Operational history HMAS Toowoomba (FFH 156)

bow view of toowoomba during deployment meao in 2009

toowoomba began first deployment middle east area of operations (meao) part of operation slipper on 4 january 2007.

on 18 june 2008, frigate became first ran warship fire mu90 impact anti-submarine torpedo, after replaced american mark 46 anti-submarine torpedoes fitted.

in june 2009, toowoomba sailed fleet base west, western australia embark upon ship s second meao deployment. in september, frigate assigned combined task force 151 (ctf-151); toowoomba first australian warship work ctf-151, us-led, multinational force tasked protecting merchant vessels pirate attacks off coast of somalia. toowoomba assigned escort merchant shipping , conduct overt patrols in international recommended transit corridor (irtc), shipping lane extending gulf of aden towards somali basin , horn of africa, in support of united nations security council resolutions 1846 , 1851. frigate first operate counter-terrorism combined task force 150 (ctf-150) in arabian sea.

on 20 september 2009, toowoomba responded call assistance merchant vessel bbc portugal, , prevented act of high-seas piracy. japanese p-3 orion aircraft , naval helicopter german frigate bremen provided surveillance support while toowoomba closed in. boarding party toowoomba confiscated several weapons attackers, including rocket-propelled grenade launcher, 6 ak-47 assault rifles, , g3 assault rifle, before skiff directed leave irtc.

toowoomba returned fleet base west on 7 december 2009, having been relieved in meao hmas stuart. ship , company awarded certificate exceptional services rendered shipping , mankind international maritime organization in november 2009. deployment subject of australian pirate patrol, four-episode documentary series produced prospero productions, , first aired on national geographic channel on 18 october 2010.

in april 2013, toowoomba operated u.s. navy s carrier strike group 3 in south china sea.

in late march 2014, toowoomba pulled asylum seeker patrols , directed join hunt missing malaysia airlines flight mh370, allowing hmas success return port replenishment.

toowoomba docked in october 2015 undergo anti-ship missile defence (asmd) upgrade. upgrade include fitting of cea technologies ceafar , ceamount phased array radars on new masts, vampir ng infrared search , track system, , sharpeye navigational radar systems, along improvements operations room equipment , layout.