...
. Success joined HMA Ships and ; the other two ships having sailed in the first week of November. The three vessels were to be used in the event of an evacuation of Australian citizens and nationals, but not as a military force. The task group was stood down in late December 2006, with all three ships returning to port.
On 20 February 2007, Success intercepted a boat carrying 85 Sri Lankans, who were suspected of attempting to enter Australia illegally. These were the last asylum seekers to be processed under the Pacific Solution
Pacific Solution
The Pacific Solution was the name given to the Australian government policy of transporting asylum seekers to detention camps on small island nations in the Pacific Ocean, rather than allowing them to land on the Australian mainland...
policy before its cancellation.
Success was deployed as part of Operation Resolute
Operation Resolute
Operation Resolute is the Australian Defence Force's contribution to patrolling Australia's Exclusive Economic Zone. Operation Resolute began on 17 July 2006 and consolidated a number of previous ADF operations, including Operation Relex....
for three months in 2008. While assigned to Resolute, the vessel was deployed with several other RAN vessels to take part in RIMPAC
RIMPAC
RIMPAC, the Rim of the Pacific Exercise, is the world's largest international maritime exercise. Conducted biennially , it is hosted and administered by the United States Navy, with the United States Marine Corps, United States Coast Guard, and Hawaii National Guard forces under the leadership of...
08, a multi-national naval exercise. During RIMPAC, on the night of 23 July, Success completed her 3,000th Replenishment at Sea (RAS): a dual-replenishment of (port side, 2,999th RAS) and (starboard side, 3,000th RAS).
On the morning of 13 March 2009, Success was one of seventeen warships involved in a ceremonial fleet entry and fleet review in Sydney Harbour, the largest collection of RAN ships since the Australian Bicentenary
Australian Bicentenary
The bicentenary of Australia was celebrated in 1970 on the 200th anniversary of Captain James Cook landing and claiming the land, and again in 1988 to celebrate 200 years of permanent European settlement.-1970:...
in 1988. The replenishment ship was one of the thirteen vessels involved in the ceremonial entry through Sydney Heads, and anchored in the harbour for the review.
In May 2009, while Success was on exercise in South-East Asia, the ship's Commanding Officer was alerted to an alleged sex gambling game aboard, which challenged male sailors to record their sexual activities with female sailors in a 'ledger', and awarded them prize money based on who or where they had sex. This was one of several incidents during the three-month deployment; two bars in Manila
Manila
Manila is the capital of the Philippines. It is one of the sixteen cities forming Metro Manila.Manila is located on the eastern shores of Manila Bay and is bordered by Navotas and Caloocan to the north, Quezon City to the northeast, San Juan and Mandaluyong to the east, Makati on the southeast,...
were damaged during shore leave, while at another bar in Qingdao
Qingdao
' also known in the West by its postal map spelling Tsingtao, is a major city with a population of over 8.715 million in eastern Shandong province, Eastern China. Its built up area, made of 7 urban districts plus Jimo city, is home to about 4,346,000 inhabitants in 2010.It borders Yantai to the...
, several sailors were involved in a public sex act. Three male sailors were removed from Success when the ship docked in Singapore, and were sent back to Australia to participate in a formal inquiry; this inquiry was found to be flawed because of bias and the denial of support to the three accused, and a second, independent inquiry was set up under former judge Roger Gyles
Roger Gyles
Roger Vincent Gyles AO, QC is an Acting Judge of the Court of Appeal of the Supreme Court of New South Wales, a former judge of the Federal Court of Australia and a former Royal Commissioner.-Early life:...
in February 2010. The first part of Gyles' inquiry report was released in February 2011, which stated that there was an entrenched culture of sexual harassment, bullying, and predatroy sexual behaviour towards female sailors, coupled with alcohol-fuelled misconduct, particularly amongst the male sailors of the ship's marine engineering department. Gyles found that although the harassment and misconduct had been occurring as early as 2004, failures to respond to earlier complaints led to a breakdown in discipline aboard Success. The former judge was unable to prove the existence of the claimed ledger, but found many of the other claims to be correct, including evidence that male sailors had placed bets around having sex with a particular female sailor.
At the end of 2009, the Department of Defence
Department of Defence (Australia)
The Australian Department of Defence is a Federal Government Department. It forms part of the Australian Defence Organisation along with the Australian Defence Force . The Defence mission is to defend Australia and its national interests...
released a request for tender
Request for tender
A request for tender, commonly abbreviated to RFT, is a formal, structured invitation to suppliers for the supply of products or services. In the public sector, such a process may be required and determined in detail by law to ensure that such competition for the use of public money is open, fair...
for modification of Success into a double hull
Double hull
A double hull is a ship hull design and construction method invented by Leonardo da Vinci where the bottom and sides of the ship have two complete layers of watertight hull surface: one outer layer forming the normal hull of the ship, and a second inner hull which is some distance inboard,...
vessel, allowing her to meet International Maritime Organisation standards for oil tankers. The tender was awarded to Singapore-based ST Marine (a subsidiary of ST Engineering), with the conversion to be made during 2011. The ship sailed to Singapore in November for a naval exercise, after which she was to enter dock for the 14-week conversion, but problems in the contract delayed the dockyard start date, and Success was ordered back to Sydney, via in Western Australia, so the ship's company could take leave with family while the contract was finalised. Work on the ship started in late December 2010, with the main conversion work completed by the end of April 2011. In May 2011, a civilian contractor working on the ship died after falling overboard. Success left Singapore in late May, and returned to Sydney.