Royal Australian Navy frigate HMAS Warramunga leads regional deployment

March 21, 2024

Tom Abke

The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) frigate HMAS Warramunga is conducting the nation’s first Indo-Pacific regional presence deployment of 2024.

The Anzac-class, long-range frigate can conduct air defense, surface and subsurface warfare, surveillance and reconnaissance, and interdiction missions. During the three-month deployment, which runs through April, the Warramunga’s 200 crew members and assets, including an MH-60R Seahawk helicopter, are participating in drills, cooperative operations and joint patrols with partner fleets, including those of India, Japan and the United States.

The Royal Australian Navy conducts exercises with the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force and the U.S. Navy in February 2024 during the frigate HMAS Warramunga’s deployment to the Indo-Pacific.
VIDEO CREDIT: PETTY OFFICER LEO BAUMGARTNER/ROYAL AUSTRALIAN NAVY

Intensive training began before the vessel departed its home port of Fleet Base East, Sydney, in late January, and continued as the crew navigated severe conditions in the wide bay off the nation’s southern coast known as the Great Australian Bight. Training included small-boat operations with the frigate’s two rigid-hull inflatables, helicopter operations, small-arms practice, engineering incident response and action station warfare.

“Regardless of the mission, whenever an Australian warship leaves Australian waters, it must be mission capable and ready for anything … and Warramunga certainly is,” Commander Jennifer Graham, the commanding officer, said in an Australian Defence Department news release.

The strategic importance of the Australian Defence Force’s regional deployments has grown in recent years amid security concerns such as territorial disputes in the South China Sea and the People’s Republic of China’s rapid military buildup, and the missions reflect the need to ensure freedom of navigation and overflight.

“Australia has maintained a robust program of international engagement with regional nations for decades and these routine deployments demonstrate our resolve for a peaceful, secure and prosperous Indo-Pacific,” Rear Adm. Chris Smith, commander of Australia’s fleet, said in a statement.

The Warramunga joined ships from the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) and the U.S. Navy for two trilateral exercises in February 2024, including a South China Sea transit with the U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyer USS John Finn and littoral combat ship USS Gabrielle Giffords, and the JMSDF destroyer JS Sazanami. In the second exercise, the Warramunga, the Sazanami and the USS Halsey, a guided-missile destroyer, enhanced interoperability and readiness among the navies.

“Indo-Pacific regional presence deployments not only demonstrate the Australian Defence Force’s ability to maintain a near continuous presence in the region, but they also help deepen partner relationships,” said Commodore Jonathan Ley, commander of the RAN’s Joint Force Maritime Component.

By enhancing tactical capabilities and strengthening cooperation, the exercises enable a security environment that “does not tolerate unilateral changes to the status quo by force,” JMSDF Commander Masayuki Ban, the Sazanami’s commanding officer, said in a news release.

The Warramunga then joined maritime assets from more than 50 countries for Exercise Milan, hosted by India in the Bay of Bengal in late February. The four-day sea phase included anti-submarine, anti-surface and anti-air warfare drills, as well as large-force maritime maneuvers.

“Exercise Milan is an important biennial training activity for the Indo-Pacific region and valuable for advancing Australia’s place as an Indian Ocean neighbor,” Ley said. “I am very grateful to the Indian Navy for the opportunity to again join the growing number of participants in 2024.”

Tom Abke is a FORUM correspondent reporting from Singapore.