Australian Department of Defense, The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) Ship’s Townsville and Ipswich were the last of the Fremantle Class Patrol Boats (FCPB) to decommission in their homeport of Cairns today after a combined 50 years of service to the Navy.
Both ship’s Australian White Ensign were lowered today for the last time and handed to the respective Commanding Officers. In attendance was the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Defence, Mr Peter Lindsay MP, Chief of Navy, Vice Admiral Russ Shalders and the Commander Australian Fleet, Rear Admiral Davyd Thomas.
“The dual decommissioning of Townsville and Ipswich represents the end of an era. The introduction of the next generation Armidale Class Patrol Boats will continue their roles and outstanding service,” said Rear Admiral Thomas.
“Ipswich has provided valuable and reliable service for 25 years. The current crew and myself are proud to say we have been a part of her history. The decommissioning of the last Fremantle Class Patrol Boats is a sad occasion for the host of personnel who have served in them over the last 27 years,” said Commanding Officer of HMAS Ipswich, Lieutenant Commander Darren Grogan.
“Townsville has always been based in Cairns and has strong bonds to the community here. After almost 26 years and in excess of 680,000 miles steamed, her legacy will be great memories and friendship. Being the last of the class is particularly poignant and the decommissioning closes a significant chapter of the RAN’s history,” said Commanding Officer of HMAS Townsville, Lieutenant Commander Andrew Hawke.
Even though the FCPB have completed official service they will still live on through Channel 9’s new television series ‘Sea Patrol’, featuring Ipswich.
Also attending the event were veterans from the first RAN ships to bear the name Townsville and Ipswich. Both vessels were Bathurst Class Corvettes, which saw active service in World War II.
The FCPB are gradually being replaced by 14 state-of-the-art Armidale Class Patrol Boats being built by Western Australian ship builder Austal. The first ACPB, HMAS Armidale, was commissioned in June 2005 and eight of her sister ships are already operational.
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