Introducing HMAS Success

G'day all.  As the last quilts and laundry bags have been sent on their way to HMAS Toowoomba it is time for me to introduce you to our next crew, 

HMAS Success.

Side number OR 304

Motto :  STRIVE TO WIN

This time I have some help. I asked the Ship's Warrant Officer if she could describe the task that HMAS Success will be carrying out as this time it is a different task from that carried out by our previous ships, HMAS ANZAC, Toowoomba, Newcastle, Melbourne and Darwin. 

This is what she was kind enough to write for us.

"HMAS Success is an Auxiliary Oiler Replenishment currently in service with the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). With a Ships Company of 235 Officers and Sailors, her primary purpose is the underway replenishment of combat units with fuel, ammunition and food.

HMAS Success (II) based on the French 'Durance' Class Ship was built in Australia by Cockatoo Dockyard Pty Ltd at Sydney, New South Wales. She was launched from their slipway on 03 March 1984 by her launching Lady, Her Excellency Lady Stephen, wife of the then Governor General of Australia and commissioned into the Royal Australian Navy on 23 April 1986. She is the largest ship built in Australia for the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) and also the largest ever built in the port of Sydney.

Success is affectionately referred to as a “tanker”. She is 18,000 tonne fully loaded and just short of 160 metres in length. Contemporary maritime operations demand that naval combat units be supplied with fuel, ammunition, food and stores whilst underway at sea. This is Success’s role. Success conducts day and night Replenishment at Sea (RAS) to ships alongside her and concurrently by her embarked helicopter to other ships in company via Vertical Replenishment (VERTREP).

 Four main RAS stations are fitted, two of which have dual functions and can be used to transfer either fuel or solid cargo, such as food and stores. RAS operations are controlled from the Cargo Control Room amidships. During solid cargo transfer a traveller riding on a tension highline between Success and a fixed point in the receiving ship supports the load.

A RAS with HMAS Choules.

During fuel transfers, the highline is used to support a hose which hangs from several travelling saddles and which has a quick connecting probe to mate with the fuel receiving point in the ship being fuelled. The solid cargo transfer stations are designed to handle sizeable loads of up to nearly 2 tonnes. Success enables other units to operate with a greater degree of flexibility and independence from shore support to allow them to stay on station and continue with their mission. To complement our logistic capability Success has a medical centre that includes an operating theatre, infirmary and dental surgery.

The Ship's Company of 235 is required to operate and maintain the propulsion, replenishment, auxiliary machinery and support systems in Success. Providing underway replenishment support to the fleet is a challenging and continuing task requiring technical proficiency and high seamanship standards."

Both of these photos were taken off Hawaii in July/August this year.  HMAS Success is in the middle completing a RAS on both sides of the ship. 

In this picture the other vessels are 
Port (left) - USS Lake Champlain
Stbd (right) - HMCS Calgary 

And  in this photo the foreign vessels are 

Port (left) - USS Port Royal
Stbd (right) - USS Samson
Lifeguard station (astern) - HMCS Calgary

 As you know, Caroline and I were lucky enough to be invited to have morning tea with the Captain on HMAS Success a few weeks ago.  As of this week there is a new Captain on board who I hope to meet as I have been invited to farewell HMAS Success when they deploy later this year.  

I have already been working with the chaplain of HMAS Success, who I have also met in the past, to gather the requests from the crew.  As HMAS Success will be away for around 6 months or so we have a comfortable amount of time to get quilts and laundry bags to them.  We still have requests for people who will  be home from deployment well before the crew of Success makes it back to Aussie soil so I will wait another week or so before circulating HMAS Success Request List.  

There is already a buzz on board about Aussie Heroes and a lot of enthusiasm from the crew about receiving one of our quilts and/or laundry bags. 

The chaplain asked me to pass on his thanks so I thought I would give him a chance to sedn you a message himself. 

From Bish - the Chaplain

"I can't begin to tell you how much our people appreciate the thought behind Aussie Hero Quilts, and the sense that 'someone out there' is interested and cares. Perhaps the best thing I can do is to give you a few quotes from emails I have received - bearing in mind that all I asked for was colour, theme, rank, name PMKeyS and email:

Just got back off leave and saw your email about the quilts. I visited a friend who has just returned in HMAS Darwin, and saw her quilt. They are lovely and now I want one.

I knit scarfs to unwind and can appreciate the significant amount of effort that goes into producing a quilt. Thank you for providing us with this unique opportunity.

This sounds great! My mother is an avid quilter and I'm sure she'd love to see what the ladies can come up with! I understand and appreciate the amount of  work that goes into making quilts. (very detailed and labor intensive).

Please pass on my thanks.

Thankyou for the offer of providing a memento of a deployment trip. This will hold a treasured memory that will be sustained throughout my lifetime.

This is fantastic!! I would love to get on the list if able...

As you can see, our people jumped at the opportunity and will be very grateful and encouraged when they receive the quilts or laundry bags.

So thanks again, Jan-Maree and please pass on our gratitude to your wonderful team."

As usually we will be receiving the Newsletters from the ship as she progresses through her deployment and additionally there is a Facebook page that you can follow.  This link will take you to the correct page.

I am sure we will learn a lot more about HMAS Success once she deploys.  If you have any questions you would like to ask feel free to email and and I will do my best to have them answered.

Til next time....keep spreading the word and happy stitching!

Jan-Maree  xx