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HMAS ''Childers'' (ACPB 93) is an ''Armidale''-class patrol boat 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). Named for the towns of
Childers, Queensland Childers is a rural town and locality in the Bundaberg Region, Queensland, Australia. In the , the locality of Childers had a population of 1,584 people. Geography Childers is in the Wide Bay-Burnett region of Queensland, Australia, situated ...
and Childers, Victoria, ''Childers'' is the only ship in the RAN to be named after two towns.


Design and construction

The ''Armidale''-class patrol boats are long, with 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 draught of , and a standard
displacement Displacement may refer to: Physical sciences Mathematics and Physics *Displacement (geometry), is the difference between the final and initial position of a point trajectory (for instance, the center of mass of a moving object). The actual path ...
of 270 tons.Saunders (ed.), ''IHS Jane's Fighting Ships 2012–2013'', p. 33 The semi-displacement vee hull is fabricated from aluminium alloy, and each vessel is built to a combination of
Det Norske Veritas DNV (formerly DNV GL) is an international accredited registrar and classification society headquartered in Høvik, Norway. The company currently has about 12,000 employees and 350 offices operating in more than 100 countries, and provides ser ...
standards for high-speed light craft and RAN requirements.Kerr, ''Plain sailing'' The ''Armidale''s can travel at a maximum speed of , and are driven by two propeller shafts, each connected to an MTU 16V M70 diesel. The ships have a range of at , allowing them to patrol the waters around the distant
territories of Australia The states and territories are federated administrative divisions in Australia, ruled by regional governments that constitute the second level of governance between the federal government and local governments. States are self-governing pol ...
, and are designed for standard patrols of 21 days, with a maximum endurance of 42 days. The main armament of the ''Armidale'' class is a Rafael Typhoon stabilised gun mount fitted with an
M242 Bushmaster The M242 Bushmaster chain gun is a 25 mm (25×137mm) single-barrel chain-driven autocannon. It is used extensively by the U.S. military, such as in the Bradley fighting vehicle, as well as by other NATO members and some other nations in ground ...
autocannon. Two machine guns are also carried.Heron & Powell, in ''Australian Maritime Issues 2006'', p. 132 Boarding operations are performed by two , waterjet propelled
rigid-hulled inflatable boat A rigid inflatable boat (RIB), also rigid-hull inflatable boat or rigid-hulled inflatable boat (RHIB), is a lightweight but high-performance and high-capacity boat constructed with a rigid hull bottom joined to side-forming air tubes that are ...
s (RHIBs). Each RHIB is stored in a dedicated cradle and
davit Boat suspended from radial davits; the boat is mechanically lowered Gravity multi-pivot on Scandinavia'' file:Bossoir a gravité.jpg, Gravity Roller Davit file:Davits-starbrd.png, Gravity multi-pivot davit holding rescue vessel on North Sea ferr ...
, and is capable of operating independently from the patrol boat as it carries its own communications, navigation, and safety equipment.Heron & Powell, in ''Australian Maritime Issues 2006'', p. 131 Each patrol boat has a standard ship's company of 21 personnel, with a maximum of 29.Wertheim (ed.), ''The Naval Institute Guide to Combat Fleets of the World'', p. 22 The ''Armidale''s do not have a permanently assigned ship's company; instead, they are assigned to divisions at a ratio of two vessels to three companies, which rotate through the vessels and allow the ''Armidale''s to spend more time at sea, without compromising sailors' rest time or training requirements.Kerr, ''Patrol boats shake down fuel faults'' A 20-berth auxiliary accommodation compartment was included in the design for the transportation of soldiers, illegal fishermen, or unauthorised arrivals; in the latter two cases, the compartment could be secured from the outside.McKenna, ''Gas risk remains for navy boats'' However, a malfunction in the sewerage treatment facilities aboard in August 2006 pumped
hydrogen sulfide Hydrogen sulfide is a chemical compound with the formula . It is a colorless chalcogen-hydride gas, and is poisonous, corrosive, and flammable, with trace amounts in ambient atmosphere having a characteristic foul odor of rotten eggs. The unde ...
and
carbon monoxide Carbon monoxide (chemical formula CO) is a colorless, poisonous, odorless, tasteless, flammable gas that is slightly less dense than air. Carbon monoxide consists of one carbon atom and one oxygen atom connected by a triple bond. It is the simple ...
into the compartment, non-fatally poisoning four sailors working inside, after which use of the compartment for accommodation was banned across the class. ''Childers'' was constructed by
Austal Austal is an Australian-based global ship building company and defence prime contractor that specialises in the design, construction and support of defence and commercial vessels. Austal's product range includes naval vessels, high-speed passeng ...
at their shipyard in
Henderson, Western Australia Henderson is a suburb of Perth, Western Australia, located within the City of Cockburn. History The suburb of Henderson comprises land resumed by the Commonwealth Government in 1915 for defence purposes. A large naval base was planned by Admira ...
. She was launched on 18 December 2006, and was commissioned 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 ...
on 7 July 2007.


Operational history

Assigned to ''Ardent'' Division, ''Childers'' is based in Cairns and performs border protection and fisheries protection patrols. In January 2014, ''Childers'' visited Burma as part of
Australian Government The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government, is the national government of Australia, a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Like other Westminster-style systems of government, the Australian Government i ...
efforts to strengthen relations with the
Government of Myanmar Myanmar ( also known as Burma) operates ''de jure'' as a unitary assembly-independent republic under its 2008 constitution. On 1 February 2021, Myanmar's military took over the government in a coup, causing ongoing anti-coup protests. P ...
; the first RAN ship since in 1959.


Citations


References

;Books * ** The chapter is available separately as ''Semaphore'', Issue 4, 2006 i
PDF
an
HTML
formats. * * ;Journal and news articles * * * ;Websites and other media * Australian Department of Defence press releas
Navy's Eleventh Armidale Class Patrol Boat Commissions
7 July 2007.


External links


Royal Australian Navy webpage for HMAS Childers
{{DEFAULTSORT:Childers Ships built by Austal Naval ships of Australia Armidale-class patrol boats 2006 ships