The ABC reports that the gargantuan HMAS Canberra has been launched and christened in Ferrol (spain).
Wikipedia has all the details on what these beasts can carry and do when it enters service in 2014.
Pictured is the first ship built to this design, the Juan Carlos I.
You might note that despite Admiral Crane’s protestations, that it’s not an aircraft carrier, the Juan Carlos I does indeed carry fast jets.
It’s a big day for Australia, and it’s bearing our name.
[Photo courtesy Military-Today]
UPDATE: The glorious magic of YouTube has provided video of the launch, taken by raulvmwx:
And here’s the view from the other side thanks to Baldmir78:
UPDATE: The Defence media release indicates a bottle of Canberra region wine was used for the christening.
ANOTHER UPDATE: Apparently it was a bottle of Lerida Estate according to NineMSN.
One Last Update For The Road: The RAN’s official video has gone up a week late:
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troll-sniffer said :
The only JSF that could use this is the F-35B (the ‘Short Take Off & Vertical Landing’ version), which only the US Marines are buying. Last I heard we’re forking out for the ‘normal’ F-35A. If the damned thing even gets finished…
LSWCHP said :
Actually I think you have described the Captain precisely.
Spoke with a guy who worked on drones somewhere sandy. Made it sound kinda like fun, but I got he feeling it dehumanized the dropping of bombs somewhat.
p1 said :
I wonder if Captain RAAF would agree. The whole UAV gig is likely to put dashing aviators out of business, replacing them with blokes sitting in lounge chairs in dark rooms munching chips, sucking coke and twiddling controllers. Much like a lot of the geeks I work with….:-)
troll-sniffer said :
Good fit for the JSF???????????????
Huh???
This thing will never see a JSF on it, unless one crashes into it doing a fly-by!
There are some good photos of the next HMAS Canberra on the RAN’s flickr page too.
Two previous Australian ships have carried the name Canberra;
HMAS Canberra (D33) a heavy cruiser (1928-1942); and
HMAS Canberra (FFG 02) a guided missile frigate (1981-2005).
johnboy said :
Won’t we need the NBN for that, you know, to achieve the high speed communication required to outsource to an Indian UAV pilot centre.
johnboy said :
Such a plan has it’s merits.
A complete guess with no inside knowledge is that the navy would be smart to go straight to UAV operations and skip the messy pilot business.
Sure it wasn’t an Italian or French warship, given that its training is obviously starting with how to go backwards?
Anyway it seems to be a good fit for the JSF, with that sloping deck a la Harrier launching style. The pundits poo pooing the JSF and the retirement of the F111s may well look back from 2030 as fondly as we look back at the decision to go with the F111s.
Fiji!
Awesome,
now all we need is somewhere to invade.