Description
Title: HMAS Tobruk : Warship for Every Crisis
Author: Doolan, Ken
Condition: Mint
Edition: 1st Edition
Publication Date: 2007
ISBN: 0980282101
Cover: Soft Cover without Dust Jacket – 157 pages
Comments: The detailed history of HMAS Tobruk.
Extract from the Foreword by General Peter Gration, Chief of the Defence Force 1987-1993
“This book makes a fine contribution to understanding the genesis and operational record of this remarkable ship and the achievements of the men and women who have sailed in her…(the author) had given us an insight into important episodes in recent Australian military history, built around the central theme of an amphibious capability… and the whole is enlivened by numerous anecdotes and personal stories.”
HMAS Tobruk (L 50) is a Landing Ship Heavy (LSH) of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN), based on the design of the Round Table class of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary.
Laid down in February 1979, Tobruk was the first purpose-built amphibious vessel of the RAN, and was intended to provide the Australian Defence Force with a sealift capability. She was commissioned into the RAN in April 1981, but was afflicted by several engine and sewerage treatment plant problems during the early part of her career; the latter causing a death on board in 1981.
While the Government intended to retire her in the early 1990s, this did not go ahead, and Tobruk remains in service with the RAN as of 2011. It is planned that Tobruk will remain active until 2012, when she will be replaced by one of the Canberra class Landing Helicopter Docks.
