Australian AOE Replenishment Ship HMAS Protector

[Hood]

In my university library I came across a pamphlet about the Australian shipbuilding industry and came across the following interesting plan for an AOE replenishment ship. HMAS Protector was cancelled in August 1973 after some work had begun. She would have been powered by four Rushton and Hornsby 12 AO M diesels for a speed of 20.6kts and carrying 9701 tons of stores, ammunition, diesel fuel, AVCAT, fresh water and food. 335 crewmen would have been carried and two Sea King sized helicopters, although interestingly the plan shows a Super Frelon on the deck aft. Was there ever a concrete plan to purchase Super Frelons for the RAN?

 

[Abraham Gubler]

Was there ever a concrete plan to purchase Super Frelons for the RAN?

The Super Frelon was a favoured bidder for the RAN's requirement for a Wessex replacement helicopter. In 1971-72 it looked like 15-20 Super Frelons with ASW equipment were going to be purchased. With the Sikorsky Sea King and Boeing Chinook also being considered. But in the end only 10 Westland Sea Kings were purchased because they were cheaper. The Super Frelon was preferred because it was bigger and more powerful. To win the sale R-R had to squeeze and extra 130 hp from each Gnome engine. The RAN had also wanted to buy the Lynx for the DDL and 15 more Sea Kings and the Air Force was going to buy more UH-1s, CH-47s and the AH-1G and there were going to be twice as many OH-58s built by licensee CAC at this time. But that was all cut by the new Whitlam Labor Government.

 

[The Skipper]

Are the dimensions & displacement, of H.M.A S. Protector, known?

 

[Hood]

Sadly I can't refer to the original booklet anymore (it was pulped a few years ago by the library...).

But scaling from the Super Frelon fuselage the overall length of the hull is circa 187m (613ft), which makes it about 30m longer than HMAS Success (Durance-class). Protector's cargo capacity was about 500 tons less though so displacement may have around 18,000 tons or slightly less fully loaded.

 

[TomS]

Janes Fighting Ships (1972-73) has the following:

• Displacement: 20,270 full load (officially revised)
• Dimensions (feet): 536.0 pp (between perpendiculars), 593.0 oa (overall) x 72.0 (beam)
  (Metric is 163.4m pp, 180.8m oa x 21.9 m)

Sorry for the poor image quality. Working from a cell phone image with bad lighting.

 

[The Skipper]

Thank you for this information, Hood & TomS.

 

[THO88]

TomS beat me too it, but attached is from Janes 1970-1971 although his numbers are more detailed due to the later date.

The fact Australia ended up acquiring the French Durance AOE, makes me think that somehow the Super Frelon was seriously considered as well.

 

[TomS]

TomS beat me too it, but attached is from Janes 1970-1971 although his numbers are more detailed due to the later date.

The fact Australia ended up acquiring the French Durance AOE, makes me think that somehow the Super Frelon was seriously considered as well.

Timings are weird, though. The possible Super Frelon acquisition was around 1971, when Protector was being planned as an Australian design. By the time the Durance (Success) was ordered in 1979, the Sea Kings were already in service.

 

[Volkodav]

I have something in one of my books on the RAN. As this has caught me a couple of days out from an interstate relocation I probably wont be able to dig them out.

 

[Hood]

The design posted by THO88 from Jane's 1970/71 is subtlety different to that in Jane's 1972/73 and is presumably the original design, which I haven't seen before so that is nice find.

 

[TomS]

The design posted by THO88 from Jane's 1970/71 is subtlety different to that in Jane's 1972/73 and is presumably the original design, which I haven't seen before so that is nice find.

The newer version adds a third set of kingposts, so that's a pretty significant change. That's what the extra 50-some feet of length bought.

 

[Hood]

The newer version adds a third set of kingposts, so that's a pretty significant change. That's what the extra 50-some feet of length bought.

Indeed, a quite useful expansion of its capability and certainly bringing it more in line with the AOEs then being designed in the early 1970s. Having only two kingposts seems an odd choice given the Tide-class HMAS Supply had three - although ironically HMAS Success only had two... so ultimately the RAN must have been satisfied with having four replenishment stations.

 

[Grey Havoc]

so ultimately the RAN must have been satisfied with having four replenishment stations.

Given the period that was in it, I would suspect that it was more that the Australian Department of the Treasury (and later the Department of Finance) was satisfied with just four replenishment stations...