Sirius marks final birthday in service

The crew of HMAS Sirius celebrated her 15th birthday on September 16 while at anchor in the beautiful bay of Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia, during Indo-Pacific Endeavour 21.

CAPTION: Commanding Officer HMAS Sirius Commander Chris Doherty, left, Leading Seaman Esler Cartledge and Seaman Leroy O’Connor celebrate the ship’s 15th birthday. Story by Lieutenant Ryan Svensson.

This is her final birthday in service with the Navy as Sirius will be decommissioned on December 18.

In her 15 years of service, Sirius has sailed more than 469,000 nautical miles and conducted 750 replenishments at sea.

Commanding Officer Sirius Commander Chris Doherty, Leading Seaman Maritime Logistics – Chef Esler Cartledge and Seaman Boatswain’s Mate Leroy O’Connor presented a cake to the crew that Leading Seaman Cartledge spent two days creating.

Seaman O’Connor was impressed with the culinary creation.

“She [Leading Seaman Cartledge] clearly put a lot of effort into making the cake. It was visually spectacular and tasted even better than it looked,” Seaman O’Connor said.

As part of the birthday celebrations, teams competed in the Container Deck Olympics, which consisted of games of table tennis, Cornhole, giant Jenga and arm wrestling.

Competitors gave it their all, but the gold medal went to the team Senior Sailors, made up of Chief Petty Officer Gary Cooper, Petty Officer Anthony Harris, Petty Officer Walter Miller and Petty Officer Gary McIntosh.

“It was a good time with a lot of laughs, and obviously everyone likes to take home the championship title at the end of the day,” Chief Petty Officer Cooper said.

“With my table tennis skills and Harry’s Jenga expertise, the others just didn’t stand a chance,” he joked.

Sirius and her ship’s company will continue to uphold the ships motto of Serve and Provide until her final day of service.

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