Navy's new stealthy patrol boats

[MikeJames]

The Navy has apparently acquired two new patrol boats by stealth. These new vessels are so stealthy that almost no one knows that they have them, disguised as they are by being painted with a blue hull and white upper works.



Apparently the RAN has acquired two of the Australian Border Force's new Cape Class Patrol Boats. This is because the Cape Class, which were delivered on time and budget, require a crew of 18 rather than the 10 of the preceding Bay Class and the newly renamed ABF simply doesn't have the warm bodies to crew all eight of the new vessels.



The solution they came up with was to hand two of them over to the Navy to operate until the ABF recruits and trains enough people to crew the two temporarily Navy-crewed boats.

I don't have a time frame on how long the RAN will crew both boats, probably a good 6-12 months while the ABF recruit and train crews, at which time the ADF will hand them back to their owners, hopefully none the worse for wear.

Given their obvious similarity to the Armidale's, albeit an Armidale that's been overeating, Navy apparently had no issue crewing them.

Mike

[rritchie71]

That probably means the Navy has to tie up another Anzac due to lack of available crew...

On the other side, I think a Cape class would make a great model, a very nice looking ship.

Cheers

Robert

[sjbatche]

Hi Rob

I agree that the Cape Class are a great looking ship and would make an interesting model. I have started on a hull for these ships, might have to put some pictures in the projects area with progress so far.

Steve B.

[BsHvyCgn9]

The RAN would have had a spare crew sitting about off BATHURST.......

[MikeJames]

Australian border force loans two Cape-class offshore patrol vessels to Royal Australian Navy
Ridzwan Rahmat, Singapore - IHS Jane's Defence Weekly
26 October 2015


Cape Wessel, sister ship of the Cape-class patrol boats Cape Nelson and Cape Byron, both of which are currently on loan to the Royal Australian Navy. Source: Austal

Key Points
The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) is currently operating two Cape-class patrol boats on loan from the Australian Border Force
The vessels have been transferred temporarily to support the RAN's efforts to meet its border security operations commitments
The Australian Border Force (ABF) has temporarily transferred two Cape-class offshore patrol vessels to the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) to enable the navy to meet its border security operations commitments, spokespersons for both the Department of Immigration and Border Protection and Department of Defence (DoD) have confirmed with IHS Jane's .

The vessels are Cape Byron , which was handed over to the RAN on 24 July 2015, and Cape Nelson , which was transferred on 1 October 2015. Both vessels are being operated by RAN personnel.

"With the loss of HMAS Bundaberg in August 2014 and the recent commencement of the structural remediation programme for the Armidale-class Patrol Boat fleet, which will increase to two vessels concurrently from December 2015, the additional [Cape-class patrol boats] are being used by Defence to meet its commitments for border security operations," said the DoD in response to queries from IHS Jane's .

According to IHS Jane's Fighting Ships , the Cape class has an overall length of 57.8 m, a beam of 10.3 m, and a draught of 3 m. Powered by two Caterpillar 3516C diesel engines, the platforms have a top speed of 25 kt and a standard range of 4,000 n miles at 12 kt. Each vessel can accommodate 18 crew and embark two rigid-hull inflatable boats (RHIBs) that can be launched simultaneously for interception duties. The platforms are armed with two deck-mounted 12.7 mm machine guns.

With the transfer of the vessels to the RAN, the ABF now operates six Cape-class boats instead of eight. The service has, however, downplayed any suggestion that the transfer might affect its own maritime security operations capacity.