Armidale Class Patrol Boat Crew Ardent Five

Commanding Officer	Lieutenant Commander Paul Hines

The fifth crew of the Ardent Division of the Armidale Class Patrol Boat Squadron formally came into being on the 21st May 2007.

Since that date the crew of 21 men and women have been training in order to safely take one of the RANs patrol boats to sea. This training has a multitude of facets from weapons training to Occupational Health and Safety to learning how to operate the highly complex and computerised systems of the Armidale Patrol boats. This training will carry on into the latter half of the year culminating in an operational assessment by the Sea Training group prior to our first patrol in the waters off Northern Australia in October.

The Crew will be formally inaugurated into the RAN on the 7th July in Cairns along with the sixth Ardent Crew.

The formation of the fifth and sixth crews completes the Ardent Division which is based in Cairns. The six crews will rotate through the four Cairns based boats; HMAS Bundaberg, Wollongong, Childers and Launceston. The multi crewing concept means that the Crew has a much more stable programme. This enables the crew members to plan ahead to a much greater degree than ever before, a fact that is much appreciated by both the members and their families.

Ardent 5 is affiliated with TS Marmion in Perth WA and we look forward to a happy and constructive relationship with them.