The ship, led by Deputy Chief of Staff of Naval Region 4 Senior Captain Nguyen Minh Lanh, departed Cam Ranh military port on February 23.
It is a new milestone, the longest voyage deployment of a VPN’s warship.
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Leaders of the Naval Region 4 Command see off the delegation aboard Ship 016-Quang Trung departing for Australia. |
The mission is to implement the Party and State’s guidelines and defense diplomacy directives from the Central Military Commission and the Ministry of National Defense. The ship’s participation in the Fleet Review and Exercise Kakadu 2026 aims to enhance maritime security coordination, strengthen mutual trust, and promote international naval cooperation for regional and global peace, stability, and development.
The voyage will also help strengthen the friendship and cooperation between the two militaries and navies, in line with the framework of the Vietnam - Australia comprehensive strategic partnership.
It is an opportunity for long-distance sea training, enhancement of command and coordination capabilities, combat readiness, and proficiency in operating weapons and technical equipment under extended maritime conditions. It also allows the crew to accumulate experience in participating in and organizing international multilateral events.
According to Lieutenant Commander Dang Van Do, Commanding Officer of Ship 016-Quang Trung, acknowledging the importance of the task, the long duration of the voyage, the continuous high-intensity operations and transit through sea areas they have never navigated before, the Vietnamese crew have made thorough preparations for the voyage to ensure the mission success.
In his capacity as Commanding Officer, Lt. Cdr. Do directly directed and comprehensively inspected preparations across all areas before the departure. In terms of staff work, the focus was on developing documents and operational plans for different maritime areas, especially unfamiliar waters. The crew was provided with supplementary training on navigation channels, meteorology and hydrology, observation and target identification, collision avoidance at sea, combat arrangements; regulations on security, safety, protection of military secrets, and rules governing all activities abroad.
Regarding logistics and technical support, the ship’s command has organized inspections of preservation, maintenance of technical equipment to ensure optimal performance. Spare equipment has been fully prepared to handle contingencies. Plans have been developed and sufficient reserves of food, fuel, fresh water and medical supplies have been loaded to sustain long-duration operations at sea.
In terms of Party and political work, the Party Committee of Ship 016-Quang Trung has issued a specialized leadership resolution and launched a high-level emulation campaign. All participating personnel have demonstrated firm political will and strong morale. Activities such as the equator-crossing ceremony, crew birthday celebrations, and commemorations of the International Women’s Day (March 8) and the founding anniversary of the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union (March 26) have been carefully planned and rehearsed.
Meanwhile, Colonel Alana Burkitt, Australian Defense Attaché to Vietnam, affirmed that the visit by Ship 016-Quang Trung signifies the strength of the comprehensive strategic partnership between Australia and Vietnam and demonstrates shared interests in strengthening defense relations. “The visit also demonstrates that Australia and Vietnam value experience sharing and skills exchange between our two navies and in the region. It shows we can work together to build people-to-people links and are committed to regional stability in the Indo-Pacific,” said Colonel Alana Burkitt.
The Australia defense attaché noted that the ship’s visit to Sydney is symbolic of the deepening bilateral defense relations established in 1998. She emphasized that this relationship has gone from strength to strength with annual high-level dialogues, training courses and skills exchange opportunities constantly evolving. The cooperation has broadened to the service level, including shooting exchanges, reciprocal ship visits and high-level visits, and the most recently official visit to Vietnam by Chief of the Royal Australian Navy Vice Admiral Mark Hammond in January 2026.
Since 2014, Australia has coordinated with the Vietnam Department of Peacekeeping Operations to expand programs covering logistics, engineering, force protection, medical exchanges and workshops on women, peace and security. Notably, Australia has deployed C-17 military transport aircraft to assist Vietnam in transporting personnel and equipment during seven deployments of the Level-2 Field Hospital to U.N. Mission in South Sudan.
Kakadu is a biennial multinational naval exercise hosted by Australia since 1993. In 2024, Ship 18 of Brigade 171 under Naval Region 2 participated in Exercise Kakadu 2024 in Darwin, Australia, becoming the first VPN’s ship to join the event.
According to the plan, in Australia, Ship 016-Quang Trung and the delegation will take part in activities of the Fleet Review and Exercise Kakadu 2026, including harbor-phase events, such as the exercise opening ceremony, navy chiefs’ meeting, planning conferences for sea phases, in-port training, sports and cultural exchanges, visits to local historical and cultural sites, and hosting receptions on board. In sea phase, the ship will engage in non-combat drills, including communications, formation maneuvering, replenishment at sea, formation maneuvering for aerial photography, search and rescue, and expert working groups at sea.
By Ngoc Hung
Translated by Mai Huong