Australian Border Force Cutter (ABFC) ''Ocean Shield'' is an offshore patrol vessel operated by the

Australian Border Force The Australian Border Force (ABF) is a federal law enforcement agency, part of the Department of Home Affairs, responsible for offshore and onshore border control enforcement, investigations, compliance and detention operations in Australia. Thr ...

. The ship was originally ordered in 2010 by DOF Subsea as an offshore support vessel, and was laid down by STX OSV as MSV ''Skandi Bergen'' in 2011. In 2012, the Australian

Department of Defence Department of Defence or Department of Defense may refer to: Current departments of defence * Department of Defence (Australia) * Department of National Defence (Canada) * Department of Defence (Ireland) * Department of National Defense (Philipp ...

was seeking a short-term replacement for the decommissioned ''Kanimbla''-class amphibious landing ships, and negotiated to purchase the under-construction ''Skandi Bergen'' from DOF Subsea. The ship was completed, and entered

Royal Australian Navy The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) is the principal naval force of the Australian Defence Force (ADF). The professional head of the RAN is Chief of Navy (CN) Vice Admiral Mark Hammond AM, RAN. CN is also jointly responsible to the Minister of ...

(RAN) service in mid-2012 as the civilian-crewed Australian Defence Vessel (ADV) ''Ocean Shield''. Following the disappearance of

Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 (MH370/MAS370) was an international passenger flight operated by Malaysia Airlines that disappeared on 8 March 2014 while flying from Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Malaysia to its planned destination ...

, ''Ocean Shield'' was one of several Australian vessels to take part in the search. ''Ocean Shield''s operation was only intended to cover the shortfall in RAN

sealift Sealift is a term used predominantly in military logistics and refers to the use of cargo ships for the deployment of military assets, such as weaponry, vehicles, military personnel, and supplies. It complements other means of transport, such as ...

capability until the ''Canberra''-class landing helicopter dock ships entered service, and in 2014, the vessel was handed over to the

Australian Customs and Border Protection Service The Australian Customs and Border Protection Service was an Australian federal government agency responsible for managing the security and integrity of the Australian border and facilitating the movement of legitimate international travelers and g ...

(the precursor agency to the Border Force), with the ship's designation changing to Australian Customs Vessel (ACV) ''Ocean Shield''. The restructuring of Customs to create the Border Force occurred in mid-2015, with ''Ocean Shield''s

prefix A prefix is an affix which is placed before the Word stem, stem of a word. Adding it to the beginning of one word changes it into another word. For example, when the prefix ''un-'' is added to the word ''happy'', it creates the word ''unhappy'' ...

changing from ACV to ABFC.

Construction and acquisition

The offshore construction vessel was ordered on 10 December 2010 by DOF Subsea, from STX OSV.MarineLog, ''DOF Subsea orders OSCV to replace newbuild sold to Australia'' The ship, based on the STX OSCV 11 design and to be named ''Skandi Bergen'', was laid down at STX OSV's shipyard in

Tulcea Tulcea (; also known by other alternative names) is a city in Northern Dobruja, Romania. It is the administrative center of Tulcea County, and had a population of 73,707 . One village, Tudor Vladimirescu, is administered by the city. Names Th ...

, Romania on 11 April 2011 with yard number 771, and launched on 22 October 2011. She has a displacement of 8,500 tonnes and a tonnage value of 8,368

gross tons Gross tonnage (GT, G.T. or gt) is a nonlinear measure of a ship's overall internal volume. Gross tonnage is different from gross register tonnage. Neither gross tonnage nor gross register tonnage should be confused with measures of mass or weig ...

, a

length overall __NOTOC__ Length overall (LOA, o/a, o.a. or oa) is the maximum length of a vessel's hull measured parallel to the waterline. This length is important while docking the ship. It is the most commonly used way of expressing the size of a ship, an ...

of , a

beam Beam may refer to: Streams of particles or energy *Light beam, or beam of light, a directional projection of light energy **Laser beam *Particle beam, a stream of charged or neutral particles **Charged particle beam, a spatially localized grou ...

of , a depth of , and a draught of . The propulsion system consists of two

Rolls-Royce Rolls-Royce (always hyphenated) may refer to: * Rolls-Royce Limited, a British manufacturer of cars and later aero engines, founded in 1906, now defunct Automobiles * Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, the current car manufacturing company incorporated in ...

Contaz 35

azimuth thruster An azimuth thruster is a configuration of marine propellers placed in pods that can be rotated to any horizontal angle (azimuth), making a rudder unnecessary. These give ships better maneuverability than a fixed propeller and rudder system. Ty ...

s at the stern, two tunnel thrusters at the bow, plus a , retractable azimuth thruster, also near the bow.Royal Australian Navy, ''ADV Ocean Shield'' Maximum speed is . Power is generated by four

Wärtsilä Wärtsilä Oyj Abp (), trading internationally as Wärtsilä Corporation, is a Finnish company which manufactures and services power sources and other equipment in the marine and energy markets. The core products of Wärtsilä include technol ...

6L32 medium speed diesel generators. The ship has a complement of 22, plus accommodation for another 50 crew, and basic facilities to carry a further 120. A helipad suitable for up to medium-size helicopters is sited at the ship's bow, above the bridge. She also has of deck area for cargo and equipment. On 19 March 2012, the Australian government announced the purchase of ''Skandi Bergen'' in a group of

Defence Defense or defence may refer to: Tactical, martial, and political acts or groups * Defense (military), forces primarily intended for warfare * Civil defense, the organizing of civilians to deal with emergencies or enemy attacks * Defense industr ...

acquisitions. The vessel was required to supplement the RAN's

capability of the RAN after the ''Kanimbla''-class amphibious landing ships were decommissioned early due to ongoing mechanical issues. Intended operations included the transportation of equipment and personnel as part of

humanitarian Humanitarianism is an active belief in the value of human life, whereby humans practice benevolent treatment and provide assistance to other humans to reduce suffering and improve the conditions of humanity for moral, altruistic, and emotional ...

and

disaster relief Emergency management or disaster management is the managerial function charged with creating the framework within which communities reduce vulnerability to hazards and cope with disasters. Emergency management, despite its name, does not actuall ...

operations. The ship cost A$130 million: the price did not include the vessel's

subsea Subsea technology involves fully submerged ocean equipment, operations, or applications, especially when some distance offshore, in deep ocean waters, or on the seabed. The term ''subsea'' is frequently used in connection with oceanography, marin ...

equipment. This equipment was retained by the shipyard for installation in a replacement vessel ordered by DOF Subsea, with a 60-tonne SWL crane fitted instead to ''Skandi Bergen''.Navy News, ''New Shield has arrived'' Fitting out was completed on 22 May 2012, and on 3 June 2012, the ship's new name, ''Ocean Shield'', was announced. Although operated as part of the RAN, ''Ocean Shield'' carried a civilian crew, and used the

ADV (Australian Defence Vessel), instead of being commissioned and receiving the HMAS prefix.Offices of the Minister for Defence and Minister for Defence Materiel, ''Ocean Shield the Navy's newest humanitarian and disaster relief vessel'' Although unarmed in RAN service, after the transfer to Customs, the ship was fitted with two 12.7 mm machine guns.

Operational history

Sea trials were overseen by Teekay Shipping. ''Ocean Shield'' arrived in Fremantle, Australia on 28 June 2012, and was accepted into naval service on 30 June. In October 2013, the ship participated in the

International Fleet Review 2013 The International Fleet Review 2013 was a review that took place on the week 3 to 11 October 2013, as part of the celebrations to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the entry of the first Royal Australian Navy fleet in Sydney Harbour, on 4 Octob ...

in Sydney. Ocean Shield deploys the Bluefin 21 underwater vehicle

In March 2014, ''Ocean Shield'' was sent to participate in the search for the missing

, off the west coast of Australia. The vessel, fitted with a

towed pinger locator A towed pinger locator is a water-borne device used to locate the sonar "ping" from the underwater locator beacon which is fitted to the Cockpit Voice Recorders and Flight Data Recorders installed in commercial airliners. They can locate pingers ...

on loan from the United States Navy, sailed from Perth on 31 March, expecting to begin searching on 3 April for the

underwater locator beacon An underwater locator beacon is a device that guides search and rescue teams to a submerged aircraft by emitting a repeated electronic pulse. Application An underwater locator beacon (ULB) or underwater acoustic beacon, is a device fitted to a ...

attached to the aircraft's

flight recorder A flight recorder is an electronic recording device placed in an aircraft for the purpose of facilitating the investigation of aviation accidents and incidents. The device may often be referred to as a "black box", an outdated name which has b ...

s.CBS News, ''Warship with black box detector joins search for missing Malaysian jet'' Starting on 14 April 2014, ''Ocean Shield'' stopped towing the pinger locator and instead deployed the

autonomous underwater vehicle An autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) is a robot that travels underwater without requiring input from an operator. AUVs constitute part of a larger group of undersea systems known as unmanned underwater vehicles, a classification that includes ...

(AUV) ''

Bluefin-21 The Bluefin-21 is an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) developed by Bluefin Robotics for defence, commercial or scientific use. It found its most famous use in April 2014 in the search for the wreckage of the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 3 ...

'', a

sidescan sonar Side-scan sonar (also sometimes called side scan sonar, sidescan sonar, side imaging sonar, side-imaging sonar and bottom classification sonar) is a category of sonar system that is used to efficiently create an image of large areas of the sea ...

robotic submarine, to map the area. The naval service of ''Ocean Shield'' was only intended to cover the drop in capability after the ''Kanimbla''s were decommissioned until the ''Canberra''-class landing helicopter dock ships entered service.Ellery, ''Defence buys boat bound for Customs'' Once achieved, ''Ocean Shield'' would be transferred to the

Customs Marine Unit The Marine Unit, formerly the Australian Customs Service National Marine Unit, is a division of the Australian Border Force which acts as a Coast Guard in guarding Australia's coast. The Marine Unit focuses on surveillance and response activities ...

of the

, as a replacement for ''Ocean Protector'', a

sister ship A sister ship is a ship of the same class or of virtually identical design to another ship. Such vessels share a nearly identical hull and superstructure layout, similar size, and roughly comparable features and equipment. They often share a ...

operating under charter. Although the transfer was originally intended to occur in 2016 (when both ''Canberra''-class vessels were in service and ''Ocean Protector''s charter would expire), it was brought forward to 1 July 2014, and ''Ocean Protector''s charter was terminated on 31 December that year.Saunders & Philpott (eds.), ''IHS Jane's Fighting Ships'' 2015–2016, p. 39 However, in 2016 Australia re-purchased Ocean Protector. After being transferred to Customs, ''Ocean Shield'' received modifications in Singapore and Hobart to improve its suitability for patrol tasks. The ship entered operational service in November 2014.Australian Customs and Border Protection Service, ''Australian Customs and Border Protection Service: Annual Report 2014–15'', p. 50 It is funded to spend 300 days conducting patrols each year.Australian Customs and Border Protection Service, ''Australian Customs and Border Protection Service: Annual Report 2014–15'', p. 44 In Customs service, ''Ocean Shield'' is armed with two machine guns, and received the ship prefix "ACV" (Australian Customs Vessel). Although primarily tasked to Australia's northern waters as part of

Operation Sovereign Borders Operation Sovereign Borders (OSB) is a border protection operation led by the Australian Defence Force, aimed at stopping maritime arrivals of asylum seekers to Australia. The operation is the outcome of a 2013 federal election policy of the ...

, ''Ocean Shield'' is capable of operating in the

Southern Ocean The Southern Ocean, also known as the Antarctic Ocean, comprises the southernmost waters of the World Ocean, generally taken to be south of 60° S latitude and encircling Antarctica. With a size of , it is regarded as the second-small ...

. On 16 April 2015, ''Ocean Shield'' commenced a 42-day deployment to the Southern Ocean: the first Customs patrol of the region since 2012. Following the creation of the

in July 2015, ''Ocean Shield''s prefix was changed to "ABFC" (Australian Border Force Cutter).

Citations

References

;Books * * ;News articles * * * * * * * * ;Press releases * ;Websites * *

External links

Australian Border Force Cutter (ABFC) Ocean Shield
Australian Border Force webpage for the ship. {{DEFAULTSORT:Ocean Shield 2012 ships Amphibious warfare vessels of the Royal Australian Navy Ships built in Romania