sea trials began on 21 February. On 27 April, the frigate sailed to the east coast of Australia to continue trials, with further testing to occur at the United States Navy's Pacific Missile Range Facility, then during Exercise Talisman Sabre. Testing was completed by July 2011, and the rollout of the ASMD upgrade across the class was approved in November 2011. In October 2013, Perth participated in the International Fleet Review 2013 in Sydney. During February and March 2015, an MH-60R Seahawk Romeo helicopter from 725 Squadron RAN was embarked aboard Perth for at-sea trials of the new helicopter. In June 2016 Perth was deployed to the Middle East Region on Operation Manitou as part of the coalition taskforce to stop criminal activities such as piracy and drug trafficking. Perth was the Royal Australian Navy's 63rd ship rotation since 1991. In 2017 the Navy decided to place Perth in 'extended readiness' from December that year as it was unable to crew the vessel. From late 2018, Perth underwent the Anzac-class frigate Midlife Capability Assurance Program (AMCAP) upgrade at the Australian Marine Complex, Henderson, Western Australia. In 2019 it was reported that Perth would not re-enter service until 2021 as the Navy still did not have enough sailors to form a crew. The crew of were transferred to Perth in early 2021, and the ship was scheduled to begin sea trials following the upgrades in June that year. Citations References Books The chapter is available separately as Semaphore, Issue 19, 2006 in PDF and HTML formats. Journal articles News articles Press releases External links Anzac-class frigates of the Royal Australian Navy Naval ships of Australia 2004 ships Military Units in Western Australia