 On 1 September 2011 , the Australian Minister for Defence Materiel , Jason Clare , announced that the Sea Kings would be withdrawn from service in December 2011 ; having flown in excess of 60 @,@ 000 hours in operations in Australia and overseas in that time . The farewell flight was conducted on 15 December 2011 , three Sea Kings flew over Sydney Harbour and across to Canberra , passing Lake Burley Griffin and the Australian War Memorial before landing at Nowra . On 16 December 2011 , the Chief of Navy presided over the ceremonial decommissioning of 817 Squadron RAN at NAS Nowra . Five of the withdrawn helicopters have been made available for sale . The replacement for the Sea King is the MRH 90 . 
