[1] She was launched on 7 February 1970, sponsored by the wife of R. James Harvey, a Congressman and former mayor of Saginaw, Michigan, and commissioned into the United States Navy on 23 January 1971.

[1] In the early 1990s, the RAN initiated a procurement project to replace HMAS Jervis Bay with a dedicated training and helicopter support ship.

[5] The last-minute move was part of a sale blockage for fifteen surplus Newports to nine nations, and was caused by the United States Senate Committee on Armed Services in an attempt to pressure US President Bill Clinton on the perceived running-down of the USN's amphibious warfare capability, as well as the concerns of one Senator over human rights in Morocco (one of the other nations slated to acquire a Newport-class ship).

[7] Kanimbla and Manoora were docked at Forgacs Shipyard, Newcastle where they underwent conversion from tank landing ships to amphibious warfare transports.

[14] In April 1999, personnel from Kanimbla, Manoora, and Sydney bases assisted the New South Wales Department of Agriculture in containing an outbreak of Newcastle disease in Mangrove Mountain poultry farms.

[citation needed] On 2 December 2001, Kanmibla and the frigate Adelaide were deployed to the Persian Gulf as part of Operation Slipper, to enforce UN trade sanction against Iraq.

[20] During this deployment, which concluded on 14 June, she was involved in the 2003 invasion of Iraq, served as a command-and-control ship during operations in the northern waters of the Gulf, and helped deliver relief supplies to Baghdad.

[21] On 30 December 2004, Kanimbla sailed as part of Operation Sumatra Assist, the Australian contribution to relief efforts following the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami.

[22] On 2 April, a Sea King helicopter operating from Kanimbla crashed on the island of Nias, killing nine of the eleven personnel aboard; the single deadliest incident in the Australian Defence Force since 1996.

[25] At the start of November 2006, Kanimbla, Newcastle, and Success sailed to Fiji as part of Operation Quickstep, the ADF response to threats of a coup d'état by Fijian military forces.

[27] Of the ten Army personnel on board, seven were injured, one was killed, and the tenth was declared missing until his remains were found on 5 March 2007, trapped in the helicopter wreckage 3,000 metres (9,800 ft) below sea level.

[37] However, the predicted timeframe and cost of the repairs (18 months and over $35 million), and the successful acquisition of the British landing ship dock RFA Largs Bay (which entered RAN service at the end of 2011 as HMAS Choules) prompted the Australian government to announce plans on 18 August 2011 to decommission Kanimbla.

[40] However, the government chose not to go ahead with this, as it would cost $4 million each to prepare them for scuttling, and could provoke similar reactions to the contested sinking of the frigate HMAS Adelaide.

[41] Because the two vessels were originally owned by the United States and were sold to Australia, their disposal had to receive US government approval and comply with International Traffic in Arms Regulations.