The ''Fremantle''-class patrol boats were coastal
patrol vessel
A patrol boat (also referred to as a patrol craft, patrol ship, or patrol vessel) is a relatively small naval vessel generally designed for coastal defence, border security, or law enforcement. There are many designs for patrol boats, and they ...
s operated by the
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) from 1979 to 2007. Designed by British shipbuilder
Brooke Marine
Brooke Marine (also known as J.W. Brooke & Co. and Brooke Yachts) was a Lowestoft-based shipbuilding firm.[Brook ...](_blank)
and constructed in Australia by
NQEA
NQEA Pty Ltd is an engineering and shipbuilding company based in Cairns, Australia. The company was founded in 1948 as an engineering supply company named North Queensland Engineers & Agents, then expanded in 1966 into shipbuilding and was renam ...
, the ''Fremantle'' class were larger, more powerful, and more capable than the preceding , and the two primary patrol boat bases required infrastructure upgrades to support them. Although up to 30 vessels were planned, fifteen were ordered and constructed, with an unexercised option for five more.
Their retirement was announced in 2001 and a decommissioning schedule published in 2004. From May 2005 they were replaced by the patrol boats with the last two ''Fremantle''s decommissioning in May 2007. Most of the class were
scrapped
Scrap consists of recyclable materials, usually metals, left over from product manufacturing and consumption, such as parts of vehicles, building supplies, and surplus materials. Unlike waste, scrap has monetary value, especially recovered me ...
, with two marked for preservation as
museum ship
A museum ship, also called a memorial ship, is a ship that has been preserved and converted into a museum open to the public for educational or memorial purposes. Some are also used for training and recruitment purposes, mostly for the small numb ...
s. The ''Fremantle'' class has also appeared in two drama television series based on the Royal Australian Navy.
Planning and development
The concept for the ''Fremantle'' class began somewhere between 1967 and 1969, as the s entered service, and areas for improvement were observed.
[''Semaphore 17'', 2005, para. 2] In September 1970, the RAN announced the intention to construct ten new patrol boats, which would operate in tandem with the ''Attack'' class and replace two general purpose vessels.
These new vessels were intended to enter service between 1976 and 1980.
The number of vessels to be built fluctuated, peaking at thirty vessels (16 RAN, 4
Royal Australian Naval Reserve
The Royal Australian Naval Reserve (RANR) is the volunteer reserve force of the Royal Australian Navy in Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian co ...
, and 10 for the
military of Papua New Guinea),
and settling at fifteen.
[''Semaphore 17'', 2005, para. 3]
Plans of acquisition were announced in April 1975, with eleven shipbuilders submitting tenders, of which two were shortlisted in 1976;
Brooke Marine
Brooke Marine (also known as J.W. Brooke & Co. and Brooke Yachts) was a Lowestoft-based shipbuilding firm.[Brook ...](_blank)
of Eng,and and
Lürssen Werft
Lürssen (or Lürssen Werft) is a German shipyard with headquarters in Bremen-Vegesack and shipbuilding facilities in Lemwerder, Berne and Bremen-Fähr-Lobbendorf.
Lürssen designs and constructs yachts, naval ships and special vessels. Tradin ...
of West Germany.
Brooke Marine won the contract to design and produce the
lead ship
The lead ship, name ship, or class leader is the first of a series or class of ships all constructed according to the same general design. The term is applicable to naval ships and large civilian vessels.
Large ships are very complex and may ...
, with
NQEA
NQEA Pty Ltd is an engineering and shipbuilding company based in Cairns, Australia. The company was founded in 1948 as an engineering supply company named North Queensland Engineers & Agents, then expanded in 1966 into shipbuilding and was renam ...
contracted to build the other fourteen vessels.
An option for an additional five vessels existed, but they were placed on indefinite hold in 1982.
[ There was a separate acquisition plan for six missile-armed variants, but this was suspended due to the lack of available funding, and the belief that such ships could be constructed on short notice if required.][
]
Design and construction
The design of the ''Fremantle'' class called for ships with improved seakeeping, and newer equipment and weapons than those fitted to the ''Attack'' class. The ''Fremantle''s had a full load displacement of , were long 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 ...
, had 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 , and a maximum draught of .[Gillett, ''Australian and New Zealand Warships since 1946'', p. 89] The ''Fremantles'' were 28% longer and 50% heavier than their predecessors.[''Semaphore 17'', 2005, para. 4] During sea trial
A sea trial is the testing phase of a watercraft (including boats, ships, and submarines). It is also referred to as a " shakedown cruise" by many naval personnel. It is usually the last phase of construction and takes place on open water, and ...
s, NUSHIP ''Fremantle'' was revealed to be 20 tons over the contracted limit.[''Semaphore 17'', 2005, para. 5] Main propulsion machinery consisted of two MTU series 538 diesel engines, which supplied to the two propeller shafts. They also had an APU (auxiliary propulsion unit that was fitted in the interest of fuel saving whilst on patrol. (One Dorman 12-cylinder auxiliary propulsion engine) These were later removed as they proved inefficient when compared to the two main engines[ Exhaust was not expelled through a funnel, like most ships, but through vents below the waterline.][ The patrol boat could reach a maximum speed of , and had a maximum range of at .][ The ship's company consisted of 22 personnel.][ Each patrol boat was armed with a single, bow-mounted ]Bofors 40 mm L/60 gun
The Bofors 40 mm Automatic Gun L/60 (often referred to simply as the "Bofors 40 mm gun", the "Bofors gun" and the like, see name) is an anti-aircraft autocannon, designed in the 1930s by the Swedish arms manufacturer AB Bofors. The gu ...
as main armament, supplemented by two .50-calibre Browning machineguns and an 81 mm mortar,[''Patrol Boats (Royal Australian Navy)''] although the mortar was removed from all ships sometime in the late 1990s. The main weapon was originally to be two 30-mm guns on a twin-mount, but the reconditioned Bofors were selected to keep costs down; provision was made to install an updated weapon later in the class' service life, but this did not eventuate.[Jones, in Stevens, ''The Royal Australian Navy'', p. 222][Gillett, ''Australian and New Zealand Warships since 1946'', p. 88]
Early on in the construction program, it was realised that the two main patrol boat bases, in Cairns, Queensland
Cairns (, ) is a city in Queensland, Australia, on the tropical north east coast of Far North Queensland. The population in June 2019 was 153,952, having grown on average 1.02% annually over the preceding five years. The city is the 5th-most-p ...
and in Darwin, Northern Territory
Darwin ( ; Larrakia: ) is the capital city of the Northern Territory, Australia. With an estimated population of 147,255 as of 2019, the city contains the majority of the residents of the sparsely populated Northern Territory.
It is the smalle ...
, were not capable of supporting ships of this size on a permanent basis. This resulted in a $10 million infrastructure upgrade for the two bases, which was completed in 1981 and 1982, respectively.[ This included modern maintenance, logistic, and administrative facilities at both bases, and the installation of a synchro-lift at ''Coonawarra''.]
Construction of ''Fremantle'' began in October 1977. It was launched on 16 February 1979, and commissioned on 17 March 1980. During sea trials, ''Fremantle'' received distinction for locating and rescuing a British sailor thrown from a commercial trawler
A fishing trawler is a commercial fishing vessel designed to operate fishing trawls. Trawling is a method of fishing that involves actively dragging or pulling a trawl through the water behind one or more trawlers. Trawls are fishing nets tha ...
following its collision with an oil tender. Construction of the first Australian-built vessel, , began in September 1978, with ''Warrnambool'' launched on 25 October 1980 and commissioned on 14 March 1981.[''Semaphore 17'', 2005, para. 7] The final ship of the class, , was commissioned on 15 December 1984. The Australian-built vessels were built through an assembly-line method.[ Hulls were built upside-down from the keel to the second-uppermost deck, then rolled over and built to the top of the hull.][ After this, the superstructure, which had been fabricated at the same time, was welded onto the hull.][ Construction of the class (including the two naval base upgrades) cost $150 million.][ All fifteen vessels were named after ''Bathurst''-class corvettes.][
]
Operational history
The first ship of the class, , arrived in Australia on 27 August 1980, after an 82-day voyage covering . NQEA completed three patrol boats in both 1981 and 1982, and four in both 1983 and 1984. By the end of 1984, four ''Fremantle''s were located at , , and Fleet Base East
The Fleet Base East is a Royal Australian Navy (RAN) major fleet base that comprises several naval establishments and facilities clustered around Sydney Harbour, centred on HMAS ''Kuttabul''. The Fleet Base East extends beyond the borders of ...
, two at , and one at HMAS ''Cerberus''.[''Semaphore 17'', 2005, para. 8] Also by 1984, all of the ''Attack'' class had left active service, with many transferring to the RAN Reserve or the Indonesian Navy
The Indonesian Navy ( id, Tentara Nasional Indonesia Angkatan Laut, , Indonesian National Military-Naval Force, TNI-AL) is the naval branch of the Indonesian National Armed Forces. It was founded on 10 September 1945 and has a role to patrol I ...
.
On 31 May 1985, ''Wollongong'' grounded on rocks at Gabo Island
Gabo Island is a island located off the coast of eastern Victoria, Australia, between Mallacoota and Cape Howe on the border with New South Wales. It is separated from the mainland by a wide channel; access is available by arranged flights an ...
, causing extensive damage to the vessel.[ It was repaired by the builder, and returned to service in late 1986.][
From May 2005 onwards, the ''Fremantle''s were replaced in service by the fourteen patrol boats. During late 2006, the decommissioned remained laid up alongside in Waverton, ]Sydney
Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...
for use as the alongside set for the drama series ''Sea Patrol
''Sea Patrol'' is an Australian television drama that ran from 2007 to 2011, set on board HMAS ''Hammersley'', a fictional patrol boat of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). The series focused on the ship and the lives of its crew members.
Despi ...
''. The last two ships, and , decommissioned in a joint ceremony on 11 May 2007.[Navy League of Australia, ''Last of the Fremantles bow out'']
During 2006 and 2007, most of the ''Fremantle''s were broken up for scrap in Darwin, at a cost of between $400,000 and $450,000 each to the Australian government. The exceptions were ''Wollongong'' (which was instead scrapped in Port Macquarie), ''Townsville'' (gifted to the Townsville Maritime Historical Society for preservation as a museum ship
A museum ship, also called a memorial ship, is a ship that has been preserved and converted into a museum open to the public for educational or memorial purposes. Some are also used for training and recruitment purposes, mostly for the small numb ...
), and (gifted to the Gladstone Maritime Museum for preservation).[
]
''Fremantle'' class in fiction
The fictional HMAS ''Defiance'', portrayed by HMA Ships , , , , and featured in the second season of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is the national broadcaster of Australia. It is principally funded by direct grants from the Australian Government and is administered by a government-appointed board. The ABC is a publicly-own ...
television series ''Patrol Boat
A patrol boat (also referred to as a patrol craft, patrol ship, or patrol vessel) is a relatively small naval vessel generally designed for coastal defence, border security, or law enforcement. There are many designs for patrol boats, and the ...
''.
The fictional HMAS ''Hammersley'' is the setting of the first season of Channel Nine's 2007 drama series ''Sea Patrol
''Sea Patrol'' is an Australian television drama that ran from 2007 to 2011, set on board HMAS ''Hammersley'', a fictional patrol boat of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). The series focused on the ship and the lives of its crew members.
Despi ...
''. This vessel was portrayed by HMA Ships ''Wollongong'' and .[Rollings, 2006] A second patrol boat, HMAS ''Kingston'', also appears in the series. From the second season onwards, an ''Armidale''-class boat is used.
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{{Fremantle class patrol boat
Patrol boat classes