HMAS Advance

Vessel numberHV000357

(not assigned)83

Owner Australian National Maritime Museum

Previous owner Royal Australian Navy (Australian, founded 1913)

Builder Walkers Ltd

Designer Commonwealth of Australia Navy Office

Vessel type Royal Australian Navy Vessels

Date1967

DimensionsVessel Dimensions: 32.9 m x 6.1 m x 2.38 m, 149 tonnes (107.94 ft x 20.01 ft x 7.81 ft, 146.62 tons)

DescriptionHMAS ADVANCE - the third of the class - was built by Walkers Ltd of Maryborough, Queensland. Launched in 1967 and commissioned in January 1968 it was a high-speed patrol boat capable of 24 knots. The design was based on the concept of using medium-range diesel vessels to replace short-range, petrol-driven timber craft. The hull is steel while the superstructure is aluminium. HMAS ADVANCE was lightly armed for small-scale encounters, with one 40 mm Bofors gun and two 0.5-inch machine guns to put warning shots across the bows of a suspect vessel. The ship's complement was 19 crew (3 officers and 16 sailors). It is powered by British Paxman engines and has American generators. A particular modification to the Attack class was the use of readily available commercial components in some of the fit-out. This was because of their need to operate in remote northern waters far from military bases, where their best supply source might be the hardware store of an isolated coastal town.

HMAS ADVANCE arrived in Darwin on 20 April 1968 and served out of Darwin in patrol boat squadrons until 1980. Its pennant number was P 83. Originally it served in the 1st Australian Patrol Boat Squadron, but in 1970 this was split and with sister ships ASSAIL and ATTACK it formed the 3rd Australian Patrol Boat Squadron. During that time it helped shadow a Russian fishing boat VAN GOGH suspected of spying, dispersed large numbers of illegal foreign fishing boats, weathered Cyclone Tracy in 1974, assisted in hydrographic surveys of the northwest coast around Broome and Port Hedland, and featured in the popular ABC-TV series Patrol Boat. In 1970 it visited Indonesia and East Timor and in the same year was awarded the Mine Warfare and Patrol Forces Proficiency Shield.

When the Attack class was superceded by the larger Fremantle class patrol boat, HMAS ADVANCE became a training ship for the Naval Reserve. Decommissioned in 1988, HMAS ADVANCE was transferred to the Australian National Maritime Museum in operational but unarmed condition where in 2009 it was on display at the museum wharves.
SignificanceHMAS ADVANCE is an Attack Class patrol boat built in 1967 for the Royal Australian Navy by Walkers Ltd in Marybororugh Queensland. It was designed at the Navy Office in Canberra, under the direction of naval architetct Ted Bell. It is the only one of the original 20 craft built still in operational condition in Australia. HMAS ADVANCE was built during the period in which Australia became closely involved in the Asia-Pacific region. Naval strategy at the time identified a need to improve coastal surveillance with purpose-built RAN vessels. As a result HMAS ADVANCE was designed and built In Australia adapting elements and items of both English and American origin to suit Australian requirements and conditions.

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