After more than 33 years of service, the ‘HMAS Success (II)’, the longest serving ship in the Royal Australian Navy, was decommissioned at Garden Island, Fleet Base East, Sydney on Saturday, 29 June 2019.
The ship was launched on 3 March 1984 by Lady Valerie Stephen, wife of the then Governor-General of Australia Sir Ninian Stephen and contractor sea trials were conducted in November and December 1985.
Contractor acceptance trials were conducted on 10 and 11 April 1986, and the ship was handed over to the Navy, at sea, on the 15th.
HMAS Success (II) commissioned into the RAN at Pyrmont on 23 April 1986 under the command of Captain James Longden, RAN.
It moved to Garden Island later in the month to make preparations for sea.
Over 430 Australian companies had supplied equipment, material or sub-contract services to VCD over the construction period. It was the last ship built at Cockatoo Island.
The ship arrived at Fleet Base East one on 16 June for the last time, after a four month deployment across South East Asia:
