 HMAS Balikpapan in 2011
| |
| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Builders | Walkers Limited at Maryborough, Queensland |
| Operators | |
| Preceded by | LSM-1-class landing ship medium (RAN) |
| Built | 1971–1974 |
| In service | 1971–present |
| In commission | 1973–present |
| Completed | 8 |
| Active | 6 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Landing Craft Heavy |
| Displacement |
|
| Length | 44.5 m (146 ft) |
| Beam | 10.1 m (33 ft) |
| Draught | 2 m (6 ft 7 in) |
| Propulsion |
|
| Speed | 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph) |
| Range |
|
| Capacity | 180 tons of cargo: |
| Complement | 16 |
| Sensors and processing systems | Racal Decca Bridgemaster I-band navigational radar |
| Armament | two 12.7 mm (0.50 in) machine guns |
The Balikpapan class is a class of eight heavy landing craft. All eight were built by Walkers Limited for the Australian Army in the early 1970s. A reorganisation of watercraft responsibilities in the Australian military meant the landing craft were operated by the Royal Australian Navy (RAN), with seven commissioned directly into RAN service during 1973 and 1974, and lead ship Balikpapan transferred from the army to the navy. During the leadup to the independence of Papua New Guinea in 1975, two of the vessels (HMPNGS Salamaua and HMPNGS Buna) were transferred to the new Papua New Guinea Defence Force (PNGDF).
During their careers, the Australian vessels have operated in support of Operation Navy Help Darwin in 1974–1975, Operation Bel Isi from 1997 to 2003, INTERFET operations in 1999 and 2000, and RAMSI operations from 2003.
The six remaining RAN vessels were paid off in the 2010s: Balikpapan, Betano, and Wewak in 2012; Brunei, Labuan, and Tarakan in 2014. They are yet to be replaced in RAN service. In 2014, the former Labuan was transferred to Papua New Guinea as the training ship HMPNGS Lakekamu. Brunei and Tarakan were refitted and donated to the Philippine Navy in 2015, commissioning as Ivatan and Batak. Three additional units of the class - decommissioned units former HMAS Balikpapan, HMAS Wewak and HMAS Betano - were sold in 2016 to the Philippine Navy. The PNGDF decommissioned Salamaua in 2020 and Buna in 2021.