Fairmiles were the smallest of the Navy’s ocean-going vessels during World War II. They were denied the dignity of a name, but were allocated numbers instead.

Of all the “wet” ships in the Royal Australian Navy during World War II, few if any were wetter” than the Fairmile patrol vessels.

As the smallest of the Navy’s ocean-going vessels, their crews copped incessant drubbings as the Fairmiles embraced a spectrum of incredible assignments, so many of which they were never designed for.

These patrol vessels described by newsmen as mini-gunboats, were denied the dignity of a name but instead were allocated numbers - 424 431 and 801 to 827.

After the 56 strong Bathurst class, the family of Fairmile B Motor Launches formed the second largest group of new construction for the RAN.

The first launch was laid down in September, 1942, and the final and 35th boat, commissioned during April, 1944. Fairmiles were built in Sydney at two shipyards (11 and 20 launches) and in Brisbane (four boats).

To assist in rapid production the Green Point yard on the Parramatta River obtained 20 pre-fabricated hulls from the United Kingdom for assembly and outfitting of gear and armaments.

Hulls were mounted onto rotatable bogies, with the workshops on higher ground for components to be fed down inside the hull.

As designed, the Fairmiles were required to search for enemy submarines, provide convoy escort and stationary patrols.

However, their actual wartime duties saw many launches attached to the shore bases, Basilisk, Kuranda, Ladava, Madang, Magnetic and Melville undertake coastal and island patrols, transport large numbers of personnel, assist with boom defence, casualty evacuation and air-sea rescue searches.

Some launches also attacked Japanese maritime and shore units and resupplied isolated missions at 20 knots to avoid detection.

Fairmiles performed special undercover operations within Japanese waters in conjunction with the Services Reconnaissance Department, in some cases providing the tow for small submersibles.

Despite many missions, no Fairmile was lost to enemy action. The 35 Fairmiles provided the RAN with a true seagoing patrol force from 1943 to 1945.

Post-war, the 33 surviving Fairmiles were placed in reserve at Brisbane (16), Sydney (13) and Fremantle (4).

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