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The ''Canberra'' class is a ship class of two Landing Helicopter Dock (LHD) ships being built for the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). Planning to upgrade the navy's amphibious fleet began in 2000, based on Australian experiences leading the International Force for East Timor peacekeeping operation. In 2004, French company Direction des Constructions Navales (DCN) and Spanish company Navantia were invited to tender proposals, with DCN offering the ''Mistral''-class amphibious assault ship and Navantia proposing the "''Buque de Proyección Estratégica''" design (later commissioned as ''Juan Carlos I''). The Spanish design was selected in 2007, with Navantia responsible for construction of the ships from the keel to the flight deck, and BAE Systems Australia handling the fabrication of the superstructure and fitting out. Construction of the first ship, , commenced in late 2008, with the hull launched in early 2011, and sea trials in early 2014. ''Canberra'' was commissioned in November 2014. Work on the second vessel, , started in early 2010. ''Adelaide'' is predicted to enter service in 2016. They are the largest vessels ever operated by the RAN, with a displacement of . ==Planning and selection== Planning to replace the ''Kanimbla''-class landing platform amphibious ships and , and the heavy landing ship began as early as 2000, with the intention announced in the ''Defence 2000: Our Future Defence Force'' white paper.〔Borgu, ''Capability of First Resort?'', p. 1〕 The importance of amphibious warfare had been demonstrated during Australia's leadership of the International Force for East Timor peacekeeping operation: the difficulty in supporting an expeditionary force to one of Australia's nearest neighbours demonstrated the need for an improved amphibious sealift capability.〔〔 In November 2003, the Minister for Defence, Robert Hill, released a Defence Capability Review, which stated that two ships of at least displacement and capable of launching five to six helicopters simultaneously were being sought.〔 The acquisition was included under the procurement designation Project JP2048: although Phase 1 of JP2048 looked at a new type of landing craft for the ''Kanimbla'' class (the LCM2000), Phases 2 and 4 were to identify, then acquire the new amphibious warfare ships, and Phase 3 covered the design and construction of compatible landing craft (12 LCM-1E, ordered on 27 September 2011).〔Borgu, ''Capability of First Resort?'', p. 2〕〔Office of Stephen Smith MP, Minister for Defence, ''Projects of concern - Update''〕 The ships were originally to replace one of the ''Kanimbla''-class ships and ''Tobruk'', with the other ''Kanimbla''-class ship later replaced by a strategic sealift ship.〔 In January 2006, the Australian government announced the names for the planned ships: and .〔Department of Defence, ''Next generation of naval ships to reflect a rich history of service''〕 After the announcement, suggestions for alternate names were expressed in several venues. The Navy League of Australia proposed that ''Adelaide'' should instead be named ''Australia''; using the name of the nation and its capital for the RAN's two most powerful ships, as had been the case with the navy's two World War II-era County-class cruisers, while freeing the name up for the League's proposed fourth ''Hobart''-class destroyer.〔''Time to bring back the Pride'', in ''The Navy'', p. 2〕 Alternately, a member of the Australian Naval Institute opined that the ships should be named ''Gallipoli'' and ''Guadalcanal''; the first reflecting the landings at Gallipoli, one of the first amphibious operations of the modern era, the second recognising the amphibious campaign to recapture Guadalcanal and the efforts of the United States Navy and United States Marine Corps in aiding Australia during World War II.〔Garai, ''Lets give the LHDs some names with meaning'', pp. 33–4〕 A Request For Information and invitation for tenders was sent to two European shipbuilders in February 2004; French company Direction des Constructions Navales (DCN) and Spanish company Navantia.〔Borgu, ''Capability of First Resort?'', pp. 5–6〕 Shipbuilders from the United States were not included, as American amphibious warfare ships were too large for Australian requirements, and were either too personnel-intensive or could not operate the number of helicopters required.〔Borgu, ''Capability of First Resort?'', p. 5〕 DCN responded with an enlarged version of the ''Mistral''-class amphibious assault ship; greater displacement than the vessels active with the French Navy.〔Brown, ''Spanish designs are Australia's choice for warship programmes''〕 A design being built by Navantia for the Spanish Navy, the "''Buque de Proyección Estratégica''" (Strategic Projection Ship, later commissioned as ''Juan Carlos I'') was offered by the Spanish, partnering with Australian company Tenix Defence.〔 Although larger and with an increased troop, vehicle, and helicopter carrying capability compared to the ''Mistral''s, the Spanish ship was still under construction at the time of the offer, and was not due to enter service until late 2008.〔 On 20 June 2007, Minister for Defence Brendan Nelson announced that the A$3 billion contract to build the ''Canberra'' class had been awarded to Navantia and Tenix.〔''Amphibious Ships'', in ''Semaphore'', p. 1〕〔 Although an unproven design, the Spanish offer was closer to the RAN's requested requirements, and there were benefits from ordering the ''Canberra''s and the new ''Hobart''-class air warfare destroyers from the same company.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Canberra-class landing helicopter dock」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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