MV Sycamore is a training ship built to support the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) by Netherlands shipbuilders Damen Group. The vessel was built in Damen's shipyard in Haiphong, Vietnam and launched in 2016. The ship is operated for the RAN by Teekay Australia and entered service in 2017.
Sycamores design is based on that of the Damen OPV 2400 design for a 2,400-tonne offshore patrol vessel. The ship is 94m (308feet) long with a beam of 14.4m (47.2feet) and a draught of 3.9m (12.8feet). has a standard displacement of 2400t and 2935t at full load.[1] The ship is powered by two diesel engines driving two shafts.[1] The vessel has a designed top speed of 23knot, with an actual max speed of and a range of 5550nmi at .[1]
The RAN classes Sycamore as a "multi-role aircraft training vessel", and the ship is equipped with a hangar and a flight deck, allowing a single helicopter to land. Sycamore is the first ship to support the Australian Defence Force (ADF) designed from the outset to be able to operate unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). The vessel is fitted with the equipment necessary to operate Boeing Insitu ScanEagle fixed wing and Schiebel Camcopter S-100 rotary wing UAVs.[2] Sycamore is equipped with Terma Scanter radar with a DBHG stabilized antenna and Terma C-Flex for support of the training mission of the vessel.[3] She has a multi-use space, which can be configured to help cope with disasters. Sycamore will operate with two crews of 22 personnel who will maintain the vessel. The ship can accommodate up to 71 ADF personnel overnight.
A tender was submitted by the Australian government for the construction of an offshore patrol vessel. The Abbott government chose the Damen Group's proposal to build the vessel in Vietnam as they found that no Australian shipbuilder was capable of building the type of ship requested in the tender within the budget and time frame required. Sycamore was constructed at the 189 shipyard in Haiphong, Vietnam and laid down in 2014.[1] The vessel was launched on 30 August 2016.[1] The RAN does not own the vessel, it leases Sycamore from the Serco-owned firm DMS Maritime. The vessel has a civilian crew provided by Teekay Australia.[4] Military personnel provide the actual training aboard the vessel. While Sycamore is used primarily as an aviation training ship, the vessel is also used for familiarisation training for new RAN officers, mine warfare and diving support training as well as recovering training torpedoes and missiles and serving as a consort. Sycamore is the RAN's first dedicated training ship since was decommissioned in 1994.
Sycamore completed sea trials in April 2017.[5] She arrived at Sydney on 26 June that year. Sycamore entered service with the RAN on 4 August 2017.[1] In January 2020, Sycamore was deployed to the coast of Victoria in response to the bushfires in the region.[6]
In 2021 the RAN entered into negotiations with Damen to purchase a ship based on Sycamores design that could be used for humanitarian assistance in the Pacific. These negotiations ended in failure, and the RAN acquired a secondhand offshore supply vessel instead which entered service in 2022 as the ADV Reliant.[7]