Starting in the late 1960s, planning began for a new class of patrol boat to replace the Attack class, with designs calling for improved seakeeping capability, and updated weapons and equipment.[1] The Fremantles had a full load displacement of 220 tonnes (220 long tons; 240 short tons), were 137.6 feet (41.9 m) long overall, had a beam of 24.25 feet (7.39 m), and a maximum draught of 5.75 feet (1.75 m).[2] Main propulsion machinery consisted of two MTU series 538 diesel engines, which supplied 3,200 shaft horsepower (2,400 kW) to the two propeller shafts.[2] Exhaust was not expelled through a funnel, like most ships, but through vents below the waterline.[3] The patrol boat could reach a maximum speed of 30 knots (56 km/h; 35 mph), and had a maximum range of 5,000 nautical miles (9,300 km; 5,800 mi) at 5 knots (9.3 km/h; 5.8 mph).[2] The ship's company consisted of 22 personnel.[2] Each patrol boat was armed with a single Bofors 40mm gun as main armament, supplemented by two .50 cal Browning machineguns and an 81 mm mortar,[2] although the mortar was removed from all ships sometime after 1988.[citation needed] The main weapon was originally to be two 30-mm guns on a twin-mount, but the reconditioned Bofors were selected to keep costs down; provision was made to install an updated weapon later in the class' service life, but this did not eventuate.[3][4]
Geraldton was laid down by NQEA in Cairns, Queensland on 3 May 1982, launched on 22 October 1983, and commissioned into the RAN on 10 December 1983.[5]
Fate
Geraldton was decommissioned on 7 October 2006.[6] The patrol boat was broken up for scrap in Darwin during 2006 and 2007, at a cost of $450,000 to the Australian government.[7]
Citations
^Mitchell, Farewell to the Fremantle class, p. 105
^ abcdeGillett, Australian and New Zealand Warships since 1946, p. 89
^ abGillett, Australian and New Zealand Warships since 1946, p. 88
^Jones, in Stevens, The Royal Australian Navy, p. 222
Gillett, Ross (1988). Australian and New Zealand Warships since 1946. Brookvale: Child & Associates. ISBN0-86777-219-0. OCLC23470364.
Jones, Peter (2001). "Towards Self Reliance". In Stevens, David (ed.). The Royal Australian Navy. The Australian Centenary History of Defence (vol III). South Melbourne: Oxford University Press. ISBN0-19-555542-2. OCLC50418095.
