Volume
49, No. 13, July 27, 2006
Two
additional Armidale Class Patrol Boats (ACPBs), announced as part
of the Government’s Securing Australia’s North West
Shelf policy, will be named Glenelg and Maryborough.
As with the previous 12 boats of this new class, the two additional
ACPBs will be named after Australian cities and towns with close
links to Navy heritage.
These ACPBs have been named after the Bathurst Class Corvettes
HMAS Glenelg and HMAS Maryborough that served the Royal Australian
Navy (RAN) with distinction during World War II.
The Patrol Boats will enable the Navy to conduct surveillance
and monitoring of the North West Shelf in order to protect strategic
national assets such as Australia’s offshore oil and gas
facilities as well as provide an enhanced quick-response capability
to respond to potential threats including terrorist attacks.
Glenelg and Maryborough will be two of the 10 new boats to be
home-ported in Darwin, while four will be based in Cairns.
All Darwin boats may be rotated through the NW Shelf, where they
will be forward based in Dampier.
