BRP ''Batak'' (LC-299) is a ''Balikpapan''-class heavy

landing craft Landing craft are small and medium seagoing watercraft, such as boats and barges, used to convey a landing force (infantry and vehicles) from the sea to the shore during an amphibious assault. The term excludes landing ships, which are larger. Pr ...

operated by the

Philippine Navy The Philippine Navy (PN) ( tgl, Hukbong Dagat ng Pilipinas, , Sea Army of the Philippines) ( es, Armada de Filipinas, , Ejército del Mar de las Filipinas) is the naval warfare service branch of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. It has an e ...

. One of eight vessels built by

Walkers Limited Walkers Limited was an Australian engineering company, based in Maryborough, Queensland. It built ships and railway locomotives. The Walkers factory still produces railway locomotives and rolling stock as part of Downer Rail. History In ...

for the

Royal Australian Navy The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) is the principal naval force of the Australian Defence Force (ADF). The professional head of the RAN is Chief of Navy (CN) Vice Admiral Mark Hammond AM, RAN. CN is also jointly responsible to the Minister of ...

(RAN), the ship was commissioned into Australian service in 1973 as HMAS ''Tarakan'' (L 129) . During her RAN career, ''Tarakan'' (named after the Australian landing at Tarakan during World War II) was deployed post-

Cyclone Tracy Cyclone Tracy was a tropical cyclone that devastated the city of Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia, from 24 to 26 December 1974. The small, developing easterly storm had been observed passing clear of the city initially, but then turned t ...

as part of

Operation Navy Help Darwin Operation Navy Help Darwin was a disaster relief operation initiated by the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) following the destruction of Darwin, Northern Territory by Cyclone Tracy during the night of 24–25 December 1974. 13 ships, 11 aircraft, an ...

, undertook various

surveying Surveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, art, and science of determining the terrestrial two-dimensional or three-dimensional positions of points and the distances and angles between them. A land surveying professional is ca ...

operations, was placed in reserve between 1985 and 1988, relocated an overpopulation of ''

Tridacna gigas The giant clams are the members of the clam genus ''Tridacna'' that are the largest living bivalve mollusks. There are actually several species of "giant clams" in the genus ''Tridacna'', which are often misidentified for ''Tridacna gigas'', th ...

'' clams, was part of the

INTERFET The International Force East Timor (INTERFET) was a multinational non-United Nations peacemaking task force, organised and led by Australia in accordance with United Nations resolutions to address the humanitarian and security crisis that took ...

peacekeeping taskforce, and participated in a

Pacific Partnership Pacific Partnership is an annual deployment of forces from the Pacific Fleet of the United States Navy (USN), in cooperation with regional governments and military forces, along with humanitarian and non-government organizations. The deploymen ...

humanitarian deployment. ''Tarakan'' was decommissioned from Australian service in 2014. The ship was refurbished and donated to the Philippine Navy, commissioning as BRP ''Batak'' (AT-299) (named after the

ethnic group An ethnic group or an ethnicity is a grouping of people who identify with each other on the basis of shared attributes that distinguish them from other groups. Those attributes can include common sets of traditions, ancestry, language, history, ...

of the same name) in 2015. The hull number was changed to LC-299 in April 2016 as the Philippine Navy started using a new ship classification standard.

Design and construction

The eight-vessel ''Balikpapan'' class was ordered as a locally manufactured replacement for the

Australian Army The Australian Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of Australia, a part of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force. The Army is commanded by the Chief of Army (Austral ...

's LSM-1-class landing ship medium and

ALC 50 The Australian Landing Craft 50 or ALC 50 was a class of Landing Craft Utility operated by the Australian Army in the 1960s. History The two ALC 50s were built by Phoenix Shipyards in Devonport, Tasmania Devonport ( ; Palawa Kani: ''Tiagarr ...

landing craft. They are long, with a beam of , and a draught of .Wertheim (ed.), ''The Naval Institute Guide to Combat Fleets of the World'', p. 26 The

have a standard displacement of 316 tons, with a full load displacement of 503 tons. They were propelled by two G.M. Detroit 6–71 diesel motors, providing 675 brake horsepower to the two propeller shafts, allowing the vessels to reach . The standard ship's company is 17-strong. The ''Balikpapan''s are equipped with a Decca RM 916 navigational radar, and fitted with two machine guns for self-defence. The LCHs have a maximum payload of 180 tons; equivalent to 3

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tanks, 13 M113 armoured personnel carriers, 23 quarter-tonne trucks, or four

LARC-V LARC-V (Lighter, Amphibious Resupply, Cargo, 5 ton), is an aluminium-hulled amphibious cargo vehicle capable of transporting 5 tons. It was developed in the United States during the 1950s, and is used in a variety of auxiliary roles to this ...

amphibious cargo vehicles.Gillett, ''Australian and New Zealand Warships since 1946'', p. 79 As a troop transport, a ''Balikpapan''-class vessel can transport up to 400 soldiers between a larger amphibious ship and the shore, or embark 60 soldiers in six-berth caravans for longer voyages. The vessel's payload affects the range: at 175 tons of cargo, each vessel has a range of , which increases to with a 150-ton payload, and when unladen. The flat, box-like keel causes the ships to roll considerably in other-than-calm conditions, limiting their ability to make long voyages. The ship was laid down by

Maryborough, Queensland Maryborough ( ) is a city and a suburb in the Fraser Coast Region, Queensland, Australia. At the 2021 Census, Maryborough had a population of 15,287. Geography Maryborough is located on the Mary River in Queensland, Australia, approximate ...

on 12 December 1971, launched on 16 March 1972 and commissioned into the RAN as HMAS ''Tarakan'' on 15 June 1973.Swinden, ''Heavy Lifting for Four Decades'', p. 20

Operational history

Following the destruction of Darwin by

during the night of 24/25 December 1974, ''Tarakan'' was deployed as part of the relief effort;

.Sea Power Centre, ''Disaster Relief'' The ship sailed from Brisbane on 27 December, and arrived on 13 January. In 1978, the LCH performed hydrographic surveys of Port Clinton, Queensland.Swinden, ''Heavy Lifting for Four Decades'', p. 22 ''Tarakan'' was placed in reserve on 6 September 1985, one of three landing craft decommissioned for economic reasons. She was reactivated in 1988. From May 1992 to April 1993, ''Tarakan'' was used by the

Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park protects a large part of Australia's Great Barrier Reef from damaging activities. It is a vast multiple-use Marine Park which supports a wide range of uses, including commercial marine tourism, fishing, ports an ...

to relocate an overpopulation of ''

'' clams from

Orpheus Island Orpheus Island National Park is a national park on Orpheus Island, in North Queensland, Australia. The Aboriginal (possibly Nyawaygi) name for this island is Goolboddi Island. It is one of the Palm Islands group, northwest of Brisbane, as is ...

to Grub Reef.Swinden, ''Heavy Lifting for Four Decades'', p. 23 ''Tarakan'' was seconded to

Operation Beachcomber Operation or Operations may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * ''Operation'' (game), a battery-operated board game that challenges dexterity * Operation (music), a term used in musical set theory * ''Operations'' (magazine), Multi-Man ...

on several occasions between 1991 and 1995 for hydrographic duties. In November 1997, ''Tarakan'' and ''Labuan'' delivered humanitarian supplies to drought-stricken areas in northern Papua New Guinea. ''Tarakan'' was deployed to

East Timor East Timor (), also known as Timor-Leste (), officially the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, is an island country in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the exclave of Oecusse on the island's north-weste ...

as part of the Australian-led

peacekeeping taskforce during 1999 and 2000.Stevens, ''Strength Through Diversity'', p. 15 She was attached to INTERFET on two occasions; 30 October to 8 December 1999, and 13 January to 16 February 2000. Following an overhaul of the RAN

battle honour A battle honour is an award of a right by a government or sovereign to a military unit to emblazon the name of a battle or operation on its flags ("colours"), uniforms or other accessories where ornamentation is possible. In European military t ...

s system, concluded in March 2010, ''Tarakan'' was awarded the honour "East Timor 1999–2000" for these deployments. ''Tarakan'' and sister ship ''Balikpapan'' returned to East Timor in May 2006 as part of

Operation Astute Operation Astute was an Australian-led military deployment to East Timor to quell unrest and return stability in the 2006 East Timor crisis. It was headed by Brigadier Bill Sowry, and commenced on 25 May 2006 under the command of Brigadier Micha ...

. Tarakan also deployed numerous times in support of Operation Bel Isi II (Peace Monitoring Group on Bougainville) and Operation Anode (Regional Assistance Mission to the Solomon Islands). In 2010, ''Tarakan'' and ''Labuan'' participated in the

humanitarian deployment. During June and July 2012, ''Tarakan'' was used to move personnel and stores to remote communities to facilitate the 2012 Papua New Guinea election.Swinden, ''Heavy Lifting for Four Decades'', p. 24 HMAS Tarakan (L 129)

In October 2013, ''Tarakan'' participated in the

International Fleet Review 2013 The International Fleet Review 2013 was a review that took place on the week 3 to 11 October 2013, as part of the celebrations to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the entry of the first Royal Australian Navy fleet in Sydney Harbour, on 4 Octob ...

in Sydney. After participating in Exercise Croix Du Sud off New Caledonia, ''Labuan'' and ''Tarakan'' delivered humanitarian supplies to remote coastal settlements in the Solomon Islands in September 2014 as part of Australian support efforts in the region. L129 made an appearance in the movie The Thin Red Line.

Decommissioning

''Tarakan'', along with ''Labuan'' and ''Brunei'', were decommissioned on 20 November 2014. ''Tarakan'' and sister ship were selected for donation to the Philippine Navy in January 2015. The intention was to improve the Philippines' sealift capability, which was found lacking following

Typhoon Yolanda Typhoon Haiyan, known in the Philippines as Super Typhoon Yolanda, was one of the most powerful tropical cyclones ever recorded. On making landfall, Haiyan devastated portions of Southeast Asia, particularly the Philippines. It is one of the ...

in 2013. The two landing craft were refurbished and fitted with new navigation and safety equipment, at a total cost of A$4 million. Hand-over of the vessel was originally planned for 17 May 2015, but this did not occur. Instead, the Philippine Navy took possession of the vessels at on 23 July, with ''Tarakan'' commissioning into the Philippine Navy as BRP ''Batak'' (AT-299). The two landing craft sailed that day for the Philippines, with a formal christening ceremony to be held following their arrival in early August.

Gallery

File:BRP_Batak_Sinulog2019.jpg, BRP ''Batak'' at the Cebu Sinulog fluvial festival 2019

Citations

References

;Books * * * ;Journal articles * *

External links

Philippine Navy Official websiteNaming and Code Designation of PN Ships
{{DEFAULTSORT:Batak (AT-299) Balikpapan-class landing craft heavy of the Philippine Navy 1972 ships