The departure of the hull of the first of the Royal Australian Navy’s (RAN’s) new amphibious ships from Ferrol in northern Spain.


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Launched in Spain, in February 2011, the Landing Helicopter Dock (LHD) Canberra has been loaded on to the heavy lift ship the MV Blue Marlin for the voyage to Australia.

The MV Blue Marlin is a semi-submersible heavy lift ship designed to transport very large semi-submersible drilling rigs above the transport ship's deck. Blue Marlin is operated by the Dockwise group that provides specialty heavy marine transport services.

The Canberra class vessels are 230.8 metres long overall, with a maximum beam of 32 metres, and a maximum draught of 7.18 metres. At full load, "Canberra" will displace 27,851 tonnes, making the new LHDs the largest ships to serve in the RAN.

The ship is due to arrive in Victoria in November and will be fitted out by BAE Systems at the Melbourne Williamtown Shipyard before being accepted into service in 2014, followed by her sister ship "Adelaide" (LHD02) the year after.