HMAS Sirius is a commercial tanker purchased by the Royal Australian Navy and converted into a fleet replenishment vessel to replace. She is named in honor of of the First Fleet. Launched in South Korea on 2004, and converted in Western Australia, Sirius was commissioned in 2006; three years before a purpose-built vessel would have been built, and at half the cost. The tanker is expected to remain in service until the 2020s.
Construction and acquisition
Delos was built at Hyundai Mipo Dockyard in South Korea. Another five ships were built to the same design, all for civilian service. She was launched on 12 April 2004, and was purchased by the Australian Government on 3 June 2004 and handed over from Hyundai on 16 June 2004, with the intention of modifying her as a replacement for. Delos was leased to Teekay Shipping for operation as an commercial oil tanker until September 2005, then was taken up by Tenix Defence for conversion into a replenishment vessel, which was completed 5 weeks ahead of schedule. Sirius was commissioned into the RAN on 16 September 2006, in a ceremony that included Westralias decommissioning. While HMAS Sirius is the first ship of this name to serve as part of the RAN, she is named after, the flagship of the First Fleet of British convicts sent to Australia in 1788. Sirius has a full load displacement of 46,775 tonnes, is in length, with a beam of and a draught of. Propulsion machinery consists of a single propeller shaft driven by a single Hyundai B&W 6S 50MC diesel, supplemented by a bow thruster. Top speed is, and the ship has a range of at. Sirius can carry up to of fuel, including of helicopter aviation fuel, plus 240 tonnes of dry stores carried in a container deck designed for twelve intermodal containers. Modifications by Tenix included the fitting of two replenishment points, installation of a helicopter deck aft of the superstructure, fitting of the container deck, addition of two 70-man lifeboats and two RHIBs, and modification of the internal layout and equipment to bring it to naval standards. Sirius is armed with five 12.7 mm machine guns for self-defence. The ship's company includes 8 officers and 46 sailors. Originally, the RAN planned to have a ship specially constructed for the role. The decision to instead purchase an under-construction civilian tanker and modify her for military service allowed Sirius to enter service three years before originally planned, at half the acquisition project's planned cost.
Operational history
On the morning of13 March 2009, Sirius was one of seventeen warships involved in a ceremonial fleet entry and fleet review in Sydney Harbour, the largest collection of RAN ships since the Australian Bicentenary in 1988. Sirius did not participate in the fleet entry, but was anchored in the harbour for the review. In 2010, Sirius was approved to carry and deploy boarding parties. This capability was tested during Exercise Kakadu 10, along with the ship's first ever dual replenishment. Sirius was forced to turn back en route to the RIMPAC 2010 exercise in Hawaii due to problems with her engine, and did not participate in the exercise as a result. The tanker completed a six-month maintenance period in Sydney on 16 September 2014; she spent five months of this period out of the water in the Captain Cook Graving Dock.
End of service
Sirius was originally expected to remain in service for approximately 15 years. In 2012, the ship was predicted to remain in service until the early 2020s. The 2013 Defence White Paper stated that the replacement of Sirius and would be brought forward. As well as building replacement vessels, leasing existing vessels was also to be considered. In June 2014, the Minister for Defence announced that two companies had been invited to a restricted tender competition. Spanish shipbuilder Navantia is offering the design, while South Korea's DSME is proposing the downsized Aegir variant of the Tide-class tanker. The 20,000+ tonne ships will be built overseas, as they will be too large to build in Australian shipyards. Australia considered the design for their replacement tankers, with Navantia competing against the Aegir variant of the Tide-class tanker built by South Korea's DSME in a restricted tender competition. Navantia's proposal based on Cantabria was announced as the successful design in the Australian tender in March 2016, with an expected in service date for the first of two Supply-class replenishment oilers late 2020. The effects of COVID-19 on the Spanish workforce has delayed the delivery of the first vessel and may extend the period of service into late 2021.
