Navy's International Fleet Review Will Be Biggest Sydney Party Since 2000 Olympic Games

SYDNEY will welcome more than 40 warships into the harbour and Prince Harry as the city and the Royal Australian Navy celebrate the International Fleet Review.

On Friday, October 4 the entire city will come to a halt as a fleet of 40 warships from 20 different nations enter the harbour.

The current ship to carry the name Sydney, HMAS Sydney (IV), will lead the fleet through the heads.
In addition to the arrival of the ships, Imagination - the team behind the 2011 and 2012 New Year's eve events - will produce the Royal Australian Navy's International Fleet Review Spectacular on October 5.

The event, which is expected to be the biggest public display in Australia since the 2000 Olympics, will feature an extensive array of pyrotechnics, lights and projections that will light up the harbour and seven selected ships.

Heath Campanaro, director of Imagination and project manager, said the 30-minute event would utilise the decks of seven warships and vantage points around the harbour to simulate WWII in Sydney.

A spectacular fireworks show and mock war will light up the harbour.

"There will be 28 lighting positions in the city as well as seven warships on the harbour and we will have projections, a soundtrack and plenty of pyrotechnics," he said.

"The pyrotechnics are going to be the biggest thing of all and we have again asked Foti Fireworks to be involved because we have a great relationship with those guys."

Mr Campanaro said the Royal Australian Navy's International Fleet Review Spectacular would be unlike anything Sydney had ever experienced before.

"There are going to be so many layers happening at the same time when we put this on," he said.

Warships will be used to mount an amazing harbour light show.

"We are creating scenes that replicate WWII where we will feel like Sydney is under attack. We will have choppers flying over and sailors will be doing activities on deck. There will be lots of lighting, lots of action and the whole thing will be amazing."

* For more information on the International Fleet Review, visit: navy.gov.au/ifr

NNS Thunder Heads To Australia For International Fleet Review

Nigeria’s NNS Thunder has left the city of Calabar to represent Africa for the Royal Australian Navy’s International Fleet Review (IFR) slated for 3rd to the 11th of October this year in Sydney, Australia.

Joining about  Fifty other countries of the world including Russia and America and South Africa being the second African country to represent the continent, the international event is to be reviewed by the queen of England to mark the 200 years battle of Trafalgar.

The Flag officer Commanding Eastern Naval Command Rear Admiral Joe Aikhomu disclosed this at the Nigerian Port Authority NPA jetty in Calabar, Cross River State Capital been venue for the take-off point of the NNS thunder ship conveying forty officers and 140 ratings of Nigerian Navy participating.

According to the Rear Admiral the voyage to Sidney is a friendly and diplomatic expedition urging the crew to see the mission as a training program meant to enhance the Navy’s proficiency.

NNS THUNDER will be making outbound port calls at Luanda, Cape Town, Port Louis, Freemantle and Sydney and on the in-bound leg visit Melbourne, Albany, Port Des Galet, Durban, Walvis Bay and Pointe Noire.

The officers on board are expected to be back to the country within the next four to five months.

About International Fleet Review Sydney - 2013

In late 2011, the Chief of Navy (CN) - Vice Admiral Ray Griggs, AO, CSC, RAN extended an invitation to over 50 nations to send a warship and/or tall ship to participate in an International Fleet Review (IFR) to be held in Sydney from 3 - 11 October 2013. The Review is being held to commemorate the centenary of the first entry of the Royal Australian Navy's Fleet into Sydney.

On 4 October 1913 the flagship, HMAS Australia, led the new Australian Fleet Unit comprising HMA Ships Melbourne, Sydney, Encounter, Warrego, Parramatta and Yarra into Sydney Harbour for the first time to be greeted by thousands of cheering citizens lining the foreshore. This was a moment of great national pride and importance, one recognised as a key indicator of Australia's progress towards national maturity.

The IFR is a high profile international event and Navy's signature commemorative event for 2013. Planned in partnership with the NSW State Government and the City of Sydney, it is anticipated that approximately 40 warships and 20 tall ships will participate in this historic event. The RAN Sea Power Conference 2013 and Pacific 2013 International Maritime Congress and Exposition, are also scheduled to take place at Darling Harbour from 7 October 2013 to coincide with the IFR.


The current plan will see RAN and visiting warships rendezvousing in Jervis Bay, NSW on 1 October 2013 to conduct final preparations and briefings. The formal aspects of the IFR will commence with all tall ships entering Sydney Harbour on Thursday 3 October 2013 and all warships entering on Friday 4 October 2013 - exactly 100 years after the first RAN Fleet entry.

To mark this historic occasion, the Governor General of the Commonwealth of Australia, her Excellency, the Hon Ms Quentin Bryce, AC, CVO will welcome the Fleet from Bradley’s Head on 4 October, and officially review the fleet onboard HMAS Leeuwin on Saturday, 5 October, as part of the Ceremonial Fleet Review. The Review will include a moving line of seven RAN ships to further symbolise the 1913 entry. 

The day's events are also likely to feature formation fly-pasts by fixed and rotary wing aircraft, naval displays and demonstrations, naval gun salutes and naval band performances, and will culminate in a spectacular evening pyrotechnics and light show on the harbour.

Other activities being planned to occur during the week long celebrations, include a combined naval march through the Sydney CBD, ships open to the public, inter-navy sporting competitions, naval memorial and religious services, and a range of community and cultural events.

The tall ships will depart on Thursday 10 October 2013 followed by the fleet departing on Friday 11 October 2013 to participate in Exercise TRITON CENTENARY in the East Australian Exercise Areas (EAXA).

The IFR is planned to be similar in scale and public impact to that experienced during the RAN 75th Anniversary in 1986 and the Bicentennial Naval Salute in 1988.


The full program of IFR planned events can be found on our Events page.

International Fleet Review - Sydney Australia 3-11 October 2013

Don't Miss the Nation's Most Significant Commemorative Naval Event in the Past 100 Years

International Fleet Review - Sydney 2013