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The Royal Australian Navy has celebrated its 125 year anniversary with the 2026 Exercise Kakadu Fleet Review in Sydney Harbour.
Canberra-class landing helicopter dock HMAS Canberra led the largest gathering of foreign warships in Sydney Harbour in more than a decade. Warships from more than 19 nations conducted a ceremonial entry into Sydney Harbour. The review marks 125 years of the Australian Navy’s service to the nation.
“HMAS Canberra is one of the biggest ships the Royal Australian Navy has ever owned and operated and we have a number of people with many years of experience to (guide the ship into Sydney Harbour)… Coming to Sydney Harbour is a special privilege for everyone,” according to HMAS Canberra commanding officer, Captain David McPherson.
“First of all, you see the initial (approach) coming down the Western Channel, and then if you get closer towards Bradley’s Head (headland)… you see the Sydney Opera House, you see the Harbour Bridge, and then you see Kirribilli. If that’s not an iconic statement in about two and a half minutes, I don't know what is. It’s what sets the scene for Australia as we come alongside.
“It’ll certainly be an emotional point, because it’s a combination of hard work. What I’ve seen happen in the background via the amount of individuals preparing for it, and then they're going to go and execute it.
“The fleet entry, which you'll see, is just one part. We're getting support from both the other services as well and celebrating a significant event on Sydney Harbour.”
The Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia, Her Excellency the Hon Sam Mostyn AC, was joined by the Deputy Prime Minister, Richard Marles, Chief of the Defence Force Admiral David Johnston AC RAN, and the Chief of Navy, Vice Admiral Mark Hammond AO RAN, to conduct a ceremonial review of the Australian and international ships.
The fleet review naval tradition occurs when a reviewing officer on board a reviewing ship, such as HMAS Leeuwin, inspects the massed ships of the navy, typically when the battle fleet was mobilised for war. All ships receive a ceremonial salute during the route.
“(This is) the biggest review in Sydney Harbour in more than a decade. In addition to Australia, there are 18 other partner nations who have vessels in Sydney Harbour,” according to comments made by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence, Richard Marles, speaking to a press conference on HMAS Canberra in Sydney on March 21.
“This is all part of Exercise Kakadu, a biennial exercise that is the major maritime exercise that the Royal Australian Navy does, but when it happens, it is the biggest maritime exercise in the southern hemisphere.
“This year’s edition of Exercise Kakadu will encompass everywhere from Jervis Bay right through to Darwin, so it is the largest geographic area over which this exercise will ever have occurred.
“There will be 6,000 serving men and women who will be participating in the exercise, so it is a major exercise which is occurring for the Royal Australian Navy and as I said, it is a fundamentally important event in terms of exercising our Navy, exercising our Defence Force and making sure that we are at the very peak of readiness.
“In terms of the countries who are here, we have all of our Five Eyes partners; the United States, the UK, Canada, New Zealand. Japan is here… we have Mogami class vessel which is really exciting given that is the same class of vessel we will now be acquiring from Japan, from Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, to be our new General Purpose Frigate. We have India here, we have countries from Southeast Asia; Indonesia, Philippines, Singapore. For the first time, we have a ship from Vietnam.
“And this is also the biggest congregation of Guardian Class Patrol vessels, indeed any form of patrol vessels from the countries of the Pacific here in Sydney Harbour. And so we are very excited about that as well… This Fleet Review marks the 125th anniversary of naval service for Australia and we are very excited to be a part of that.”
