"The capable air-land-sea amphibious asset joins her sister ship HMAS Canberra in service and marks the transformation of Navy capability. The LHDs are the next generation of Navy ships and are the first ships in a major fleet expansion," noted the government news report.

Commanding Officer of HMAS Adelaide, Captain Paul Mandziy, called the commissioning an historic day. "As the second of class, lessons learnt from HMAS Canberra, our sister ship, has sped up our introduction into service, but a lot of effort and energy was still required from my ship's company to get us prepared for today," Captain Mandziy said.

"Our work doesn't stop with commissioning [...] We will conduct further trials at sea [in 2016] before commencing our work-up cycle."

According to a RAN news release, HMAS Adelaide was designed with the shallowest possible draft and can deploy an embarked force of over 1,000 personnel and their equipment, landing ashore via landing craft or helicopters.

GE Marine reports that its LM2500 gas turbines power HMAS Adelaide.

GE Marine has been a longstanding supplier to the RAN, with a total of 30 LM2500 marine gas turbines on order or delivered. In addition to the LHDs, the RAN uses LM2500s for the Adelaide- and ANZAC-class frigate programs. Through a multi-year agreement, GE provides the Australian Defence Materiel Organisation’s Maritime Cross-Platform Systems Program Office with depot-level maintenance for these turbines, performed by Air New Zealand Gas Turbines. GE also will provide program management, on-site field service support, and warehousing and inventory management including spare parts and inventory replenishment throughout the life of the contract. The LM2500 also will power three new RAN Hobart-class Air Warfare Destroyers that are based on the design developed and used by Navantia of Spain for the Spanish Navy’s F100 frigate program.

GE Marine, headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of marine products, systems and services, including aeroderivative gas turbines ranging from 6,000 to 70,275 shaft horsepower/4.5 to 52 megawatts.