HMAS Cessnock (FCPB 210)

HMAS Cessnock (FCPB 210), named for the city of Cessnock, New South Wales was a Fremantle class patrol boat of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN).

For other ships with the same name, see HMAS Cessnock.
HMAS Cessnock
History
Australia
Namesake: City of Cessnock, New South Wales
Builder: North Queensland Engineers and Agents
Laid down: 9 March 1981
Launched: 15 January 1983
Commissioned: 5 March 1983
Decommissioned: 23 June 2005
Homeport: HMAS Coonawarra
Motto: "No Steps Backward"
Honours and
awards:		 Four inherited battle honours
Fate: Scrapped
General characteristics
Type: Patrol boat
Displacement: 220 tons
Length: 137.6 ft (41.9 m)
Beam: 25.25 ft (7.70 m)
Draught: 5.75 ft (1.75 m)
Propulsion: 2 MTU series 538 diesel engines, 3,200 shp (2,400 kW), 2 propellers
Speed: 30 knots (56 km/h; 35 mph)
Range: 5,000 nautical miles (9,300 km; 5,800 mi) at 5 knots (9.3 km/h; 5.8 mph)
Complement: 22
Armament:
  • One general purpose 40/60 mm Bofors gun
  • Two 12.7 mm machine guns
  • One 81 mm mortar (removed later)

Design and construction

Starting in the late 1960s, planning began for a new class of patrol boat to replace the Attack class, with designs calling for improved seakeeping capability, and updated weapons and equipment.[1] The Fremantles had a full load displacement of 220 tonnes (220 long tons; 240 short tons), were 137.6 feet (41.9 m) long overall, had a beam of 24.25 feet (7.39 m), and a maximum draught of 5.75 feet (1.75 m).[2] Main propulsion machinery consisted of two MTU series 538 diesel engines, which supplied 3,200 shaft horsepower (2,400 kW) to the two propeller shafts.[2] Exhaust was not expelled through a funnel, like most ships, but through vents below the waterline.[3] The patrol boat could reach a maximum speed of 30 knots (56 km/h; 35 mph), and had a maximum range of 5,000 nautical miles (9,300 km; 5,800 mi) at 5 knots (9.3 km/h; 5.8 mph).[2] The ship's company consisted of 22 personnel.[2] Each patrol boat was armed with a single 40 mm Bofors gun, supplemented by two .50 cal Browning machineguns and an 81-mm mortar.[2] The mortar was removed from all ships sometime after 1988. The main weapon was originally to be two 30-mm guns on a twin-mount, but the reconditioned Bofors were selected to keep costs down; provision was made to install an updated weapon later in the class' service life, but this did not eventuate.[4][3]

Cessnock was laid down by the North Queensland Engineers and Agents at Cairns, Queensland on 9 March 1981, launched on 15 January 1983, and commissioned into the RAN on 5 March 1983.[5][6]

Operational history

Following Cyclone Bola in 1988, Cessnock provided assistance to 30 villages across 11 islands in Vanuatu.[5]

Fate

Cessnock was decommissioned on 23 June 2005.[5] She was scrapped in Darwin during 2006, at a cost of $400,000 to the Australian government.[7]

Citations
  1. Mitchell, Farewell to the Fremantle class, p. 105
  2. Gillett, Australian and New Zealand Warships since 1946, p. 89
  3. Gillett, Australian and New Zealand Warships since 1946, p. 88
  4. Jones, in Stevens, The Royal Australian Navy, p. 222
  5. "HMAS Cessnock (II)". Royal Australian Navy. Retrieved 21 December 2013.
  6. Moore, Jane's Fighting Ships 1985–86, p. 26
  7. Australian National Audit Office (5 February 2015), Management of the Disposal of Specialist Military Equipment (Report), Government of Australia, p. 62, retrieved 24 April 2015
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References
  • Gillett, Ross (1988). Australian and New Zealand Warships since 1946. Brookvale, NSW: Child & Associates. ISBN 0-86777-219-0. OCLC 23470364.
  • Jones, Peter (2001). "Towards Self Reliance". In Stevens, David (ed.). The Royal Australian Navy. The Australian Centenary History of Defence (vol III). South Melbourne, VIC: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-555542-2. OCLC 50418095.
  • Mitchell, Brett (2007). "Farewell to the Fremantle Class". In Forbes, Andrew; Lovi, Michelle (eds.). Australian Maritime Issues 2006 (PDF). Papers in Australian Maritime Affairs. Sea Power Centre - Australia. ISBN 0-642-29644-8. ISSN 1327-5658. Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 June 2011. Retrieved 12 May 2010.
    • The chapter is available separately as Semaphore, Issue 17, 2005 in PDF and HTML formats.
  • Moore, John, ed. (1985). Jane's Fighting Ships 1985–86. London: Jane's Yearbooks. ISBN 0-7106-0814-4.
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