The International Fleet Review – Planes, Helicopters, and Ships

The International Fleet Review being hosted in Sydney, Australia, is being held to commemorate the centenary of the first entry of the Royal Australian Navy’s Fleet into Sydney. It is to come to an end tomorrow, but in that time we have been greeted to a host of naval festivities around Sydney Harbour including plenty of cool Navy ships playing and strutting their stuff. On the weekend there was a great aerial display followed up the Royal Australian Navy going for a bit of a sail. From my vantage point West of the Sydney Harbour Bridge here is what I was able to shoot, though I wish I had an extra 100mm of focal range on my camera lens. As usual, all the images link through to my larger photos on my Flickr account.

First through the bridge were a couple of the smaller ships in the RAN fleet, the patrol boat HMAS Broome:

Followed by the minehunter HMAS Gascoyne:

Then the birds flew over! My boy, The Pok, got quite excited particularly when the large flock of helicopters flew past. I must admit, this was the largest number of helicopters that I have ever seen in the sky at one time. First were the jets, Hornets and Hawks flying formation:

Then the submarine hunters, the Orions:

Then the whirly-birds, of all shapes and sizes. There were Seahawks, Squirrels, and MRH90s:

The RAN’s big boys came through next, with the Guided Missile Frigates HMAS Sydney and HMAS Darwin. HMAS Darwin’s resident Seahawk chopper peeled off and landed on deck, but I was at the wrong vantage point to capture it landing.

With all this heavy naval metal, maritime security on the harbour was tight. I reckon that this police man on the jet ski has one of the most fun jobs in the world:

The ship that missed out on all the fun and games was the RAN ship – ADV Ocean Shield, got relegated to hiding in Blackwattle Bay. But with all of its capabilities, I reckon that this is the coolest ship of all of them.

Two days after all these games we got to go onto the ships that were docked at Garden Island, which was real fun. But that is for a later post.

 

The Naval Invasion of Sydney Commences

This weekend in Sydney is the International Fleet Review which celebrates the the centenary of the first entry of the Royal Australian Navy’s Fleet into Sydney. It kicked off yesterday in grand naval style by the tall ships entering Sydney Harbour. I missed the sight as I was glued to a desk and a computer screen, but the walk home across Darling Harbour offered me the opportunity to see the tall ships moored up next to the Sydney Maritime Museum. It is quite a beautiful sight seeing the rigging and sails gathered up around the booms while the boats peacefully rest in dock. I will be going to see some of the international naval ships on Monday and hopefully catch a glance of a few others around the Harbour on Saturday and Sunday. There will be a flyover on Saturday morning too of helicopters and jets, so the camera is going to get a bit of a workout this weekend.

So here is a taste of some maritime goodness. More to come…