Commander Luke Charles-Jones, the Executive Officer and second-in-command of HMAS ANZAC embraces ...

Commander Luke Charles-Jones, the Executive Officer and second-in-command of HMAS ANZAC embraces his mother Sue Charles-Jones from Victoria and wife Helen Charles-Jones (left) at a homecoming ceremony for HMAS ANZAC and HMAS Darwin at Victoria Quay, Fremantle, WA. Visible behind them are some of the 2,000 people who welcomed the ships back from the Persian Gulf and Iraq. HMAS ANZAC [III] left Australia for the 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.