HMAS Toowoomba of Royal Australian Navy and FS Guépratte of French Navy exercise in Gulf of Aden.

HMAS Toowoomba exercised with French Ship Guépratte in vicinity of the Gulf of Aden recently as part of the Australian warship’s support to Combined Task Force 150.

HMAS Toowoomba conducts manoeuvres with French Navy frigate FS Guépratte in the Arabian Sea (Picture source: Royal Australian Navy)

The CTF 150 mission is to stabilise the region, and disrupt weapon and narcotic smugglers supporting terrorism.

During the exercise, Toowoomba and Guépratte conducted ship handling training including Officer of the Watch manoeuvres and Replenishment At Sea (RAS) approaches.

Later in the afternoon, the two ships conducted a medium calibre gunnery firing to practice command and control as well as flex their gunnery skills and operations teams.

Both ships proved to be accurate and efficient with the ‘Killer Tomato’ target coming off second best.

Toowoomba proved that her award of the Otranto Shield in 2019 for the Fleet Unit that achieved the highest standard in gunnery was justly deserved.

Following the cordial and professional interaction, both ships detached to the strains of Midnight Oil being played from the French ship, whose Captain confessed a passion for it.

HMAS Toowoomba is currently deployed on Operation MANITOU in the Middle East.