Two brothers from navy and army aboard same ship during exercise

At 141m long with a displacement of 6,000 tons, landing ship tanks (LSTs) like the RSS Persistence are the largest ships with the Republic of Singapore Navy (RSN), capable of completing a variety of missions.

- Mike Yeo

SHOALWATER BAY TRAINING AREA, Australia -

For the RSS Persistence, this has included providing disaster relief to Indonesia's Aceh province following the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami, joining multinational anti-piracy patrols in the Gulf of Aden, and carrying out search and rescue missions in the Java Sea following the crash of AirAsia Flight 8501 in 2014.

Bringing together Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) servicemen from different services on missions, it has now reunited two brothers in Australian waters, thousands of miles from home.

In Freshwater Bay off Australia's east coast, Corporal Lim Shi Rong, 21, a platoon marksman with the 3rd Battalion Singapore Guards grinned as he saw Corporal (First Class) Lim Shi Xian, 22, a fast craft specialist with the RSN.

CFC Lim said he was excited when he learnt that he and his younger brother would be stationed on the same ship, as it would be his first meeting with a family member since he left Singapore almost a month ago.