HMAS Manoora (L 52)

HMAS Manoora during 2006
History
United States
Name	Fairfax County
Namesake	Fairfax County, Virginia
Ordered	15 July 1966
Builder	National Steel & Shipbuilding Company
Laid down	28 March 1970
Launched	19 December 1970
Commissioned	16 October 1971
Decommissioned	17 August 1994
Stricken	17 August 1994
Identification	LST-1193
Fate	Disposed of through the Security Assistance Program (SAP), 27 September 1994
Australia
Name	Manoora
Acquired	27 September 1994
Commissioned	25 November 1994
Decommissioned	27 May 2011
Homeport	Fleet Base East
Identification	L 52
Motto	"In War And Peace"
Honours and awards	Battle honours: Persian Gulf 2002 Plus six inherited battle honours
Fate	Sold for scrap, 20 May 2013
Badge
General characteristics as Manoora
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	450 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 4 × MK36 SRBOC launcher
Aircraft carried	4 × Blackhawk or 3 × Sea King

HMAS Manoora (L 52) 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 Fairfax County (LST-1193), the ship was decommissioned in 1994 and sold to the RAN.

Although commissioned into Australian service in that year, the vessel was heavily modified from her original design, and did not begin operations until the end of the decade. During her Australian career, Manoora saw wartime service during the War in Afghanistan, and non-combat service in the Solomon Islands and East Timor. In 2001, the ship was involved in the Tampa affair, a diplomatic incident involving a Norwegian cargo ship and a group of asylum seekers.

In late 2010, Manoora and sister ship Kanimbla were placed in an 'operational pause' after several problems were identified with the ships. In early 2011, it was announced that repairing Manoora was cost-prohibitive, and she was decommissioned on 27 May 2011. The ship was sold for breaking in 2013.