HMAS Bundaberg destroyed by fire

Damn!
Navy patrol boat HMAS Bundaberg catches fire while undergoing refit at Hemmant shipyard | News.com.au

Not good at all.
Steve

Good looking ship,damn...

Holy crap!

They are big boats and that limits the number that can be fielded. I served on some of the old Attack Class and one of the Fremantle Class. We had 20 Attacks, and i understand there are 14 of the Armidales trying to do the same job.

The armidales were developed in Australia after the collapase of the joint Malaysian-Australian Defence co-operation arrangements in 1993. The Armidales were based on the Customs vessels bay class (of which there are 8 in commission....these are unarmed seagoing patrol vessels). Bay-class patrol boat - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

They are capable vessels with capabilities well suited to Australian needs. we need vessels with good range, and good sustained sea speeds, and these vessels posses both. armamament is of secondary importance, and is reflected in the limited firepower these vessels carry. The idea is that they would be upgraded if a general war broke out. They are, however fitted with very advanced comms and radar suites I understand, because of their primary patrol and surveillance mission.

These are very busy ships. Each two boats have three crews assigned to them, so that they dont have any down time as crews are rested. they basically spend all their time at sea, except when being refitted.

this ship will be sorely missed. i dont expect it will be replaced...the navy as a cost saving excercise will try and tough it out until the class is up for replacement, probably around 2020. Thats arisky strategy, the government will argue that 'you got tyhe job done with 1 less for 6 years, so we wont replace it from the inventory. You gotta assume our pollies are a bunch of Dumbheads, and there are no votes in defence these days.

Great info

The following is the text from the "Navy Daily" online newspaper...

Chief of Navy, Vice Admiral Tim Barrett, has today inspected the fire damage sustained by the Armidale Class Patrol Boat HMAS Bundaberg when she caught fire in a Brisbane dockyard on Monday.

Bundaberg was undergoing a period of routine maintenance in the custody of civilian contractors when the fire started onboard, inside a shed at Aluminium Boats Australia (ABA), in Hemmant.

The Queensland Fire Brigade worked for more than four hours to bring the intense fire under control.

Vice Admiral Barrett joined the ship's current Commanding Officer, Lieutenant Commander Phil Draper, and ABA Shipyard CEO, Mr. Andrew Lawson, at the dockyard this morning to inspect the damage.

"We will not know the future of Bundaberg until an investigation is completed into the level of damage," Vice Admiral Barrett said.

While at the site, Vice Admiral Barrett spoke with personnel from the Queensland Fire and Emergency Service, and thanked them for their diligent response to the incident on Monday.

"When you look at the damage caused by this fire, the first thing that comes to mind is how fortunate we are that there were no casualties. The Queensland Fire and Emergency Service did an outstanding job to get this fire under control, and we owe them our gratitude," he said.

Bundaberg was one of 14 patrol boats being rotated through border protection operations, but given that she had begun a period of extended maintenance, her materiel state will cause no immediate effect to ongoing operations".