AUSTRALIA DONATES FORMER LANDING CRAFT TO PNGDF NAVY
Lakekamu was formerly the Royal Australia Navy Landing Craft Heavy HMAS Labuan, which was decommissioned from Australian service at a ceremony in Cairns last month. Following its decommissioning, the vessel was sailed to Port Moresby by a combined Royal Australian Navy and Papua New Guinea Defence Force crew.
The gifting of HMAS Labuan fulfilled a commitment made by the Australian government to Papua New Guinea last year.
Lakekamu has been gifted to Papua New Guinea as a training vessel, and will be used by the Papua New Guinea Defence Force to develop mariner skills and a seaworthiness culture in the Maritime Element’s growing workforce.
Rear Admiral Mark Purcell represented the Australian Defence Force and Royal Australian Navy at the ceremony in Papua New Guinea and said that the gifting represented an increase in the ability to train the Papua New Guinea Defence Force Maritime Element.
"It is very important in their period of regrowth and will build on a Landing Craft Heavy capability 40 years in the making and complement the Pacific Patrol Boat program," he said.
"I am particularly pleased that a former Australian vessel that has spent so much time in Papua New Guinea can continue in her service. As HMAS Labuan, the vessel was a frequent visitor to these waters."
As HMAS Labuan, the vessel had visited the Papua New Guinea on several occasions, including during her first operational voyage in 1973. Labuan carried relief supplies to Papua New Guinea communities affected by droughts in 1997.
Lakekamu has been named after the Lakekamu River, in Gulf Province, south-western Papua New Guinea, and is the first vessel to bear that name.
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