HMAS Advance (P 83)

The Attack class was ordered in 1964 to operate in Australian waters as patrol boats based on lessons learned through using the Ton-class minesweepers on patrols of Borneo during the Indonesia-Malaysia Confrontation, and to replace a variety of old patrol, search-and-rescue, and general-purpose craft.[2] Initially, nine were ordered for the RAN, with another five for Papua New Guinea's Australian-run coastal security force, although another six ships were ordered to bring the class to twenty vessels.[2] The patrol boats had a displacement of 100 tons at standard load and 146 tons at full load, were 107.6 feet (32.8 m) in length overall, had a beam of 20 feet (6.1 m), and draughts of 6.4 feet (2.0 m) at standard load, and 7.3 feet (2.2 m) at full load.[2][3] Propulsion machinery consisted of two 16-cylinder Paxman YJCM diesel engines, which supplied 3,460 shaft horsepower (2,580 kW) to the two propellers.[2][3] The vessels could achieve a top speed of 24 knots (44 km/h; 28 mph), and had a range of 1,200 nautical miles (2,200 km; 1,400 mi) at 13 knots (24 km/h; 15 mph).[2][3] The ship's company consisted of three officers and sixteen sailors.[3] Main armament was a bow-mounted Bofors 40 mm gun, supplemented by two .50-calibre M2 Browning machine guns and various small arms.[2][3] The ships were designed with as many commercial components as possible: the Attacks were to operate in remote regions of Australia and New Guinea, and a town's hardware store would be more accessible than home base in a mechanical emergency.[4]

Advance was laid down by Walkers Limited at Maryborough, Queensland in March 1967,[5] launched on 16 August 1967, and commissioned on 24 January 1968.[6] It was the third ship of its class.[7]

Advance operated out of HMAS Coonawarra in Darwin, Northern Territory between 1968 and 1980.[4] As well as the standard duties for her class, Advance was also used for surveillance, search-and-rescue, and hydrographic survey (in company with the survey ship HMAS Moresby).[4][6]

During 1968, Advance and sister ship Attack shadowed the Soviet trawler Van Gogh, which operated in the Gulf of Carpentaria for two months.[6][8]

Advance and three other patrol boats were in Darwin Harbour on 25 December 1974, when Cyclone Tracy hit.[9] Advance and Assail managed to escape serious damage, but Attack was forced aground and suffered hull damage, and Arrow collided with Stoke's Hill Wharf and sank.[9]

During 1975 and 1976, Advance regularly operated as part of Operation Trochus: a concentrated effort to respond to illegal fishing vessels in northern Australian waters.[6]

Stern view of Advance

From late 1977, the patrol boat was assigned to HMAS Waterhen in Sydney for patrols along Australia's eastern coast,[6] but was redeployed elsewhere when necessary.

In 1979, Advance was one of two Attack-class vessels used to portray the fictional HMAS Ambush; setting of the ABC television series Patrol Boat.[4][6]

Following her replacement by a Fremantle-class patrol boat in 1980, Advance was reassigned as a training ship.[4] She was assigned to the Sydney Port Division of the Royal Australian Navy Reserve in February 1982.[6]

The patrol boat participated in the 1986 Naval Review.[6]

Advance was decommissioned on 6 February 1988, and was transferred to the Australian National Maritime Museum (ANMM).[4][6][7]

The patrol boat has been maintained in operational condition by the ANMM.[4]

In October 2013 Advance participated in the International Fleet Review 2013 in Sydney, celebrating the centenary of the Royal Australian Navy.[10]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:
HMAS Advance (P 83) (category)

• Patrol Boat: HMAS Advance – vessel page at the Australian National Maritime Museum

33°52.15′S 151°11.995′E