Australia's largest museum vessel, HMAS Vampire, is in safe hands with Thales

On 18 January, the Australian National Maritime Museum's Daring class destroyer, HMAS Vampire, journeyed from her home port at Darling Harbour, Sydney to Garden Island Defence Precinct where the Thales team have been carrying out a range of maintenance and conservation activities.

The last of Australia’s big heavy ships, the decommissioned HMAS Vampire, is Australia’s largest museum vessel; serving in the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) from 1959 to 1986 where she undertook a range of missions including acting as a RAN escort for Her Majesty’s Yacht (HMY) Britannia during the Queen’s Silver Jubilee tour of Australia.

In 1997, HMAS Vampire was transferred to the Australian National Maritime Museum, where she has been since – delighting maritime enthusiasts of all ages with the ability to board the vessel and explore the ship in-depth.

Australian National Maritime Museum CEO Daryl Karp said ‘Vampire’s place in our museum is important, partly because of the hundreds of intersecting stories associated with the vessel, which brings to life our maritime heritage.

‘Many of our Museum volunteers share history with the Vampire, including several ex-servicemen who served aboard on the sister ship, Voyager, as well as boilermakers, electricians and others with an historic connection to shipbuilding on Cockatoo Island.’

In order to keep HMAS Vampire safe, ‘stoically’ seaworthy, and looking her best – just like other vessels, regular maintenance is required. However, unlike other vessels, she wasn’t able to simply sail there, rather Vampire was manoeuvred in a delicate operation and towed in state, attended by three tugboats and a pilot vessel with the passage being managed by the Museum’s Fleet Team, the NSW Port Authority and Thales Australia. 

While in the Captain Cook Dry Dock, HMAS Vampire has had general repairs to the hull and superstructure, an underwater paint system has been applied and the ship's superstructure and decks have been painted. All in all, it’s estimated that the Above Water Systems team at GI have rendered about 13,000 labour hours.  

It has been a pleasure working with the team from the Australian National Maritime Museum on this important piece of Australia’s and the Royal Australian Navy’s history"

Max Kufner, VP Above Water Systems, Thales Australia.

If you’d like to read more about HMAS Vampire, head to the Australian National Maritime Museum’s press release, here.