Sydney Harbour, Fleet Base East Garden Island. 12 July 2012.
See Google Earth 33°51'45.24" S 151°13'30.00" E

Pennant L100
Type Amphibious Warfare
Classification Landing Ship Dock (LSD)
Class Bay Class
Based Fleet Base East
Laid down 28 January 2002
Launched 18 July 2003
Builder Swan Hunter, Wallsend shipyard
Commissioned 13 December 2011
Displacement 16,190 tonnes
Length 176 metres
Beam 26.4 metres
Draught 5.8 metres
Aircraft
2 large helicopters
Main Machinery
Diesel-Electric propulsion systems with 2 azimuthing thrusters and bow thruster.
4 main diesel generating sets: 2 × Wärtsilä 8L26 engines (2,240 kW each), 2 × Wärtsilä 12V26 engines (3,360 kW each).
1 auxiliary Wärtsilä standby diesel generating set.
Dynamic positioning system.
Cargo Capability
356 troops (standard) up to 700 troops (overload)
32 Abrams tanks
150 light trucks
Two LCVP
LCM-8
Two mexeflotes (see starboard flank)

The ship is named after the late Chief Petty Officer Claude Choules. Like the ship, he spent the early part of his career in the Royal Navy


The hammerhead crane has been out of use since the mid-1990s.The NSW National Trust has nominated it in its National 2007 Heritage and Risk List, noting that similar cranes in Scotland have been given official national heritage protection. No decision has been made. Nine enormous stages have been erected underneath the cranes jib and counter jib to intercept any items dropped from the crane structure. Any potentially insecure or loose auxiliary articles have been removed.