... but about as close as we see in this part of the world.

At the front we see one of Australia's newest warships, the Anzac class helicopter frigate HMAS Perth (FFH 157). If you look closely and start to think that you're seeing double, you're not; there is in fact a second Anzac class frigate moored directly alongside the Perth; HMAS Parramatta (FFH 154).

This says something about how Australian naval power has gone over the last 70 years or so; the first Perth was a cruiser. We no longer have cruisers. The second was a Charles F Adams class destroyer. We no longer exactly have destroyers, which is to say that we do have the upcoming Hobart class which are described as destroyers but they're in fact about the size of a large frigate. And the current Perth is, of course, a frigate.

Fortunately, the same fact says something about the current threat level that we face relative to 70 years ago as well.

Immediately behind we have the British air defence destroyer HMS Daring (D32) which was the subject of Tuesday's PAD.

And behind that is the USS Benfold, an Arleigh Burke class guided missile destroyer (DDG 65). Those with razor like eyes might notice the apparent absence of a hull number on the Benfold. She does in fact have one but it's in the newer low visibility grey paint that the U.S. Navy uses to reduce the IR visibility of its warships. (I notice that they don't currently use low visibility numbers on the island superstructures of their carriers. However if a missile targeting system can't see a CV then it probably uses the Mr Magoo targeting sensor package and low visibility paint isn't going to make a lot of difference anyway.)

I must confess to being a little surprised that the Royal Australian Navy persists with the high visibility white hull numbering system.