In April 1971, Prime Minister John Gorton announced that Australian forces in Vietnam would be reduced. This led to the withdrawal of the clearance divers in May and the Fleet Air Arm in June. The final RAN destroyer on the gunline, "Brisbane", returned to Sydney on 15 October 1971. The Whitlam government withdrew all Australian forces from and stopped military aid to South Vietnam. returned to Sydney on 11 March 1972 and was followed the next day by HMAS "Sydney". During the 10 years that the RAN was involved in the war, eight officers and sailors were killed, and another 46 were either wounded or suffered other injuries.