HMAS Kanimbla (L 51)

HMAS Kanimbla in 2010
History
United States
Name	Saginaw
Namesake	City of Saginaw, Michigan
Builder	National Steel & Shipbuilding Company
Laid down	24 May 1969
Launched	7 February 1970
Sponsored by	Wife of R. James Harvey
Commissioned	23 January 1971
Decommissioned	28 June 1994
Homeport	Little Creek, Virginia
Identification	LST-1188
Fate	Transferred to the Royal Australian Navy in 1994
Australia
Name	Kanimbla
Namesake	Kanimbla Valley
Commissioned	29 August 1994
Decommissioned	25 November 2011
Homeport	Fleet Base East
Identification	L 51
Motto	"Cry Havoc"
Honours and awards	Battle honours: Persian Gulf 2001–03 Iraq 2003 plus five inherited honours Awards: Meritorious Unit Citation
Fate	Sold for scrap, 20 May 2013
Badge
General characteristics as Kanimbla
Class and type	Kanimbla-class landing platform amphibious
Displacement	8,534 tons
Length	159.2 m (522 ft 4 in)
Beam	21.2 m (69 ft 7 in)
Draught	5.3 m (17 ft 5 in)
Propulsion	6 × ALCO V16 diesel engines, 2,050 kW (2,750 hp) each driving two shafts (3 engines per shaft)
Speed	22 knots (41 km/h; 25 mph)
Range	14,000 nmi (26,000 km; 16,000 mi) at 14 knots (26 km/h; 16 mph)
Boats & landing craft carried	2 × LCM8 landing craft
Capacity	400 embarked forces, 955 m2 (10,280 sq ft) of usable tank deck space
Complement	23 naval officers, 2 army officers, 197 sailors, 18 soldiers
Armament	1 × 20 mm (0.8 in) Phalanx Mk 15 close–in weapon system 6 × 12.7 mm (0.5 in) machine guns
Aircraft carried	4 × Blackhawk or 3 × Sea King
Aviation facilities	Hangar for 4 helicopters, 3 landing spots

HMAS Kanimbla (L 51) was a Kanimbla-class landing platform amphibious ship operated by the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). Originally built for the United States Navy (USN) as the Newport-class tank landing ship USS Saginaw (LST-1188), the ship was decommissioned in 1994 and sold to the RAN.

After entering service with the RAN in 1999, Kanimbla participated in numerous worldwide deployments, including the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the response to the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami, and in response to the 2006 Fijian coup d'état. During the ship's career, two helicopters were lost in crashes. After a fire broke out aboard Kanimbla in late 2010, she and sister ship Manoora were removed from active service because of extensive problems found aboard both ships. The intention was to repair Kanimbla and return her to service by 2012, but this was deemed uneconomical. The ship was decommissioned in 2011, and sold for breaking in 2013.