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Occasional Paper 60: Naval Gigs: Past and Present

August 2019

By Dennis J Weatherall JP TM AFAITT(L) LSM, Volunteer Researcher, Naval Historical Society of Australia

Subsequent to the recent recovery of an HMAS Australia (1) Gig from bushland at Coles Bay, Tasmania, reported in Issue 28, March 2019 edition of Call the Hands, Naval Historical Society researchers attempted to determine where the gig was built.  They also examined the history and use of gigs which dates back to the 17th century.  This paper provides more information on the history of that particular gig and an overview of the use and development of gigs from e 17th century to the present.

Fortunately, the history of the Australia (1) gig was researched by Mr Mike Web of the Maritime Museum of Tasmania.  Mike provided the following history.

Two gigs were brought from Sydney to Tasmania in 1922 by HMAS Australia.  It appears they were used by HMAS Huon (naval base) in Hobart.  The 1st Derwent Sea Scouts based at HMAS Huon bought them in 1931 for one pound each.  They were named Bass and Flinders.  Both were sold in 1966 to the late Alan Emanuel, Lindisfarne, who was going to use them to make a catamaran.

In the 1967 bush fire Bass was ashore and was lost, Flinders was afloat and survived.  The Flinders was given to Maritime Museum of Tasmania in 1984.  As the Museum was then on a site at Battery Point with little space, it was stowed upside down at the work site of Philip Fowler.  It then went to the Augusta Road Primary School propped up by rocks.  There as it can imagined it received most of her damage.  She was then sold to a fisherman in 1996, Peter McGee, who took it from Margate to a site north of Coles Bay.  It was to be used to develop an oyster farm in November 2005.

Gig active with Sea Scouts at HMAS Huon in 1959

A neighbour of the property where the gig lay reported that there was an old inshore whale boat down in the bush at Coles Bay.  As Mike Web regularly visited Coles Bay he went to see this boat.  As a former Chief Officer of HMS Worcester (training ship on the River Thames) which had two gigs identical to the reported boat near Coles Bay identification was not difficult.  Further research found the gig was of an 1860 design which superseded the Captain’s Galley.

The Design was based on the West Country (UK) pilot gig that was normally about 32’ and had two masts, standing lug on the main mast and a dipping lug on the Mizzen mast and 6 oars.  Further contact with UK authorities indicated that the number 271 on the forward thwart of Flinders did not tally with their records.

28’ Gigs from HMS “Worcester, Mike Webb image

It has been suggested that the gig is built of Kauri.  Hence Mike believed she was built in Sydney to naval plans.  The register of boats when HMAS Australia sailed from the UK did not include gigs.  This being the case there were only two possible yards where the gig could have been built, either the Commonwealth Naval Dockyard at Cockatoo Island or Garden Island, Sydney.

A check of records of the Commonwealth Naval Dockyard at Cockatoo Island which built many small craft; cutters, whalers, skiffs, dinghies etc. for Naval Stores and specific ships between 1914 and 1921 showed that the registered number for the Australia (1) gig was not included in the records.

The Cockatoo Island Dockyard built two 30 foot gigs in 1914-15 for Naval Stores, but their numbers were 367 and 368.  A 24 foot gig was built in 1916 for HMAS Franklin (at a cost of £108), No. 369.  Several more from 18 feet to 24 feet were built for various ships, including transports which were generally not numbered.

There was no record of a gig with a length of 28 ft 4 inches or any boat numbered 271.

Having eliminated its construction in both the UK and Cockatoo Island it is quite likely to have been built at Garden Island and possible the ‘Boat Shed’ which is now home to the Naval Historical Society of Australia.

At the time, gigs were managed as a stores pool item as is the case with ships boats today.  Boats were not dedicated to any particular ship.

The heritage significance of the Australia (1) Gig is that it is the last of its type in Australia.

HMAS Australia 1 with ships boats slung on very high davits adjacent the main mast and funnel. RAN Image

By definition gigs are lightweight ships boats of varying length rowed by four, six, or eight long oars.  Traditionally, they were reserved as the captain or commander’s personal boat.  This being the case there is no surprise that the saying “A ship is known by her boats” developed.  The appearance of a gig was a matter of ships company pride.  This also applied to the crew’s appearance, handling, management and bearing.

Layout Plan of a GIG shown in Service Rig, Image from; The Pilot, Autumn 2007 edition No.291

When the Royal Australian Navy was established there were some seven types of boats carried in Royal Navy and RAN ships.  The mix of boats carried in a warship varied with the size and Class of the warship.  The range of boats used during the early years of the RAN included;

Pulled or Sail Powered

 
Launch 42ft,

Pinnace 30 or 36 ft,

Cutter 25 or 34 ft,

Galley 32 ft,

 Gig 28 or 30 ft,

Whaler 24 or 27 ft,

Dinghy 13.5 or 16 ft.
Steam Powered

 
Pinnace 40 or 56 ft,

Barge 40 ft

(for Admirals),

 Cutter (various lengths, 23, 25, 27 and 32 ft.)

 

With the advent of steam powered warships and their boats and phasing out of sailing ships as “men of war” in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, pulling boats remained important for seamanship training and as a means of maintaining physical fitness.  Pulling events were also an outlet for competitive spirit amongst ships of the fleet.  “Away all boats, pull around the fleet” or “Man and Arm boats”, “Away duty sea boat” where piped for various drills.  Racing under oars or sail weren’t just for fleet regatta days.  Gig crews manned single-banked oars with the stroke pulling a starboard oar and the rest of the crew pulling port and starboard alternatively.

The earliest record of a gig dates from 1666 when Gigs from St Mary’s on the Scilly Isles rescued the crew of British East India Company’s Royal Oak which had been wrecked on the Bishop Rock.  There’s little documentation to be found on early Gigs but its design evolved over time until it matured in the early 19th century.  Records show a William Peters of Polvarth near St Mawes started building high quality Gigs in 1790.  His advanced design became the blue print for the Pilot Gigs that met the sailing ships and offered “pilot service” to inbound Merchant Captains.

In 1812 William Peters received an order for three Gigs to be shipped to Burma (today’s Myanmar).  However, due to lack of deck space on the ship transporting them to Rangoon one wasn’t embarked.  This Gig was in turn sold to the “Newquay Pilots” and it was named “Newquay”, this same vessel is still raced today by the Newquay Rowing Club UK, some 207 years on.

Most Gigs built for the Royal Navy were 30 foot in length and with a beam of 6 foot, fitted with two masts and a steel (70lb) centreplate, drop keel.  The Admiralty Manual of Seamanship states that the 30 ft Gig “was the fastest service boat under sail and oars!”.  The crew was six plus a coxswain.

Gigs remain popular today, particularly on the English south coast in Devon and Cornwell.  Here there is a large following of Pilot Gig racing with boats built in the traditional manner by local shipwrights.  The tradition stems from the race to get a pilot from shore to an incoming vessel in need of a pilot to navigate in confined waters.  The fastest gig rowers got the payment.

Cornish Pilot Gig under construction, looking aft. Brian Nobbs image.
Gig under construction in Launceston, Cornwall UK. Brian Nobbs image.

Construction takes from four to six months with the launch of a new Gig a major occasion.  Gigs are often launched at the World Championships in Scilly, where the local vicar blesses new vessels.  Through this sport traditional shipwright skills are maintained and knowledge of the historic Gig is not lost to history.

References:

The Pilot Gigs of Cornwall and The Scilly Isles, The Pilot, Autumn 2007 edition No.291, available at  http://www.pilotmag.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/pilotmag-291-final.pdf

Brian Nobbs Cornish Pilot Gig Builder, available at http://www.pilot-gig-builder.co.uk/pilot-gigs.asp

Occasional Paper 51: The Attack Class Patrol Boat

April 2019

By Dennis J Weatherall JP TM AFAITT(L) LSM

Volunteer Researcher, Naval Historical Society of Australia

Patrol boats have proven to be the most flexible and versatile elements of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) since World War 2.  Every day they are at sea patrolling Australian waters and protecting our national interests.  They play an active role in the enforcement of Australian legislation pertaining to; illegal immigration, fishing, quarantine and smuggling.

Between World War 2 and 2019 the Royal Australian Navy has operated five classes of patrol boats commencing with the Bathurst class built between 1940 and 1942.  Then followed the Ton class, Attack class, Fremantle class and in current service, the Armidale class.

Experience during the period of Indonesian Confrontation (1963-6) with the Ton class demonstrated the value of small vessels for patrol and interdiction tasks.  However, the Ton class propulsion system was not suited to loitering and they were expensive to maintain.  This experience led the RAN to introduce the Attack class to conduct patrol work in Australian territorial waters.

This paper examines the design, construction and operations of the Attack class and provides some insight into their habitability.

HMAS ADVANCE launched 16th August 1967,
commissioned 6 February 1968. ANMM image

User Requirement

The requirement for a new Royal Australian Navy Patrol Boat design commenced in May 1963 with an official request from Navy for a preliminary feasibility study for a boat of simple characteristics, around 70-80 feet in length with a speed of approximately 12 knots, and accommodation for a minimum of 2 Officers, 2 Petty Officers and 10 Junior Sailors.

From these initial and additional requirements, the final design developed by Department of Navy naval architects resulted in a vessel that could carry out; general duties, harbour defence, pursuit and interception tasks.

The final design required the following;

Capabilities:

•           Search & rescue

•           Seaward defence

•           Coast Watching

•           Target towing

•           Boarding operations

 

 Navigation:

·       Radar, transistorised light weight commercial unit

·       Gyro compass, similar to Arma Brown commercial units

·       Magnetic compass,

·       Echo sounder of a type similar to Ferrograph, a Trident Log with a bridge repeater

·       Training:  for Junior Officers and sailors (PNF and Reserve) in ship handling
Training

for Junior Officers and sailors (PNF and Reserve) in ship handling

 Communications

A package for both external and internal use for control and navigation.

 
Speed

Maximum, 23 knots

Cruising, 15 knots

 Weapons

A power-operated single Bofor gun on forecastle immediately forward of superstructure with similar mount aft.  Provision for small arms and ammunition
Endurance

At maximum continuous speed: 500 miles

At cruising speed: at least 1500 miles

Water & victuals: 14 days

 Accommodation

to approved standards, fitted with air-conditioning for tropical area operation
Dimensions

length 100-120 ft and

draught of 5-8 ft

 Life-saving equipment

RAN standard

 
Propulsion

Twin screw, simple and reliable in operation

 Ships Boat

14 ft dingy (approximately)

Delivered Capabilities and Specifications

The boat ‘as delivered’ generally met the required specifications, e.g. length 107.5 feet (32.76M), draught 6.2 feet (1.9M) and a speed of 24 knots.  Full details of the boat as delivered are at Annex A.

Service Life and Disposal

The original plan was to build twenty boats, although the class type was designated the Attack, the boat bearing the class name was the tenth pennant number allocated, fifth launched and second commissioned four days after Aitape # P84.  Pennant numbers ran from 81-95 and 97-101, (20 numbers) but Pennant number 96 was never allocated, nor could I find a reason for skipping this specific number.

HMAS Archer in Jervis bay showing her original thin style pennant number

The Attack class (A) Boats were built at two Queensland engineering works; Evans Deakin (Brisbane) built 13 and Walkers Ltd (Maryborough) built 7.

Five Patrol Boats were purpose built for New Guinea service and named accordingly.  They were used for patrol and general duties in Australian and surrounding waters before transfer to the PNG Defence Force.  The boats destined for New Guinea service were HMAS Aitape, Samarai, Ladua, Lae and Madang.  These vessels, after Independence, were retitled HMPNG Ships.  The table provided in Annex B lists all twenty vessels built; by whom, pennant numbers, dates laid down and dates launched and commissioned.

The Attack class gave good service over more than two decades.  HMAS Bayonet, built by Walkers Ltd was the last boat launched (6 November 68) and commissioned on 22 February 69.  The last boat to decommission was HMAS Aware on 17 July 1993.

Five boats were gifted to the PNG Government;  Aitape, Samarai, Ladava, Lae and Madang.  Nine were either gifted or purchased by Indonesia.  These were:

RAN Name TNI Name
Acute P81 KRI Sikuda # 863
Archer P86 KRI Siliman # 848
Ardent P87 sold privately, then bought by Indonesia. KRI Tenggin # 865
Assail P89 KRI Sigurot # 864
Attack P90 KRI Sikuda # 863
Bandolier P95 KRI Sibarau # 847
Barbette P97 KRI Siada # 862
Barricade P98 KRI Sigalu # 857
Bombard P99 KRI Siribura # 859

 

Two boats were sunk as targets, Adroit on 8 August 1994 and Buccaneer on 8 October 1988.

Loss of HMAS Arrow

HMAS Arrow floundered alongside Stokes Hill Wharf during Cyclone Tracy on 25 December 1974 with the loss of two lives, Petty Officer Leslie Catton and Able Seaman Ian Rennie.  Arrow and Attack had attempted to sail Port Darwin and ride out the cyclone at sea, but neither vessel made it out of the port.  Arrow was unlucky and was blown under Stokes Hill Wharf and wrecked.  Attack was driven ashore at Doctor’s Gully without sustaining any casualties.  Arrow was re-floated by DT1 on 13 January 1975 by attaching pontoons to her hull and, with the assistance of tugs, the wreck was towed underwater to the shallows of Frances Bay, where she was surveyed, written off as a wreck and put up for sale.

HMAS Arrow, lost in Darwin during Cyclone Tracy, 1974 RAN images

A local businessman purchased what was once a proud patrol boat, his idea was to restore her, but it proved far too expensive, therefore a decision was made to break her up where she lay.

HMAS Advance was the third boat in Darwin at the time.  She escaped damage at sea.  One of HMAS Arrow’s name boards is proudly displayed in the Mess at HMAS Waterhen, once her home base.

HMAS Advance at sea. RAN image

HMAS Advance is the last remaining Attack class patrol boat maintained as an operating exhibit by the Australian National Maritime Museum in Darling Harbour, Sydney.  Advance is a proud reminder of the twenty boats built between 6 July 1967 and 6 November 1968 to protect Australia’s 200nm economic zone, fishing rights and just about any other task directed.  They welcomed fleeing South Vietnamese after the Fall of Saigon in April 1975, and towed many a craft safely to our shores.  They were work-horses with more sea time than many major fleet units.  Once a “boat-man”, you always wished to stay in what was often referred to as “McHale’s Navy”.  There wasn’t much of our extensive coastline that we didn’t pass or “drop the pick” in some secluded bay or river entrance, from Cooktown into the Gulf and down the West Australian coast.

Life in an ‘A’ Boat

The combination of a small, relatively junior crew, remote area operations and cycle of 6 weeks on patrol and 2 weeks in home port resulted in close-knit self-reliant ships companies very proud of their boat.  Dress standards in the tropics were relaxed with the ships ‘T’ shirt, shorts and sandals frequently dress of the day.  Multi-tasking was essential for the conduct of evolutions such as boarding operations and during leave periods.  Young and inexperienced hands quickly learnt under guidance from the CO and senior sailors.  Training in an ‘A’ boat occurred naturally.

Habitability was adequate but some design shortcomings created frustrations.  ‘A’ boats were not designed for crew comfort in heavy sea states!  Operations in conditions above sea states 4 and 5 (moderate to rough seas) curtailed many activities particularly boarding operations.  They rolled uncomfortably in moderate conditions often creating havoc due to design issues.  As an example, the galley range door which was oriented longitudinally would fly open in heavy seas.  Local modifications such as attaching a gate bolt to keep what was cooking in the oven were necessary.  As an aside, one day before the modification was carried out, I found our LSCK chasing half-baked chickens across the deck after we hit some rather heavy seas!  You can imagine the mess of oil (from the chickens), the baking tray and one rather irate cook chasing scran across the deck!

The senior sailor’s bathroom located in the peak of the bow presented another challenge.  It was some real fun sitting on the heads when underway heading into a forceful sea state, and an impossibility to shower without a very wet deck when the shower curtain swung to starboard at 40-plus degrees.  Laundry facilities were ‘Heath Robinson’ with a washing machine lashed to the mast for use alongside when adequate fresh water was available.  The engine room doubled as a drying room.

Throughout their service Attack class boats developed a proud and respected reputation so much so that the Australian Broadcasting Commission produced a television series based on actual events with which they dealt.  They certainly lived up to their short sharp mottos which are listed in Annex C.

Attack Class Successor: The Fremantle Class

Planning for the new Fremantle class patrol boats commenced in 1970.  Experience gained from operating twenty Attack class boats identified numerous areas for improvement in the new design.  By September 1970 the Navy proposed construction of ten additional new patrol boats to commence entering service between 1976 and 1980.  These additional vessels would augment the Attack class and also replace the two General Purpose Vessels HMAS Bass and Banks.

HMAS Fremantle RAN image

The acquisition of replacement patrol craft was announced in April 1975 with eleven shipbuilders invited to tender.  On 22 September 1977 the Minister of Defence (James Killen) announced the PCF450 design had been selected and fifteen boats would be built at a cost of AUD 115 million.

The lead vessel HMAS Fremantle was built in the UK by Brooke Marine of Lowestoft.  The remainder were built in Australia by North Queensland Engineers and Agents.  Fremantle was allocated pennant number 203 and following commissioning, 17 March 1980 made one of the longest duration delivery voyages in RAN history taking 82 days.  Fremantle arrived at her home base, HMAS Waterhen on 27 August 1980.  She had sailed 14,509 nautical miles, probably the longest voyage undertaken by a single RAN patrol boat.

With HMAS Fremantle came the new class of patrol boats and additional duties as they were integrated into the Fleet.  Attack class boats progressively handed over the reins to the Fremantles until they were all decommissioned.  In turn, the Fremantles were superseded by the Armidale Class, but that is another story!

Annexes

  1. Attack Class Patrol Boat: Delivered Capabilities and Specifications
  2. Attack Class Patrol Boat: Key Dates
  3. Attack Class Patrol Boat: Mottos

References:

  • Personal experience from boats on which I served (Dennis Weatherall)
  • Design of Patrol Boats for RAN – J.J. Follan M.R.I.N.A. (Royal Institution of Naval Architects Australia)
  • Australian Ships of War – John Bastock Published 1975 Pages 372-382
  • Welcome to the Armidale Class, Semaphore February 2006, Issue 4
  • Australian Patrol Combatants, April 2010, Semaphore 2010 Issue 3,
  • HMAS Arrow, Sea Power Centre Australia Website, accessed 30 March 2019

Annex A

Attack Class Patrol Boat: Delivered Capabilities and Specifications

The following describes the Attack class as delivered to the RAN

Displacement:  100 tons standard, 146 tons fully loaded, length 107.5 ft (32.8m), beam 20 ft (6.1m), draught 7.3 ft (2.2m) at full load, propulsion 2×16 cylinder Paxman YJCM diesel engines 2 shafts, speed 24 knots (44 km or 28 mph), complement 3 Officers/4 Senior Sailors/12 Junior Sailors, armament 1×40 mm Mk 7 Bofor gun, 2 x .50 calibre machine guns, sufficient SLR and AR mix of rifles and hand guns.

Hull:  The Attack class main hull was constructed of steel frame, bulkheads, deck beams were designed in mild steel of all-welded construction.  The superstructure, funnel and masts were constructed of aluminium alloy of all-welded construction and “huck-bolted[1]” to the main hull structure.

Accommodation was located forward in the bow for 4 Senior Sailors.  Senior Sailors’ bunks were two up port and starboard.  Officers were accommodated in 2 cabins; Executive officer and Navigator, in a 2-off cabin forward opposite the radio office before entering the Senior Sailors’ Mess, starboard-side.  The CO had a single cabin aft of the forward ladder to the lower deck and adjacent the magazine.  All three officers shared a bathroom and heads directly opposite the forward ladder, accessible from the wardroom flat.  These spaces were lined, with a white laminate and insulated, joins were neatly covered with natural timber trim.  The Junior Sailors’ Mess was located aft immediately behind the engine room and forward of the tiller flat.  Bunks were steel constructed, 3 up on the port side and 3 on the starboard side, split 6 forward and 6 aft, with a coat locker dividing sleeping area from the general mess.

Fuel Tank Capacity:  Diesel, 6 main tanks of 20 tons capacity; 2 ferrying tanks of 2.5 tons;

Fresh Water Tank Capacity:  normal capacity 4 tanks of 6.5 tons.  Fresh water maximum capacity was 7.5 tons.  These fresh water tanks were built into the hull.  In order to conserve fresh water, an alternative salt water supply (if needed) could be operated in all three bathroom shower heads.  When fresh water was scarce and top-up was impossible due to location, passing rain squalls were a welcome shower alternative on the quarter deck.

Steering Gear was fitted as a “Mathway” light weight power-assisted unit.  It could be operated from either the Bridge, Wheelhouse or the emergency steering position in the Tiller flat, also known as the Bosun’s Store aft, directly over the ship’s rudder area.  In the event of any hydraulic failure, this equipment could function without any power assistance but extremely hard on the arms.

Deck Machinery on the forecastle consisted of an anchor windlass of one cable lifter and two warpends driven by a 4.5 hp electric motor through an enclosed worm reduction gearbox.  The windlass was also arranged for emergency hand operations.

Anchor was a 180 pound (81.8 kg) “Danforth” type fitted with 11/16 inch chain cable.

Galley was located immediately aft of the Wheelhouse on the main deck before exiting the forward superstructure.  All equipment was electric and consisted of one single oven range with four hot plates and a grill plate.  A 15 cubic feet upright refrigerator, one 7.5 gallon hot water urn for brews (always ready for use 24 hrs/day) and one use-all mixer/mincer.

Provisions Room – located at the bottom of the aft ladder into the Junior Sailors’ Mess directly opposite their bathroom, it took up the entire compartment, 21 cubic ft capacity in which we stored all meats, frozen milk, bread and the beautiful, pre-packed “guinea pig” vegetables such as broccoli, sweet corn and peas.  Each Mess (x 3) also had a 5 cubic ft ready-use refrigerator – they also suffered from the same fore & aft placement onboard ship as our galley stove/range and often the fridge lock would spring open and whatever was inside quickly deposited itself on the deck!

Annex B

Attack Class Patrol Boat: Key Dates

The following table provides key dates (builder, pennant number, date laid down, launch and commission) for all twenty boats.

Name Pennant

Number

 Builder Launch

Date

 Commissioning Date Decommissioning Date History Post RAN Service
Acute P81 Evans Deakin 26/8/67 26/4/68 6/5/83 Indo KRI Sikuda # 863
Adroit P82 Evans Deakin 3/2/68 17/8/68 28/3/92 Sunk as target, August 1994
Advance P83 Walkers Ltd 16/8/67 24/1/68 6/2/88 Museum, ANMM Sydney
Aitape P84 Walkers Ltd 6/7/67 13/11/67 14/11/74 Transferred to HMPNGS, scuttled 1995
Samarai P85 Evans Deakin 14/7/67 1/3/68 14/11/74 Transferred to HMPNGS
Archer P86 Walkers Ltd 2/12/67 15/5/68 21/5/74 Indo KRI Siliman # 848
Ardent P87 Evans Deakin 27/4/68 26/10/68 6/1/94 and Reclassified as TRNG NAV # A243.  Paid off Dec. 1998 Sold to Pvte Indo 2002 KRI Tenngeri #865
Arrow P88 Walkers Ltd 17/2/68 3/7/68 Lost in Darwin, 25/12/74 Cyclone Tracy
Assail P89 Evans Deakin 18/11/67 21/7/68 18/10/85 Indo KRI Sigurot

# 864
Attack P90 Evans Deakin 8/4/67 17/11/67 21/2/85 Indo KRI Sikuda # 863
Aware P91 Evans Deakin 7/10/67 21/6/68 17/7/93 Sold Pvte, scrapped 2011
Ladava P92 Walkers Ltd 11/5/68 13/11/67 14/11/74 T/fs to HMPNGS
Lae P93 Walkers Ltd 5/10/67 3/4/68 14/11/74 Transferred to HMPNGS
Madang P94 Evans Deakin 10/10/68 28/11/68 14/11/74 Transferred to HMPNGS
Bandolier P95 Walkers Ltd 2/10/68 14/12/68 16/11/73 Indo KRI Sibarau # 847
Barbette P97 Walkers Ltd 10/4/68 16/8/68 15/6/84 Indo KRI Siada

# 862
Barricade P98 Evans Deakin 29/6/68 26/10/68 20/5/82 Indo KRI Sigalu  #857
Bombard P99 Walkers Ltd 6/7/68 5/11/68 12/9/83 Indo KRI Siribura # 859
Buccaneer P100 Evans Deakin 14/9/68 11/11/69 27/7/84 Sunk as target 8/10/88
Bayonet P101 Walkers Ltd 6/11/68 22/2/69 26/6/88 Scuttled 21/9/99 in Victoria

Annex C

Attack Class Patrol Boat Mottos

The following is a list of mottos allocated to each boat.

 

P81 Acute                   “Swift to the Point”

P82 Adroit                   “Quick and Secure”

P83 Advance              “Never Look Back”

P84 Aitape                   “Tread Warily”

P85 Samarai               “United We Stand”

P86 Archer                  “Swiftly Sure”

P87 Ardent                  “Flame and Fury”

P88 Arrow                   “Straight as an Arrow”

P89 Assail                   “Cut Deep”

P90 Attack                  “Never Waver”

P91 Aware                  “Forever Alert”

P92 Ladava                 “Fight the Good Fight”

P93 Lae                       “Dare All”

P94 Madang                “Our Ship Your Shield”

P95 Bandolier              “Dressed to Kill”

# 96 not allocated.       Reason unknown

P97 Barbette               “Taut and Trim”

P98 Barricade             “They Shall Not Pass”

P99 Bombard              “Hit Hard”

P100 Buccaneer         “Seek and Find”

P101 Bayonet             “We Fix”

 

[1]   Huck-bolting is a patterned fastening, similar to a rivet, used frequently to fasten unlike metals together such as mild steel and aluminium.  It’s a screwed thread with a clamp nut.

Occasional Paper 22: HMAS Advance faces 50

An Article from ‘All Hands’ December 2017 edition
The Australian National Maritime Museum Volunteers’ Quarterly Newsletter

By Wal Robson

The museum’s popular patrol boat has a significant birthday coming up next month. A volunteer who helped build her tells her story.

 

Design

An Attack-class patrol boat of the Royal Australian Navy, HMAS Advance (83) was constructed during 1967 and commissioned into the RAN in 1968. She operated from Darwin and patrolled northern Australian waters for more than a decade, before becoming both a TV star and a training ship. After being decommissioned on 6 February 1988, Advance was transferred to the ANMM, where she remains. As records show that HMAS Advance was officially commissioned on 24 January 1968, she will turn 50 on 24 January 2018.

The patrol boats had a displacement of 100 tons at standard load and 146 tons at full load, were 107.6 feet (32.8m) in length overall, had a beam of 20 feet (6.1m), and draughts of 6.4 feet (2.0m) at standard load, and 7.3 feet (2.2m) at full load.

Propulsion machinery consisted of two 16-cylinder Paxman YJCM diesel engines, which supplied 3460 shaft horsepower (2580kW) to the two propellers. The vessels could achieve a top speed of 24 knots (44km/h; 28mph), and had a range of 1200 nautical miles (2200km; 1400mi) at 13 knots (24km/h; 15mph). The ship’s company consisted of three officers and 16 sailors.

Main armament was a bow-mounted Bofors 40mm gun, supplemented by a .50 calibre M2 Browning machine gun and various small arms. 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.

Construction

The patrol boats were built using an “assembly-line, prefabrication” method, where seven major sections plus the funnel were built by Commonwealth Engineering at their workshops in Rocklea (a suburb of Brisbane). Commonwealth Engineering decided on the “section” plan because the individual sections fitted easily into their rust-blasting and painting tunnel, and because of transport requirements to the Brisbane shipyard of Evans Deakin and to Walkers Pty Ltd in Maryborough. (Ten boats were assembled and fitted out by each of those shipyards; HMAS Advance was laid down at the Maryborough operation in March 1967.)

Before fit-out of the superstructure (pictured below) could start, a full-size timber model was made in a Brisbane workshop, and all the required equipment was fixed in place to ensure it would fit and be accessible. Once this was completed, final drawings were made and these were used by both shipyards for final fitting out.

 

During construction of the first boat, HMAS Attack, in Brisbane, the weight of every piece of equipment taken on board and any removed was recorded. The person given this task took his job very seriously. Unfortunately, this resulted in many misunderstandings, especially when a large item such as engine cooling piping was taken on board to check if it fitted and then taken back to the workshop for adjustment. Regardless of size, the weight of everything was recorded going aboard and again if it came off.

Assembly and launch

The shipyards used different assembly and launching techniques. Evans Deakin assembled their boats in a “dry dock” situation (below) and launched them by crane at any convenient time (bottom left). Walkers assembled and launched their boats on a conventional slipway (bottom right). Because the shipyard in Maryborough was on the Mary River which was affected by the rise and fall of the tide, some launches were conducted at night to coincide with the high tide.

HMAS Advance, for instance, was launched at 8pm on Wednesday, 16 August 1967, by Mrs F.L. George, wife of Rear-Admiral George of the RAN. Following fit-out, sea trials were conducted in Hervey Bay on 16 January 1968. Due to tidal conditions the boat left the shipyard very early in the morning to travel more than 50 kilometres down the Mary River to reach the bay. Following the trials, if all was successful or only minor adjustments were necessary, the boat would berth at the Urangan Pier until it was handed over to the Navy and formally commissioned.

It is recorded in the book Ship

Building at Walkers Limited: Maryborough, Qld, compiled by J.A. Concannon, HMAS Advance was handed over to the Navy on the same day as the sea trials 16 January 1968. The handing-over process consisted of a team of naval overseers accepting the boat on behalf of the Navy. The Navy then prepared for the formal commissioning. This took place at the historic Urangan Pier (pictured left) on 24 January 1968.

Advance’s operational history

Advance operated out of HMAS Coonawarra in Darwin, Northern Territory, between 1968 and 1980. 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).

  • During 1968, Advance and sister ship Attack shadowed the Soviet trawler Van Gogh, which operated in the Gulf of Carpentaria for two months.
  • Advance and three other patrol boats were in Darwin Harbour on 25 December 1974, when Cyclone Tracy hit. Advance and Assail managed to escape serious damage, but Attack was forced aground and suffered hull damage, and Arrow collided with Stokes Hill Wharf and sank. (See picture on following page.)
  • 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.
  • From late 1977, Advance was assigned to HMAS Waterhen in Sydney for patrols along Australia’s eastern coast 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.
  • Following her replacement by a Fremantle-class patrol boat in 1980, Advance was reassigned as a training ship. She was assigned to the Sydney Port Division of the Royal Australian Navy Reserve in February 1982.
  • Advance participated in the 1986 Naval Review.
  • Advance was decommissioned on 6 February 1988 and was transferred to the ANMM. In October 2013, Advance participated in the International Fleet Review 2013 in Sydney, celebrating the centenary of the Royal Australian Navy. The vessel is on permanent exhibition and is enjoyed by many visitors to the museum.

 Fate of the Attack-class boats

The boats Aitape, Ladava, Lae, Madang and Samarai were built for eventual hand-over to the Papua New Guinea Defence Force. This occurred on 14 November 1974 after PNG gained independence from Australia.

The following were progressively transferred to the Indonesian Navy: Sibarau (ex-Bandolier), Siliman (ex-Archer), Sigalu (ex-Barricade), Silea (ex-Acute), Siribua (ex-Bombard), Siada (ex-Barbette), Sikuda (ex-Attack), Sigurot (ex-Assail), Tenggiri (ex-Ardent).

Of the remaining six, Advance is the only one operational in Australia. Arrow was destroyed by Cyclone Tracy; Aware was eventually scrapped; Bayonet was scuttled; Adroit and Buccaneer were sunk as target practice.

 

Note:

The author worked as foreman electrician at Warburton Franki, Brisbane, on patrol boat electrics, 1966 to March 1968. From March 1968 to February 1969 he was a naval overseer at Maryborough, Qld.

Book Review: Australian Minesweepers at War by Mike Turner & Hector Donohue

Published by the Sea Power Centre, Canberra, 2018. Paperback of 328 pages with numerous black & white illustrations, portraits, tables and maps. The first edition of this publication was sold out and another run or online option is contemplated.

Mike Turner spent most of his working life with the RAN Experimental Laboratory, developing a vast knowledge of most aspects of mine warfare. He retired in 1990 as a Principal Research Scientist and became an industry consultant. Mike has published extensively on the theory behind MCM operations. After joining the RAN Hector Donohue sub-specialised in Clearance Diving and ASW. During his career he undertook an exchange posting with the RN as a Squadron MCM officer and commanded HMA Ships Yarra and Darwin, attaining the rank of Commodore before retiring in 1991. He joined Australian Defence Industries involved in the international sales of Australian designed minesweeping systems. These two men with a lifetime of MCM theoretical and practical experience have combined well in producing an excellent consolidation of mine warfare operations conducted by the RAN during two world wars.

We are reminded that mines laid by a German commerce raider off southeast Victoria in July 1917 fatally damaged a British steamship and, that the first casualties caused by enemy action on Australian soil during WWII were two sailors killed in July 1941 when attempting to render safe an enemy mine off the South Australian coast.

The vast scope of mine warfare on a world-wide scale is addressed with an estimated 700,000 mines laid in WWII which sank about 2,000 ships. Closer to home the coastal ship Bungareewas requisitioned into the RAN in October 1940 for conversion into a minelayer. She laid her first defensive mine field off the coast of New Guinea in August 1941 and continued in these operations around the Australian coastline and into the Pacific until December 1943. HMAS Bungareecould carry up to 467 mines and during her career laid over 9,000 mines. The authors also acknowledge the contribution made by the RAAF in Allied operations in laying mines throughout the Pacific theatre. After sowing these vast quantities of mines, comes the armistice, and another enormous task arose in sweeping them and making the sea lanes once more secure for safe navigation.

The role played by a great number of small ships and the men involved in mine warfare is covered in detail. This includes ships built for minesweeping duties and the large number of small ships requisitioned for similar duties. It took a long time to establish a mine warfare branch during WWI with a small number of vessels involved. However, in WWII the reaction was more positive with the early acquisition of the minelayer Bungaree, plus Bathurst-class minesweepers/corvettes built quickly in eight shipyards, and auxiliary mine warfare vessels, mostly requisitioned fishing vessels. Of these 92 ships, seven vessels were sunk, with extensive loss of life but only one was directly related to mine warfare operations, when HMAS Warrnambool,swept a mine which exploded under her hull and sank the vessel, with a number of injuries and four fatalities.

A number of RAN personnel served in the European theatre during WWII of which ten volunteered for the hazardous Bomb and Mine Disposal operations. This cohort performed truly remarkable tasks in rendering enemy mines safe. Some became the most highly decorated Australian naval personnel of the war. All four George Crosses and eight of the nine George Medals awarded to the RAN during WWII concerned those involved in these BMD operations.

Australian Minesweepers at War is possibly the most comprehensive volume of its type now available. While this volume mostly covers the period of two world wars, the post war clearance of explosive ordnance continues, especially in the Pacific Islands, to this day. Its detailed descriptions and technical knowledge is a great credit to the authors and it is both interesting, covering a critical aspect of naval history, and an important book of reference.

Reviewed by Trebor

 

 

The RAAF at Sea before World War II

The following article first appeared in the Air Power Development Centre Bulletin Pathfinder, Issue 175 dated April 2012 and is reproduced with their kind permission. The perspective of our sister service on the early days of naval aviation is greatly appreciated.

In the 1920s, when the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) came into being, the concept of the Australian government’s national defence was based predominantly on a maritime strategy led by Navy. Not only did the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) have the largest proportion of permanent full-time personnel but it also commanded the largest share of Australia’s total defence budget, despite expenditure cut-backs which inevitably followed the end of World War I. Doctrinally the RAN was tuned to operate in close concert with the Royal Navy within an imperial defence construct. The Singapore naval base, which served as the lynchpin of Britain’s (and hence Australia’s) plans for the defence of the empire east of the Suez Canal from the 1920s until 1942, was equally part of a maritime strategy.

The RAAF was formed in March 1921 on the explicit basis of maintaining the capability to support both the RAN and the Australian Army. This injunction was, no doubt, intended as unifying balm after a protracted and bruising battle between Army and Navy to win endorsement for their competing post-war air schemes. Their debate ended with the government’s decision in 1919 to have one separate Air Force serving the needs of both. Viewing the outcome purely in these terms, however, risks obscuring the fact that, from its earliest days, the RAAF had an underlying but rarely-articulated mission to assist the Navy in pursuing a maritime strategy for the defence of Australia.

Among the aircraft on the RAAF inventory in 1921 were six Fairey IIID floatplanes acquired from Britain to equip one of two planned seaplane squadrons under the initial organisational structure of the new service. The units failed to materialise after the planned scheme was curtailed for financial reasons, but the floatplanes remained in periodic use at Point Cook, where they proved useful for conducting surveys over coastal waters including the famous first flight around Australia in 1924. Although a training course for naval observers was started at Point Cook in 1923, it was realised that Air Force had no aircraft that could operate from the Navy’s main warships. Since the Fairey IIID was too large and heavy to fit into the limited space available, efforts were soon underway to find a more suitable aircraft type to replace it.

The Supermarine Seagull III amphibious flying boats that entered RAAF service in 1926 were actually little better than the Fairey IIID in both size and performance, but they were better suited to the task of assisting the Navy’s program for surveying the Great Barrier Reef – which became the main form of naval cooperation required of the RAAF for the next three years. The purchase of these aircraft was overtaken shortly afterwards by a government decision to also acquire for the RAN a 6000-ton seaplane tender, HMAS Albatross, with a surprise for the RAAF when it learnt that it was required to supply the aircraft and operating personnel to put onboard the new essel. Putting the Seagull IIIi nto Albatross was an expedient which lasted from February 1929 until  the ship was paid off from the RAN as an economy measure in 1933. During these years, however, Australia at least had the capability to conduct reconnaissance at sea, gunnery direction, torpedo spotting and survey work, all for the first time.

When first told in 1926 that it would be required to provide the aircraft for Albatross, Air Force set about drafting a specification for a new type of catapult-launched boat amphibian, but this failed to attract a manufacturer interested in building it, at least initially. By 1931, however, theVickersCompany in Britain had developed a design and asked the RAAF for a commitment to purchase. Although lacking any such authority, the Air Force chief gave the go-ahead and the result was that the RAAF received the first of 24 Seagull Vs in 1935. This aircraft (the first used by the RAAF with an enclosed cabin) proved useful not just for sea rescue work, but also carried bombs or depth charges, and soon won Vickers additional large orders from the RAF (which named the type the Walrus).

The Seagull V and Walrus aircraft, which the RAAF’s No 9 Squadron operated off the RAN’s cruisers, gave distinguished if unspectacular service until the squadron was disbanded in 1944. It was a sad statistic of the war that whenever the Navy lost one of its cruisers, it usually lost the RAAF detachment carried on board. The RAAF took casualties when HMAS Sydney was sunk in a clash with the German raider Kormoran in November 1941, when HMAS Perth encountered a Japanese invasion force in the Sunda Strait in March 1942, and when HMAS Canberra went down in the battle of Savo Island in August 1942. HMAS Australia also lost its Walrus and crew while attacking Vichy French naval forces at Dakar (in Senegal, West Africa) in September 1940. At least fifteen of 9 Squadron’s fatal wartime losses occurred during embarked action with the Navy.

In the preparations of the rearmament period before war began in 1939, the RAAF was also taking major new steps to strengthen its capacity to undertake long-range maritime patrols using land-based forces. From 1927 this role had been carried out mainly by two giant Supermarine Southampton flying boats based at Point Cook, but by the mid-1930s these were well and truly obsolescent. On the eve of World War II, the RAAF was in the process of raising a new maritime patrol unit (No 10 Squadron) equipped with giant long-range Short S25 Sunderland flying boats, to operate from a new seaplane base at Rathmines, on Lake Macquarie, NSW. Steps were in train to take delivery of the new aircraft as war began, causing the government to leave the squadron in England to fight alongside the RAF in Coastal Command.

The RAAF at Sea before World War II

Elsewhere within the RAAF, the Service had begun taking delivery from late 1936 of Avro Anson GR1aircraftpurchasedfromBritain. These  twin engine low-wing monoplanes, armed with bombs or depth charges, were considered suitable for coastal reconnaissance and had been adopted by RAF Coastal Command. Ultimately the RAAF would have over 1000 of these aircraft, though most were acquired for training rather than operational purposes. Late in 1938 the government had also approved the purchase of Bristol Beaufort aircraft, also from Britain, also for coastal patrol work, although none entered service before 1941.

The needs of fleet or naval cooperation, and the capacity to exert control over sea lanes and lines of approach to Australia, had demonstrably featured prominently in development plans for the RAAF virtually throughout its first two decades. This is exactly what might be expected of a Service required to participate in implementing the maritime strategy which underpinned planning for the defence of Australia between the world wars.

During the inter-war period the RAAF helped pursue a maritime strategy for the defence of Australia.

  • Technical limitations hindered efforts to operate from warships but in during 1929-1933 RAAF aircraft were embarked in an RAN seaplane carrier.
  • Navy’s cruisers carried Seagull V amphibians during 1935-1944, meaning many RAN combats resulted in RAAF casualties.

The full power of the Commonwealth Defence Force can only be developed if all its parts act in close co-operation one with the other. A portion of the proposed Air Force is, therefore, designed for co-operation with the Naval Forces and portion for co-operation with the Military Forces.

Submission to Australia’s Air Council on the Australian Air Force, December 1920

 

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