Defence force investigators have boarded HMAS Ballarat and several sailors have been returned to mainland Australia in the wake of sexual assault allegations centred on the naval vessel.
Defence confirmed on Sunday that an Australian Defence Force Investigative Service (ADFIS) team had climbed aboard.
The navy won't say how many sailors have been returned from the ship to mainland Australia, via Christmas Island, nor why they landed.
The defence force began formal investigations on Tuesday after a sailor made allegations against members of the ship's company.
A former naval member later claimed officers were "set upon, stripped off and had things essentially put in their bums".
Chief of Navy Vice Admiral Ray Griggs said in a statement on Sunday that the allegations were serious and that "inappropriate behaviour" was not tolerated by the navy.
He said support personnel, including an officer from the military's Sexual Misconduct and Response Office, had climbed onboard along with investigators.
"Navy will continue to be as open and transparent about this matter as we can be, but the investigation is now at the point where the ADFIS team needs to be able to get on with the job," Vice Admiral Griggs said.
"As such, no further public statements regarding these allegations will be made until the investigation is complete."
Vice Admiral Griggs said there had been no "adverse impact" on the ship's operational commitments.
HMAS Ballarat has been embroiled in the standoff between Canberra and Jakarta over whether a boatload of asylum seekers, rescued off the Javan coast, should be returned to Indonesia or accepted by Australian authorities.
Immigration Minister Scott Morrison ended the stalemate on Saturday, requesting that the 63 passengers be taken to Christmas Island and then transferred to processing centres at Papua New Guinea's Manus Island or Nauru.
Vision of the asylum seekers arriving at Christmas Island on Sunday showed one man dressed in an Australian one-day cricket uniform.
The ABC reports only two women were among the group.
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