Defence

Defence Materiel Organisation

How our capability has changed over the past 30 years

By Rear Admiral Trevor Ruting, Head Maritime Systems Division DMO.

Rear Admiral Trevor Ruting, Head Maritime Systems Division DMO.
Photo provided by DMO

Three generations of Royal Australian Navy Patrol Boats, moored side by side at the recent PACIFIC 2006 Seapower Conference, showcased the evolution of our naval capability since the 1970s.

Australia's first new patrol boats since WWII were the Attack Class vessels. First launched in August 1967, these vessels were built in various Queensland shipyards for patrol and survey work in Australian and nearby waters. They proved to be fast and versatile patrol craft, performing a variety of work including coastal surveillance, enforcement of fisheries, customs, immigration and quarantine laws, plus training and air–sea rescue. The Attack Class boats were also featured in the ABC television series Patrol Boat.

The decision to purchase the Fremantle Class Patrol Boats to replace the Attack Class was announced in September 1977. These vessels were significantly larger than the Attack Class they replaced, bringing added capability to Australia's maritime patrols. The original 15-year life of the Fremantle Class was extended to 19 and has since been extended again with all of the vessels due to be decommissioned by February 2007. The Fremantle Class continued the outstanding work performed by the Attack Class.

The first of the Armidale Class vessels was delivered in 2005, with a total of 14 to be delivered by the end of 2007. These state-of-the-art patrol boats feature a monohull design, capable of carrying two Zodiac 7.2 m waterjet seaboats. The vessels have an overall patrol range of 3000 nautical miles—a 20 per cent increase over the Fremantle Class boats, and can be deployed for up to 42 days. The Armidale Class vessels are named after Australian towns and cities, with the most recent vessels, the HMAS Larrakia and Bathurst joining the fleet in a traditional commissioning ceremony in Darwin in February, featured in last month's edition of Defence magazine.

Three generations of RAN Patrol Boats (L–R): Armidale Class HMAS Armidale, Fremantle Class HMAS Townsville, and Attack Class, Ex-HMAS Advance.

The Armidale Class Patrol Boats will operate from Cairns and Darwin, with a forward-operating base in north-western Australia, and will be used to patrol and protect Australia's coastline. They will continue to perform the work of both the Attack and Fremantle Class Patrol Boats with improved capability to intercept and apprehend vessels suspected of illegal fisheries, quarantine, customs or immigration offences.

These capability improvements, along with the increased need for operational availability, demonstrate the increasing pressures on Defence Materiel Organisation's (DMO) Maritime Systems Division for the delivery of capability and sustainment on time, on budget and to the required quality, capability and safety.

Head Maritime Systems Division DMO, Rear Admiral Trevor Ruting, continues to give the development of capability his top priority by implementing a swathe of specific actions that are aligned with DMO's vision to become Australia's premier program-management and engineering services organisation.

These actions include specific project management certification and training and Chartered Professional Engineer accreditation, relevant financial and legal qualifications, and the development of a maritime project work breakdown system taxonomy compatible with the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) and United States shipbuilding industry. This system, aimed to improve project schedule, will enable future benchmarking with overseas navies and tracking of performance.

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