Driving sleek Ferrari of the sea
13 August 2007 By Graham Davis
Commanding Officer, LCDR Mark Taylor has likened his new steed, the 214 tonne Armidale Class patrol boat HMAS Wollongong, to a Ferrari sports car.
In recent weeks, in pre-commissioning workup and then operations, LCDR Taylor and his ship's company of 22 have put the new warship to the test, proving the capabilities of both ship and crew.
"On June 13 we were asked to go to the aid of a helicopter which had crashed off Mackay," LCDR Taylor said.
"We were 50 miles away at the time and went to 'best speed'.
"Wollongong went to 26 knots for about two hours but we were called off when another helicopter arrived at the scene," he added.
Two weeks of training in the Eastern Australia Training Area (off Jervis Bay) further tested and honed the ship and her men and women.
"I regard Wollongong as like a Ferrari sports car," LCDR Taylor said.
"She's fast, comfortable, has longer range than the Fremantles and has very modern equipment," the former Commander of Fremantle Class HMAS Bendigo, added.
HMAS Wollongong was commissioned at the Oil Wharf at Fleet Base East on June 23 by RADM Davyd Thomas, Fleet Commander.
The commissioning lady was Mrs Kylie Heron, wife of CMDR Wes Heron, RANR a former Commanding Officer of the Fremantle Class patrol boat, Wollongong (II).
" Wollongong is the first Armidale Class patrol boat to visit Brisbane" LCDR Taylor said as the sleek aluminium warship attracted many interested eyes as her pair of powerful MTU diesels pushed her towards the Naval Headquarters South Queensland wharf at Bulimba.
At the wharf LCDR Taylor was welcomed by Senior Naval Officer South Queensland CMDR Forbes Peters before he did an interview with Channel 9.
Returning "home" was one of Wollongong's two cooks. LS CK James Smith, 27 hails from Beewah, has been in the RAN for ten years.
HMAS Wollongong is the tenth of 14 Armidale Class patrol boats to be commissioned into the RAN.
It is one of four to be based in Cairns. Upon completion of their Brisbane visit, LCDR Taylor and his ship's company headed for Cairns, their new home port.
