Letter to the Editor: Campaign to save HMAS Anzac from being decommissioned by the navy

I don’t know if your readers are aware but the navy has decided to decommission and possibly scrap frigate HMAS Anzac but I am trying to organise a campaign to have the ship saved as a floating museum and be based at Albany.

I know the HMAS Anzac has had a long association with Albany and believe it would be a fitting resting place for the 28-year-old veteran of the navy, instead of being sunk as a dive wreck like the HMAS Perth.

It has been many years since the navy preserved a warship as a floating museum and I believe this is an ideal opportunity to preserve a vital piece of contemporary naval history.

But any attempt to do so must happen reasonably quickly before the navy starts cannibalising the ship for spare parts for other Anzac frigates and starts the process of seeking tenders for its demolition.

Hopefully my proposal finds some support in Albany.

Ongoing maintenance and upkeep should be funded by the Federal Government as it has allocated hundreds of millions of dollars to preserve mainly army history at the War Memorial in Canberra.

It needs to honour the service of the hundreds of officers and sailors that served, not just on HMAS Anzac, but on all the navy’s warships over the past 40 years.

It is time to save HMAS Anzac as a floating museum and there is no better place for it than Albany.

Tim Slater, Albany

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