Royal Australian Navy

Armidale Class Patrol Boats

Ships of Australia's Armidale class patrol boat fleet are named after Australian cities and towns with close links with Navy heritage.

The Armidale class were named to coincide with the 60th commemoration of the sinking of the original HMAS Armidale. The boats are; Armidale, Bathurst, Bundaberg, Albany, Pirie, Maitland, Ararat, Launceston, Larrakia, Wollongong, Childers, Glenelg, Maryborough, and Broome.

The Armidale class provide Navy an improved capability to intercept and apprehend vessels in a greater range of sea conditions than the earlier patrol boat classes; the Fremantle Class and the Attack Class.

Armidale Class Patrol Boat Names - links to the press release from the Minister for Defence

Multi-Crewing

The Armidale Class Patrol Boats operate as multi-crewed vessels that are formed into:

• Four divisions each comprised of four ships,
• Each Division has six crews, which rotate amongst the ships of the division;
• Three Divisions will be home ported in Darwin and One in Cairns;

The story of how the Armidale class came into being is found in the following Semaphore article "Welcome to the Armidale Class."

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