HMAS

Success (II) - Part 4

• HMAS Success (II) - Part 3

1999

The ship returned to sea in the last week of January 1999 and participated in the Fleet Concentration Period in February during which she operated with the USN fleet oiler Yukon. She departed Sydney on 9 March in company with HMA Ships Perth, Sydney and Newcastle, and arrived in Guam on the 18th ahead of a busy multi-national exercise schedule.

Exercise TANDEM THRUST involved some 12,000 personnel from Australia, the USA, Singapore, Canada and South Korea, and was staged in and around the Mariana Islands at the end of March and into April. The International Air Defence System (IADS) Air Defence Exercise 2-99 (ADEX 2-99) was conducted off Singapore and involved Navy and Air Force units from Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Malaysia and the UK. The exercise was tragically marred on 18 April when an Australian F111 aircraft crashed on the Malaysian island of Pulau Aur. A search and rescue (SAR) operation was initiated, including Success and her Sea King helicopter, in the hope that the two-person aircrew had ejected before the crash; however, air crash investigators later confirmed that both airmen had perished.

Success detached from the SAR operation on the morning of the 19th but returned to Pulau Aur on the 21st to support the RAAF Accident Investigation Team. The ship’s helicopter flew regular sorties in support of ground crews while members of Success’ ship’s company took an active role in both the investigation and the recovery of the bodies of the two airmen. The ship departed Pulau Aur for Singapore on the evening of the 24th.

Signalman on the flagdeck of HMAS Success, circa 1999.

Success returned to Pulau Aur with RAAF personnel embarked on 24 August for further operations at the F111 crash site. She departed two days later and replenished units participating in Exercise STARDEX 2-99 before detaching for Darwin having being notified that she may be required to deploy to East Timor as violence erupted there in the wake of the region’s recent independence referendum. She arrived back in Darwin on 1 September and immediately commenced preparations for a possible deployment to East Timor. She conducted a patrol north-west of Melville Island from the 4th to the 6th in support of Operation SPITFIRE, the ADF operation to evacuate Australians and other foreign nationals from the island. Over the next two weeks as she awaited confirmation of her impending deployment to East Timor, Success conducted fleet exercises and replenishment operations with Australian, New Zealand and US vessels.

HMAS Jervis Bay alongside HMAS Success being refuelled in Dili Harbour before her return to Darwin, East Timor 1999.

On 18 September, with the Hydrographic Survey Unit and Clearance Diving Team 4 (CDT4) embarked, Success departed for East Timor in company with HMA Ships Adelaide and Anzac. Success arrived in the Area of Operations (AO) the following day, under the auspices of Operations WARDEN and, later, STABILISE, and despatched CDT4 ashore to assess the wharf for future operations. In addition to replenishment operations, the ship’s main responsibility was the provision of logistic support to shore forces including food, water and fuel, while acting as a command post for the Naval Component Commander, Commodore James Stapleton, RAN. Members of the ship’s company also formed shore-based work parties. The majority of her operations were conducted in the vicinity of Dili but she also conducted operations at Com on the north-eastern tip of the island, and the Oecussi Enclave. She departed the AO on 28 October and arrived back in Darwin the following day. The ship returned to Sydney on 8 November before visiting Melbourne later in the month and conducting a patrol of the Bass Strait Oil Fields under the auspices of Operation ESTES.

Left: HMAS Success prepares to receive an LCM8 landing craft alongside. Her Sea King helicopter is operating ashore along with her personnel providing security in and around Dili. The Italian amphibious transport dock San Giusto can be seen in the background. Right: LSMT Jason Thomas was among those who performed security duties in Dili where much of the capital had been razed.

2000

Success spent most of January and February 2000 undergoing maintenance in Sydney. She returned to sea in March conducting a routine program of exercises, training and maintenance. She departed Sydney on 1 May for Hawaii and participation in Exercise RIMPAC. She arrived in Pearl Harbor, via Fiji, on 22 May. RIMPAC occupied the entire month of June with Success replenishing ships from five different nations over the course of the exercise in spite having to return to port on two occasions to effect urgent defect rectification. She returned to Sydney, via American Samoa and Brisbane, on 30 July.

HMAS Success leaving Pearl Harbor for the sea phase of RIMPAC 2000.

She departed Sydney on 4 September for Asian waters and visited Hong Kong, Shanghai, Yokosuka, Tokyo, Kure and Guam and, conducted exercises with naval units from China and Japan. While en route from Guam to Townsville the ship conducted a patrol for Operation BIGEYE 2, a surveillance operation supporting the Federated States of Micronesia. She arrived back in Sydney on 4 November and remained alongside for the remainder of the year in a leave and maintenance period.

2001

Success returned to sea on 5 February though her full participation in the fleet exercise program was somewhat frustrated by persistent engine defects. That did not prevent her participation in Exercise OCEAN PROTECTOR at the end of the month but did force her withdrawal from Exercise TASMANEX in March.

HMAS Success in company with USS Essex, Exercise TANDEM THRUST 2001.

She departed Sydney once again for Asian waters on 27 March and went on to visit Manila, Hong Kong, Pusan and Okinawa. After departing Okinawa on 26 April she joined Task Group 76.4 consisting of US Ships Essex, Juneau and Germantown for passage to Brisbane ahead of participation in Exercise TANDEM THRUST in May. The multi-national, amphibious exercise TANDEM THRUST involved some 27,000 personnel from Australia, Canada and the USA, and was conducted off the coast of Queensland. Success’ involvement ended on 23 May and she went on to visit Melbourne at the end of the month. She returned to Sydney on 6 June and commenced a refit at the end of the month.

2002

The ship returned to sea for sea safety training and post-refit trials on 4 March 2002, and commenced work up exercises later in the month. She visited Melbourne and Hobart in April with members of the ship’s company participating in Anzac Day commemorations in various locations around Tasmania.

She departed Sydney at the end of May for South East Asian waters taking a southerly route across the Great Australian Bight to Western Australia. She went on to visit Jakarta and Phuket while providing logistic support to Australian ships engaged in Operations SLIPPER and RELEX. She made a brief visit to Darwin in July before continuing on to Cairns where she participated in a joint Army-Navy ship-shore fuel delivery trial. She arrived back in Sydney in 26 July.

HMAS Success receives a warm welcome, Jakarta 2002.

She departed Sydney on 18 August, once again for South East Asian waters, and participated in the Five Power Defence Arrangements Exercise STARDEX 02 off Singapore at the start of September. Upon the conclusion of STARDEX, Success went on to visit Singapore and Sattahip, where she conducted exercises with units of the Royal Thai Navy, before returning to Sydney on 5 October. A brief period alongside allowed the crew to address several minor defects that had plagued the ship since the conclusion of her refit.

Success visited Adelaide at the end of October to coincide with ‘Navy Fortnight’ events, which also saw her Sea King helicopter visit Mount Gambier, Naracoorte, Goolwa and Kingston. She continued on to Western Australia in November conducting exercises with other RAN ships as well as HMNZS Te Kaha. She arrived back in Sydney, via Melbourne, on 28 November and remained alongside for the rest of the year undergoing scheduled maintenance.

2003

The tanker returned to sea on 12 February and recommenced a routine program of exercises, training and maintenance including participation in Exercise TASMANEX later in February and a visit to Melbourne in March. She returned to the west in April to conduct border protection operations under the auspices of Operation RELEX and arrived back in Sydney, via Hobart, the following month where she set about rectifying a number of defects which had begun to limit the ship’s operational capability.

The line up for KAKADU VI 2003 included the following ships and submarines: HMAS Waller, FNS Floreal, HMAS Success, HMPNGS Tarangau, HMAS Warramunga, HMAS Arunta, HMAS Gawler, RSS Victory, RSS Vengeance.

She departed Sydney for Darwin on 13 July and participation in Exercise KAKADU in which some 2000 sailors and airmen from Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Papua New Guinea and France took part. Observers were also welcomed from India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand. Success’ participation in the exercise was, however, frustratingly curtailed by ongoing minor engine defects. The defects were rectified on 15 August and the ship was able to take part in Exercises CROCODILE and PACIFIC PROTECTOR, conducted off the Queensland coast, as scheduled at the end of August and into September. She visited Brisbane upon the conclusion of the exercises and returned to Sydney on 25 September. She remained alongside undergoing maintenance until mid-December when she returned to sea for a brief period of exercises before the Christmas break.

• HMAS Success (II) - Part 5