Australian Department of Defence, The Royal Australian Navy's newest ship, HMAS Armidale, the first of the Armidale class patrol boats, today completed her Mission Readiness Evaluation. This key milestone means Armidale is now ready to start patrolling and protecting Australia's coastline.
The Armidale class ships will substantially improve the Royal Australian Navy's capability to intercept and apprehend vessels suspected of illegal fishing and quarantine, customs or immigration offences. The Armidale patrol boats join, and will soon replace, the Fremantle class patrol boats.
HMAS Armidale is the first of 14 new state-of-the-art Armidale Class Patrol Boats which will serve at the front line of Australia's border protection. The Armidale Class is one of the most advanced platforms of its kind in the world, with more modern systems and an ability to operate at sea for longer than the outgoing Fremantle Class boats. Its design and surveillance technology enable it to operate for extended periods anywhere around the Australian coast.
The Armidale Class Patrol Boats have significantly enhanced habitability, where crews enjoy greater cabin space that in turn allows them to perform well for longer periods at sea. The boats will be multi-crewed with three crews for every two boats. This will allow higher usage of the boats and a more coherent operations/training/respite regime for crews. All of this will contribute to a highly effective patrol boat force.
HMAS Armidale is home ported in Darwin and is crewed by 21 personnel.
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