HMAS ''Arrow'' (P 88) was an of 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).

Design and construction

The ''Attack'' class was ordered in 1964 to operate in Australian waters as patrol boats (based on lessons learned through using the s on patrols of Borneo during the

Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation The Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation or Borneo confrontation (also known by its Indonesian / Malay name, ''Konfrontasi'') was an armed conflict from 1963 to 1966 that stemmed from Indonesia's opposition to the creation of the Federation of ...

), and to replace a variety of old patrol, search-and-rescue, and general-purpose craft. Initially, nine were ordered for the RAN, with another five for

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...

's Australian-run coastal security force, although another six ships were ordered to bring the class to twenty vessels. The patrol boats had a displacement of 100 tons at standard load and 146 tons at full load, were in

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 ...

, had a beam of , and draughts of at standard load, and at full load.Gillett, ''Australian and New Zealand Ships since 1946'', p. 86Blackman (ed.), ''Jane's Fighting Ships, 1968–69'', p. 18 Propulsion machinery consisted of two 16-cylinder Paxman YJCM diesel engines, which supplied to the two propellers. The vessels could achieve a top speed of , and had a range of at . The ship's company consisted of three officers and sixteen sailors. The main armament was a bow-mounted

Bofors 40 mm Bofors 40 mm gun is a name or designation given to two models of 40 mm calibre anti-aircraft guns designed and developed by the Swedish company Bofors: *Bofors 40 mm L/60 gun - developed in the 1930s, widely used in World War II and into the 1990s ...

gun, supplemented by two .50-calibre

M2 Browning The M2 machine gun or Browning .50 caliber machine gun (informally, "Ma Deuce") is a heavy machine gun that was designed towards the end of World War I by John Browning. Its design is similar to Browning's earlier M1919 Browning machine gun, w ...

machine guns and various small arms. The ships were designed with as many commercial components as possible: the ''Attack''s were to operate in remote regions of Australia and New Guinea, and a town's hardware store would be more accessible than home base in a mechanical emergency.''The patrol boat'', Australian National Maritime Museum ''Arrow'' was built by Walkers Limited at

Maryborough, Queensland Maryborough ( ) is a city and a suburb in the Fraser Coast Region, Queensland, Australia. At the 2021 Census, Maryborough had a population of 15,287. Geography Maryborough is located on the Mary River in Queensland, Australia, approximate ...

,Gillett, ''Australian and New Zealand Ships since 1946'', p. 87 launched on 17 February 1968, and commissioned on 3 July 1968.

Operational history

''Arrow'' was transferred to the Melbourne Division of the Royal Australian Navy Reserve in mid-1968, then was returned to active service in the early 1970s.

Fate

During Cyclone Tracy on 25 December 1974, ''Arrow'' was driven ashore and sank at

Stokes Hill Wharf Stokes Hill Wharf is the main wharf for the city of Darwin in the Northern Territory of Australia and is named after Stokes Hill, which it sits beside. The hill itself was named after the previous commander of HMS ''Beagle'', Captain Pringle St ...

in Darwin with the loss of two sailors: Petty Officer Leslie Catton and Able Seaman Ian Rennie.

Memorial

On 24 April 2019, a memorial, to HMAS ''Arrow'' and the sailors that lost their lives, was unveiled at the Royal Flying Doctor Service and The Bombing of Darwin Tourist Facility at

by two surviving crew members and family of the two sailors that died.

Citations

References