HMAS Armidale meets HMAS Fremantle

Empty shells from the firing of the 12.7mm gun onboard Fremantle.

 

HAPPY TOGETHER Armidale and Fremantle working together in the middle of the Timor Sea.

Two heads of their class, HMAS Fremantle (LCDR Ainsley Morthorpe) and HMAS Armidale (LCDR Andrew Maher) recently teamed up to strike a double blow against the foreign fishing vessels poaching Australia’s fish stocks.

Armidale, the first of 14 Armidale Class Patrol Boats (ACPB) now entering service, and Fremantle, the first of 15 Fremantle Class Patrol Boats (FCPB), scored immediate success in an Op Cranberry patrol recently.

Such is the high operational tempo of Op Cranberry that within minutes of Armidale handing over to Fremantle, both patrol boats were alerted to the presence of a foreign fishing vessel (FFV) off the tranquil and picturesque Kimberley Coast.

LCDR Morthorpe told Navy News that his FCPB had just taken over from Armidale when a Coastwatch surveillance aircraft directed them to a shark-boat fishing illegally on October 30.

“The significance of this arrest is that the ‘firsts of their class’ have for the first time done something operationally together,” he said.

Fremantle’s boarding party hard at work onboard a Foreign Fishing Vessel.

LCDR Morthorpe said when the Indonesian FFV was boarded it was found to contain 50kg of shark fin which would have been sold to shark-fin soup restaurants in Southeast Asia.
Fremantle has conducted 14 apprehensions recently. Overall, the FCPBs and ACPBs have netted about 150 FFVs this year.

LCDR Morthorpe said it would be a day of mixed emotions when Fremantle decommissions on July 24, 2006.
It has been a long and distinguished career for Fremantle, spanning 26 years, and she will continue to add to her current record of having steamed 535,705 nautical miles (approximately five times around the world) in 2,232 days at sea.

“It will be sad to see her go because of the excellent service she has given the Navy but the new ACPB that will replace her will allow the Navy to step up the fight against illegal FFVs that are depleting fish stocks and doing harm to Australia’s maritime environment,” he said.

SMNCIS Brendan Evans on the lookout on the flybridge of HMAS Fremantle.

Maritime Commander Australia RADM Davyd Thomas said the Navy has been doing a very good job against the FFVs and that “it was a success story that is only going to get better when all 14 of the ACPBs are commissioned”.

“The new ACPBs will improve Navy’s capability to intercept and apprehend vessels in a greater range of sea conditions increasing surveillance, which will better protect Australia’s coastline,” he told Navy News recently.

He said the ACPBs are the Navy’s principal contribution to the national task of fisheries protection and immigration, customs and drug law enforcement operations.

LCDR Maher said the ACPB are equipped with powerful propulsion systems, surveillance equipment, and
armament and therefore provide an enhanced capability over the FCPB.

Chaplain Jeff Jarvis, from HMAS Coonawarra, gives a blessing for the excellent weather conditions Fremantle was experiencing that day.

The ACPBs are equipped with high definition navigational radar, high and ultra high frequency communications equipment, gryo-compass and echo sounder.

They are also fitted with a satellite navigation system, which enables the ship’s position to be determined with great accuracy.

LCDR Maher said his crew were immensely proud to have made an immediate impact in operations against FFVs.

 

 

 

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