HMAS ANZAC approaches Victoria Quay, Fremantle, WA, as sailors from HMAS Stirling stand on the ...

HMAS ANZAC approaches Victoria Quay, Fremantle, WA, as sailors from HMAS Stirling stand on the quayside, waiting to greet HMAS ANZAC and HMAS Darwin, as they return from a seven-month deployment in the Persian Gulf. HMAS Stirling, a shore based establishment, is Australia’s Fleet Base West. Located at Garden Island off Fremantle, it is the RAN’s largest base, and home base for HMAS ANZAC and HMAS Darwin. HMAS ANZAC [III] left Australia for the Persian Gulf on 28 October 2002, under Operation Slipper, Australia’s contribution to the international fight against terrorism, to participate in the Multinational Interception Force enforcing UN sanctions against Iraq. The ship was then assigned to Operation Bastille, the build-up of Australian forces against Iraq, in January 2003, and then to Operation Falconer, Australia’s contribution to the war on Iraq, in March 2003. During this deployment, the ANZAC became the first Navy ship to fire her guns in combat since the Vietnam war.