Final voyage for HMAS Adelaide
Updated
The decommissioned HMAS Adelaide, escorted by tug boats, leaves Sydney Harbour on April 11, 2011, en route to Avoca Beach on the NSW central coast, where it will be sunk and used as an artificial reef. (User submitted: Peter Tonkes)
A decommissioned warship will be scuttled to create an artificial reef on the New South Wales central coast later this week.
Ex-HMAS Adelaide left Glebe Island wharf at 6.10am (AEST) this morning with three tugboats guiding it through Sydney Harbour.
The ship is due to arrive on the central coast today before being sunk off Avoca Beach on Wednesday.
The wreck is set to become a dive site but local activists are vehemently opposed, saying the ship's lead-based paint will damage the environment.
There are also concerns about the impact on marine life such as humpback whales.
"There's an Aboriginal whale caller who's now here, who's been out with us on the rocks," No Ship Action Group spokeswoman Michelle Meares said.
"We understand it's a breach of the law for the State Government to scuttle the vessel with explosives with humpbacks in the area.
"So we're hoping this senseless sea dumping can be stopped."
But Graham Harding from the Crown Lands Department says the operation has been carefully planned and there will be no single, large explosion.
"These charges will slowly cut their way through the plates of the ship and then the water will come in and it should sink to the bottom - 30 metres - in an upright position."
He says measures have also been taken to protect marine animals.
"We have got spotter aircraft in the sky today from National Parks.
"They are keeping an eye on any animals that might be in the vicinity."
The No Ships Action Group won an injunction against the scuttling a year ago, and then referred the matter to the New South Wales Ombudsman.
But Bruce Barbour says he won't be intervening.
Premier Barry O'Farrell has consistently supported the controlled sinking of HMAS Adelaide.
State Minister for Small Business Katrina Hodgkinson says the scuttling operation has passed several environmental tests.
"I've heard most recently the comparison between the HMAS Canberra and the Adelaide, the situation between those two ships is extremely different," Ms Hodgkinson said.
HMAS Adelaide served the Navy from 1980 to 2008 including a tour in the First Gulf War.
First posted
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