page_title: Balikpapan-class landing craft heavy
section_title: Australian service
hierarchical_section_title: Balikpapan-class landing craft heavy / Operational history / Australian service
caption_attribution_description: English: The Royal Australian Navy Class Landing Craft Heavy (LCH) HMAS Betano departs Darwin headed for Timor-Leste, the next stop on Pacific Partnership 2011. Pacific Partnership 2011 is a five-month humanitarian assistance initiative that will make port visits to Tonga, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea, Timor-Leste and The Federated States of Micronesia.
context_page_description: The Balikpapan class is a ship class of eight heavy landing craft. All eight were originally laid down by Walkers Limited for the Australian Army in the early 1970s. A reorganisation of watercraft responsibilities in the Australian military meant the landing craft were to be operated by the Royal Australian Navy, with seven commissioned directly into RAN service during 1973 and 1974, and lead ship Balikpapan transferred from the army to the navy. During the leadup to the independence of Papua New Guinea in 1975, two of the vessels were transferred to the new Papua New Guinea Defence Force.
  During their careers, the Australian vessels have operated in support of Operation Navy Help Darwin in 1974–1975, Operation Bel Isi from 1997 to 2003, INTERFET operations in 1999 and 2000, and RAMSI operations from 2003.
  The six remaining RAN vessels were paid off in the 2010s: Balikpapan, Betano, and Wewak in 2012; Brunei, Labuan, and Tarakan in 2014. They are yet to be replaced in RAN service. As of 2013, the two PNGDF vessels were active, and in 2014, the former Labuan was transferred to Papua New Guinea as the training ship HMPNGS Lakekamu.
context_section_description: In January 1973, the Balikpapans in RAN service were formed together as the First Australian Landing Craft Squadron, based at HMAS Moreton in Brisbane. In November 1974, Salamaua and Buna were transferred to the fledgling Papua New Guinea Defence Force, along with five Attack-class patrol boats. Five of the remaining Australian LCHs were deployed in December 1974 following Cyclone Tracy as part of Operation Navy Help Darwin; HMAS Labuan was undergoing refits at the time.
  HMAS Labuan was assigned to the Royal Australian Navy Reserve in June 1979, and attached to the Brisbane Port Division. Three LCHs, Tarakan, Balikpapan, and Wewak were placed in reserve at NQEA in Cairns during August and September 1985. They were reactivated in 1988, 1990, and 2000, respectively. On entering service, Brunei and Betano initially supplemented the inshore hydrographic survey capabilities of the RAN until late 1988, when they were reassigned to the naval base HMAS Waterhen for use in diver training. During May and June 1984, Balikpapan completed a 5,400-nautical-mile (10,000 km; 6,200 mi) transit from Brisbane to Penang, transporting vehicles, equipment, and personnel to RAAF Butterworth; the longest ocean voyage undertaken by a vessel of this class.
  Between 1997 and 2003, the LCHs were used to support the Peace Monitoring Group (PMG) in Bougainville, under Operation Bel Isi. Ships deployed on this operation were involved in resupplying the PMG base in Loloho, transport of PMG personnel and humanitarian aid, and coastal patrols. From 1999 onwards, the Balikpapans were also tasked with supporting INTERFET operations in East Timor, particularly those relating to the Oecussi enclave. The increase in operational tempo was a major factor in the reactivation of Wewak in 2000. In 2003, the landing craft began supporting RAMSI operations in the Solomon Islands.
  On 11 December 2012, Wewak was decommissioned. Balikpapan and Betano were both decommissioned a day later, on 12 December. The other three Australian vessels were decommissioned on 20 November 2014.
caption: Betano leaving Darwin in 2011
exif: {"Image ImageWidth": "4288", "Image ImageLength": "2848", "Image BitsPerSample": "[8, 8, 8]", "Image PhotometricInterpretation": "2", "Image ImageDescription": "110613-N-ZF681-080 Darwin, Australia (June 13, 2011) The Royal Australian Navy Class Landing Craft Heavy (LCH) departs Darwin headed for Timor-Leste, the next stop on Pacific Partnership 2011. Pacific Partnership 2011 is a five-month humanitarian assistance initiative that will make port visits to Tonga, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea, Timor-Leste and The Federated States of Micronesia. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Christopher Farrington/Released)", "Image Make": "NIKON CORPORATION", "Image Model": "NIKON D300S", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image SamplesPerPixel": "3", "Image XResolution": "300", "Image YResolution": "300", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CS5 Macintosh", "Image DateTime": "2011:06:12 16:18:36", "Image Artist": "Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Christopher Farrington", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image Copyright": "", "Image ExifOffset": "940", "GPS GPSVersionID": "[2, 2, 0, 0]", "Image GPSInfo": "1656", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "1770", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "7906", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/4000", "EXIF FNumber": "14/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Manual", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "200", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2011:06:13 10:31:53", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2011:06:13 10:31:53", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "4", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "1495723/125000", "EXIF ApertureValue": "1485427/500000", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "3", "EXIF SubjectDistance": "4294967295", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Fine weather", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire", "EXIF FocalLength": "38", "EXIF SubSecTime": "75", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "75", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "75", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "2100", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1500", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "1624", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CVAPattern": "[0, 2, 0, 2, 0, 1, 1, 2]", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Manual Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Manual", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "57", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "None", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "0"}