List of recent Australian warship deployments to the Middle East

The Royal Australian Navy has deployed ships to the Middle East over 57 times since 1990. These ships have participated in the 1991 Gulf War, enforced sanctions against Iraq, taken part in the 2003 Invasion of Iraq and provided security for Iraq's oil exports. Since 2009 Australian ships have also been involved in counter piracy operations.[1]

HMAS Adelaide in the Persian Gulf in September 2004.

The dates provided are the dates the ship arrived and departed from the Middle East Area of Operations. Please see the Database of Royal Australian Navy Operations 1990–2005 for the dates the ships arrived and departed from Australia. Except where otherwise noted, all ships mainly operated in the Persian Gulf.

Deployments

Ship	Operation(s)	Arrived	Departed	Notes
Adelaide	Damask I	3 September 1990	3 December 1990	Gulf of Oman
Darwin	Damask I	3 September 1990	3 December 1990	Gulf of Oman
Success	Damask I/II	3 September 1990	25 January 1990
Sydney	Damask II	3 December 1990	26 March 1991
Brisbane	Damask II	3 December 1990	26 March 1991
Westralia	Damask II/III	25 January 1991	June 1991
Darwin	Damask III	13 June 1991	4 September 1991
Sydney	Damask IV	25 September 1991	31 January 1992	Red Sea
Darwin	Damask V	11 March 1992	16 July 1992	Red Sea
Canberra	Damask VI	13 November 1992	12 March 1993	Red Sea
Sydney	Damask VII	30 July 1993	9 November 1993	Red Sea
Melbourne	Damask VIII	7 May 1996	15 August 1996
Melbourne	Damask IX	30 May 1999	13 August 1999
Anzac	Damask X/Slipper	30 July 2001	November 2001
Sydney	Slipper	9 November 2001	23 February 2002
Adelaide	Slipper	2 December 2001	4 March 2002
Kanimbla	Slipper	2 December 2001	4 March 2002
Canberra	Slipper	14 March 2002	8 July 2002
Manoora	Slipper	28 February 2002	24 June 2002
Newcastle	Slipper	8 February 2002	24 June 2002
Melbourne	Slipper	24 June 2002	8 November 2002
Arunta	Slipper	8 July 2002	20 November 2002
Anzac	Slipper/Bastille/Falconer	8 November 2002	27 April 2003
Darwin	Slipper/Bastille/Falconer	10 November 2002	26 April 2003
Kanimbla	Bastille/Falconer	13 February 2003	14 June 2003
Sydney	Falconer/Catalyst	29 April 2003	2 August 2003
Manoora	Falconer	3 June 2003	16 June 2003	Returned equipment to Australia
Newcastle	Catalyst	5 August 2003	17 November 2003
Melbourne	Catalyst	27 October 2003	1 April 2004
Stuart	Catalyst	3 April 2004	13 August 2004
Adelaide	Catalyst	13 July 2004	12 January 2005
Darwin	Catalyst	12 January 2005	11 June 2005
Tobruk	Catalyst	May 2005?	16 May 2005	Transported the Al Muthanna Task Group's vehicles to Kuwait
Newcastle	Catalyst	14 June 2005	November 2005
Parramatta	Catalyst	November 2005	March 2006
Ballarat	Catalyst	March 2006	August 2006
Warramunga	Catalyst	July 2006	January 2007?
Tobruk[2]	Catalyst and Slipper	January 2007?	March 2007?	Transported military stores and equipment
Toowoomba[3]	Catalyst	January 2007	June 2007
Anzac[4]	Catalyst	June 2007?	December 2007[5]
Arunta[6]	Catalyst	December 2007	April 2008
Stuart[6]	Catalyst	April 2008	August 2008[7]
Parramatta[7]	Catalyst	August 2008	23 January 2009[8]
Warramunga[8]	Slipper	23 January 2009	June 2009	last ship assigned exclusively in the Persian Gulf
Toowoomba	Slipper	June 2009[9]	November 2009[9]	first ship to be assigned to anti-piracy, off Somalia
Stuart	Slipper	November 2009[9]	April 2010	anti-piracy
Parramatta	Slipper	April 2010	October 2010	anti-piracy
Melbourne	Slipper	October 2010	January 2011	anti-piracy
Stuart	Slipper	January 2011	June 2011	anti-piracy
Melbourne	Slipper	February 2012	July 2012	anti-piracy
Anzac	Slipper	July 2012	January 2013	anti-piracy/anti-terrorism
Toowoomba	Slipper	January 2013	April 2013	anti-piracy
Darwin	Slipper/Manitou	February 2014	August 2014	anti-piracy – last warlike/Slipper deployment

Notes

1. McPhedran, Ian (29 May 2009). "Navy warship and RAAF spy planes join fight against Somali pirates". The Daily Telegraph. Sydney. p. 11. ISSN 1836-0203. Archived from the original on 6 January 2016.
2. Brooke, Michael (5 April 2007). "Tobruk spirit". Navy News. Archived from the original on 13 September 2007. Retrieved 12 August 2008.
3. Australian Department of Defence media release HMAS Toowoomba welcomed home. 2 July 2007. Retrieved 2 July 2007
4. Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Defence media release. HMAS Anzac Departs for Persian Gulf Archived 9 June 2007 at the Wayback Machine. 1 June 2007. Retrieved 2 June 2007
5. Australian Department of Defence media release HMAS Anzac returns to HMAS Stirling from the Persian Gulf. 5 December 2007. Retrieved 27 December 2007.
6. "Mission Accomplished – HMAS Arunta Heads Home" (Press release). Australian Department of Defence. 23 April 2008. Retrieved 23 April 2008.
7. "HMAS Stuart welcomed home" (Press release). Minister for Defence. 30 September 2008. Archived from the original on 19 October 2008. Retrieved 30 September 2008.
8. "HMAS Warramunga begins operations in Persian Gulf" (Press release). Department of Defence. 23 January 2009. Retrieved 27 January 2009.
9. "MEAO Maritime Security Operations & Tactical Air Operations". Australian & NZ Defender. Brisbane: Fullbore Magazines (68): 18. ISSN 1322-039X.

References

• Vanessa Bendle (Principal author), David Griffin, Peter Laurence, Richard McMillan, Brett Mitchell, Greg Nash, John Perryman, David Stevens, Nial Wheate Database of Royal Australian Navy Operations 1990–2005. Seapower Centre – Australia.
• Greg Nash and David Stevens (2006) Australia's Navy in the Gulf. From Countenance to Catalyst, 1941–2006. Topmill, Sydney.