HMAS Adelaide

It looks like the guided missile frigate HMAS Adelaide will indeed be scuttled off Avoca Beach, north of Sydney in New South Wales, to create an artificial diving site.  Last March we posted about a court case brought by environmentalists which prevented the planned scuttling of the Australian wrship.  Now an independent tribunal has ruled that the scuttling can go ahead as long as the ship is thoroughly decontaminated.

Australian Warship to Create Artifical Reef Despite Contamination Fears

HMAS Adelaide was to have been scuttled in March, 1.5 kilometers off Avoca Beach north of Sydney in New South Wales, to create an artificial diving site.

The sinking was postponed when environmentalists took their case to an administrative appeals tribunal. They told the independent panel that toxic chemicals onboard the ship, including lead paint and wiring, would damage the environment.

The tribunal has now decided to allow the project to go ahead on the condition that potentially hazardous materials are removed before the former navy frigate is sent to the sea bed.

Five decommissioned warships have already been scuttled to create sites for divers around Australia.   When the Adelaide eventually goes the same way, it will be laden with explosives before it disappears into the Pacific Ocean.

HMAS Adelaide was taken out of service in 2008 and donated by the military to the New South Wales government.  The ship was deployed during the first Gulf war in the early 1990s and more recently during Australia’s peacekeeping operations in East Timor.