HMAS Choules at Fleet Base East Sydney Harbour, Australia in August 2014
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History | |
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Name | Largs Bay |
Namesake | Largs Bay |
Ordered | 18 December 2000 |
Builder | Swan Hunter, Wallsend, Tyne and Wear |
Laid down | 28 January 2002 |
Launched | 18 July 2003 |
In service | 28 November 2006 |
Out of service | April 2011 |
Identification |
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Fate | Decommissioned under SDSR, sold to Australia |
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Name | Choules |
Namesake | Chief Petty Officer Claude Choules |
Acquired | 6 April 2011 |
Commissioned | 13 December 2011 |
Homeport | Fleet Base East |
Identification |
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Motto | "Face Difficulty With Zeal" |
Status | Active as of 2022 |
Badge | ![]() |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | Bay-class landing ship dock |
Displacement |
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Length | 579.4 ft (176.6 m) |
Beam | 86.6 ft (26.4 m) |
Draught | 19 ft (5.8 m) |
Propulsion |
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Speed | 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph) |
Range | 8,000 nmi (15,000 km; 9,200 mi) at 15 kn (28 km/h; 17 mph) |
Boats & landing craft carried |
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Capacity |
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Troops | 356 standard or 700 overload |
Complement |
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Sensors and processing systems |
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Armament |
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Aircraft carried | Blackhawk and Seahawk helicopters frequently embarked;[1] flight deck can operate helicopters up to Chinook size |
Aviation facilities | No permanent hangar; temporary hangar can be fitted. |
HMAS Choules (L100) is a Bay-class landing ship that served with the Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA) from 2006 to 2011, before being purchased by the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). The vessel was built as RFA Largs Bay by Swan Hunter in Wallsend, Tyne and Wear. She was named after Largs Bay in Ayrshire, Scotland, and entered service in November 2006. During her career with the RFA, Largs Bay served as the British ship assigned to patrol the Falkland Islands in 2008, and delivered relief supplies following the 2010 Haiti earthquake.
At the end of 2010, Largs Bay was marked as one of the vessels to be removed from service under the Strategic Defence and Security Review. She was offered for sale, with the RAN announced as the successful bidder in April 2011. After modifications to make her more suited for Australian operating conditions, the vessel was commissioned in December 2011 as HMAS Choules, named after Royal Navy and Royal Australian Navy Chief Petty Officer Claude Choules. A propulsion transformer failure kept the ship out of service between July 2012 and April 2013.
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