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: Timor: ISF troops landing on Timor beach 'Soldiers from the Australian Army walk from HMAS BALIKPAPAN during a beach landing in the Comoro district of Timor Leste' (May 2006) [Defence].
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: Australian troops landing in East Timor 2006, using HMAS Balikpapan
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "Photographer- LAC Rodney Welch.\r\n\r\nCaption:\r\nSoldiers from the  Australian Army walk from HMAS BALIKPAPAN during a beach landing in the  Comoro district of Timor Leste.\r\n\r\nDeep Caption:\r\nOperation Astute is the Australian Government's response to assist the Government of Timor Leste.  The Joint Task Force aims to stabilise the security situation, facilitate the evacuation of Australian and other approved foreign nationals and create a secure environment for the conduct of a successful dialogue to resolve the current crisis.\r\n\r\nApproximately 2000 Australian Defence Force personnel are now either on the ground, in transit, or directly supporting the Australian Defence Force Response to the situation in Dili.\r\n\r\nThe Operation includes components from the Royal Australian Navy, Australian Army and Royal Australian Air Force, working with other Australian Government agencies to assist the Government of Timor Leste to restore peace to the nation.", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "300", "Image YResolution": "300", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop 7.0", "Image DateTime": "2006:05:29 10:55:51", "Image Artist": "LAC Rodney Welch", "Image Copyright": "Commonwealth of Australia", "Image ExifOffset": "1196", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "1334", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "4241", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "3000", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2008"}