A familiar sight for all MIO ships, Iraq's Mina al Bakr (MABOT) oil terminal is the largest in ...

A familiar sight for all MIO ships, Iraq's Mina al Bakr (MABOT) oil terminal is the largest in the world, capable of filling tankers with 2 million barrels of export oil. As in previous conflicts with Iraq, there existed at the time of HMAS Anzac's first deployment a fear the Iraqi military would sabotage and detonate the terminals, causing a massive environmental disaster and forcing coalition ships to abandon the assault on the nearby Al Faw Peninsula. One of a series of photographs taken by Commander Stuart Wheeler RAN, Supply Officer of HMAS Anzac. Under the command of Captain Peter Lockwood CSC, RAN, HMAS Anzac departed HMAS Stirling on October 28 2002, and was deployed in the Persian Gulf for 210 days as part of Operation Slipper and Falconer. During the deployment, the ship became the first Australian warship since the Vietnam War to fire her guns in combat. On March 21 2003, the ship fired her 5 inch gun in direct support of the British-led Royal Marine 40 Commando assault on the Al Faw Peninsula in southern Iraq. HMAS Anzac conducted seven naval gun fire support missions in total and in November 2003, the crew of Anzac was awarded a Meritorious Unit Citation for their contribution to the Operation.