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HMAS Sirius

HMAS Sirius is an Australian Navy RAS (Replenishment At Sea) vessel. The conversion of the 'Delos' to HMAS Sirius as a replacement support ship for the HMAS Westralia involved major electrical and alarm refits. HMAS Sirius is presently the RAN's largest ship and will remain so until the Canberra Class amphibious command ships are built. She is a 25,016 tonne (full load) double-hulled former commercial tanker, MV Delos, built in South Korea and purchased for the RAN in June 2004. The ship underwent modifications for underway replenishment and had a flight deck added to her stern for helicopter operations.

The year 2006 saw the commissioning of the Navy's new support ship HMAS SIRIUS three years ahead of its original in service date, at one third the cost and six years after it was first proposed in the 2000 Defence White Paper. The WESTRALIA Replacement Project (SEA 1654 Ph2A) detailed in the 2001 Defence Capability Plan (DCP) sought to replace HMAS WESTRALIA when it reaches the end of its design life in 2009 with a purpose-built support ship. The estimated budget for the project was to be between $350m and $450m.

In November 2003 the Revised DCP significantly changed the nature and scope of the project. The WESTRALIA replacement was to be an already operating and environmentally sustainable ship of commercial origin, modified in Australia to meet the Navy's needs and provide the fleet with under way replenishment of fuel (diesel and aviation) and water. The budget was reduced to between $100m to $150m.

The revised WESTRALIA replacement project was required to achieve almost 80 per cent of the original requirements with less than 40 per cent of the original budget, in 50 per cent of the original timeframe. It represented a real challenge for the project office, which they were more than able to meet. The acquisition of the DELOS and its conversion into HMAS SIRIUS is the result of a successful, innovative and creative procurement project that is being monitored by other Navies.

The delivery of a capability to the Navy doesn't just happen by accident. The Project Office engaged a commercial Australian product tanker shipping operator and shipping agent to assist in identifying a suitable second-hand double hulled, oil tanker as the base ship for the WESTRALIA replacement.

The international commercial shipping market for second-hand, double hulled, oil tankers is particularly bullish. In this market, $50m double-hulled tankers were bought and sold within 2-3 days using shipbrokers, often located on opposite sides of the world. The Commonwealth engaged the service of such a broker to protect its identity and negotiating position. This strategy was successful and the DELOS , a brand new Lloyds Register classed vessel, was purchased from a Greek Ship owner within one week of the vessel completing builder's sea trials. Notably, following the purchase of the DELOS , the Commonwealth was contacted by commercial ship owners to see if it would consider selling the ship for millions of dollars more than it had paid for it.

The DELOS was selected from an original list of approximately 20-30 tankers, which was shortlisted to four. A small team including representatives from the project, the relevant International Association of Class Societies (IACS), the commercial ship operator and an independent adviser visited the four candidate vessels. These visits involved getting to the ships, which were on the move, and resulted in the team travelling around the world ( North America , Europe , and Asia ) in 2.5 weeks to inspect the four vessels.

In February 2005 Tenix Defence Pty (Tenix) was awarded the main contract for the MV DELOS conversion project. On 15 March 2005, following the tender evaluation, Government approval, tender negotiation and a systems design review, the Commonwealth signed a contract with Tenix for more than $60m for the conversion of the DELOS to HMAS SIRIUS. By pursuing an innovative, objective focussed strategy for acquisition, Defence acquired a modern, well-built, commercial double-hulled product tanker. It has also contracted an Australian shipbuilder with a successful track record in ship building activities for the conversion. In summary, a framework that if pursued in the current manner, is expected to be a recipe for success.

The entire work had to be completed and the ship had to be delivered within a stipulated time of one and half years. The time frame was very tight considering the design as well as construction that added about 500 tons of steel to the base ship. The timely completion of the project demanded innovative approaches and advanced planning to be adopted in the design as well as construction.

Tenix's credentials as a successful prime contractor were evident in the A$60 million project to convert the commercial auxiliary oil tanker Delos into an underway-refuelling ship. Tenix performed all the conversion work at the Australian Marine Complex's Common User Facility in Henderson, south of Perth. It was awarded the contract in February 2005. The ship was commissioned on 16 September 2006, nearly three years ahead of schedule and on budget.

Lieutenant General David Hurley described the project as 'one of [Defence's] most successful shipbuilding projects in 50 years'. Mr Kim Gillis, the DMO's project manager for HMAS Sirius, partly attributed this success to the contractual incentives that DMO offered. He told stated that: "We proposed a scheme that would indicate that if Tenix delivered four weeks ahead of schedule they would receive $1 million and if they delivered three weeks ahead of schedule the bonus was $750,000. So it was $250,000 a week. One of the reasons why we went through this task is that traditionally naval vessels, especially first of class, do have considerable blow-outs in time and there is a propensity to make lots of changes. With a time constraint, it meant that Tenix had no incentive to make changes to the vessel."

Defence placed importance on companies being able to meet its deadlines. In the case of Tenix and HMAS Sirius, the bonus scheme reflected the imperative of delivering on schedule. Apart from a decision to de-gas the vessel, Defence did not waiver from its original requirements. Mr Robert Salteri, CEO of Tenix Defence, noted: "The program has again demonstrated Tenix Defence’s capability to successfully modify an existing ship design to meet Navy’s needs within tight schedule and budget constraints. The successful completion of this complex project is a tribute to our outstanding workforce, and a positive and effective working relationship with our Customer, as well as a clear demonstration of what can be achieved with the facilities at Henderson."

Addition of the flight deck for helicopter landing with vertical replenishment was one of the required capabilities for the modification. Presence of oil tanks to the forward of superstructure of the base ship coupled with helicopter operational requirements strategically placed the flight deck at the transom. Consideration of various options converged to the extension of A-deck (the deck immediately above main deck) for the aviation purposes. Extension at A-deck level also facilitated easy transfer of vertical solid replenishment (VERTREP) using pallet trucks to the container deck that is also located at the same level. The structural design options concluded to have the A-deck extension cantilevered by girders supported at the transom of the ship. The upper deck (main deck) also had to be extended to accommodate the relocated panama chocks and emergency towing equipments. The cantilevered construction would be directly exposed to seawater and corresponding environmental loads. This unusual cantilevered extension presented a number of structural design challenges that pushed the design team to sail through unfathomed waters. The modifications were to be classified to Lloyd's Register. Extensive loads were considered from the environmental and operational requirements. Innovative truss structure approach for the flight deck resulted efficient and light structure at the same time placed Australian ship building technology at the forefront.

The purchase of HMAS SIRIUS Replenishment-At-Sea (RAS) Rig was another important component of the project. The objective was to minimise the complexity and cost of integration and to avoid increasing manning requirements through the addition of complex systems to the ship. The Rexroth Hydraudyne RAS system was selected. The RAS systems utilise the existing hydraulic power available on the DELOS. From September 2005 until the third quarter 2006 the physical production work for the DELOS modification work packages will be performed. The ship test and evaluation period and the SIRIUS' operational release will be undertaken later in 2006.

Conversion of a commercial tanker to naval replenishment vessel not only facilitated the procurement in a short period of time but also reduced the cost to almost half of the otherwise custom designed vessel.

HMAS Sirius decommissioned on 18 December 2021.