- Yes - In the Tech Tree.
- Yes - Event/BP.
- Yes - Premium.
- Yes - Squadron
- No - I would not like to see HMAS Wollongong in game.
HMAS Wollongong arriving at Port Kembla soon after commissioning, (2007)
Background:
With the Royal Australian Navies (RAN) Fremantle class of Patrol boat beginning to show signs of their 16 years of service 1993, a new program was created by the Australian Government to create a new class of patrol boats that would replace them.
This initial program would be done in collaboration with the Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN), who also needed new vessels for their patrol fleet, however by the late 1990’s the RMN would pull out of the program entirely leading Australia to pause the program while they considered their position. By 1999 the program would be reopened as an entirely Australian program, and was labeled as SEA1444.
A collaborative approach would be tendered for this program between Australian shipbuilders, Austal and Defence Maritime Services; their design would be an enlarged version of the Bay-class patrol boat, a class of 8 unarmed vessels built for the Australian Border Force in 1999. Changes made to this design to create the Armidale-class include a much larger size in breadth and length, allowing for better seakeeping, range, as well as greater weapons integration options among many other smaller changes
HMAS Wollongong is the third of her name, and 10th of her class of 14, the first vessel to bear her name was a Bathurst-class corvette launched in 1941, and the second being a Fremantle-class Patrol boat launched in 1981. This suggestion is for the HMAS Wollongong (III) after her small 2009 refit.
HMAS Wollongong leaving Brisbane harbour, (2011)
History:
Laid down by Austal, at their Henderson facility around 2006, launching and commissioning by the 23rd of June 2007. As she was part of the earlier batch of vessels built and commissioned before 2008, she was not commissioned with her Prism III radar warning system, which was only available for the construction of the last two vessels HMAS Glenelg and Maryborough. This equipment was only fitted to the vessel in a small refit in 2009, two years after she had already commissioned.
Although there were no problems with Wollongong herself, the same could not be said for the rest of her class. As although she had avoided the water ingestion problems of the initial 9 ship’s fuel systems, as she was still under construction at the time, and had the new and improved system fitted during construction. Further problems were encountered with a 20-person accommodation compartment, which had problems with hydrogen sulfide and carbon monoxide leaking into the compartment from the sewage treatment facilities. By 2014 the RAN reported that some vessels had encountered hull cracks due to “their high tempo of operations”. As the Wollonong lacked such damage, she would not be confined to port as some other vessels were in 2015.
Upon the commissioning of the HMAS Wollongong, she was assigned to the 3rd Australian Patrol Boat Group, also known as the Ardent division, out of HMAS Cairns, at Cairns, Queensland. Here she would join some of her direct Armidale-class sisters, but also some of her half sisters in the Australian Border Patrol’s Bay-class.
In this group, HMAS Wollongong would join in operation Resolute, which was an operation designed to prevent unauthorized entry of persons into Australian territory, this would however be discontinued by 2013, being replaced by operation Sovereign, which specifically targeted asylum seekers. Her time in these operations mostly included interception, control, and transport of foreign fishing vessels to prevent illegal fishing.
She would visit the port of Brisbane, Queensland in July 2007, being the first of her class to do so, and in January 2008 she would be commanded for a day by an 11 year old by way of the Make A Wish Foundation. In April 2010 she rescued the crew of an “irregular entry vessel”. She would pick up 109 survivors of an irregular entry vessel which sank with 206 people aboard while trying to reach Australia. Survivors would be delivered to Christmas Island for processing.
HMAS Wollongong leading KRI Sampari and Layang into Darwin Harbour in exercise Cassowary (2016)
In 2015 she would take part in AUSINDOCORPAT, which was an Australia-Indonesia counter terrorist scheme, then by 2018 she would also join in Operation Augury, another counter terrorist scheme this time with the Philippine Navy. During both of these operations she would sail in Indonesian and Fillipino waters, as well as visiting their ports. She would join Exercise Talisman in 2013, as well as exercise Cassowary with the Indonesian navy in 2013, 2015 & 2016, as well as Exercise Paradise in 2009 & 2016 with units of the Papua New Guinea Navy.
She would also conduct operations with the 51st Battalion Far North Queensland Regiment, where they would conduct patrol of oil and gas fields and installations in Australian waters, where they would conduct training exercises in addition to the patrol work. By 2019 she would begin operations on mitigating COVID-19 to the Torres Strait communities, which were very isolated.
She would continue this work until the 8th of December 2022, when she was laid up and decommissioned at Cairns, this was due to her heavy use of 15 years of service. She is yet to be disposed of.
| General Characteristics: | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Name: HMAS Wollongong | |||||
| Country: Australia | |||||
| Type: Patrol boat | |||||
| Class name: Armidale | |||||
| Year of commission: 2007 | |||||
| Refit: 2007 | |||||
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | |||||
| Dimensions: | |||||
| Length: 56.8 m (186 ft) | |||||
| Beam: 9.7 m (32 ft) | |||||
| Draught: 2.7 m (8.9 ft) | |||||
| Displacement: 300t standard | |||||
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | |||||
| Propulsion: | |||||
| Powerplant: 2 × MTU 4000 16V diesels @ 6,225 hp (4,642 kW) | |||||
| Speed: 25kt | |||||
| Endurance: 42 days | |||||
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | |||||
| Armament & sensors: | |||||
| Compliment: 21 standard, accomadation for 29 max crew. | |||||
| Primary armament: 1x1 25mm M242 on Rafeal Typhoon RWS | |||||
| Secondary armament: 2x1 .050" (12.7mm) M2HB | |||||
| Tertiary armament: nil | |||||
| Radar: Bridgemaster E surface search and nav radar | |||||
| Sonar: - nil | |||||
| Electronic systems: Prism III Radar Warning, Warrlock direction finding, Toplite electro-optical tracking system | |||||
| Boats: 2x 7.2m RHIBs |
HMAS Wollongong on patrol during operation Resolute (2013)
Sources:
A.Forbes (2007), Sea Power: Challenges old and New, proceedings of the Royal Australian Navy (pp.295-305)
https://seapower.navy.gov.au/history/units/hmas-wollongong-iii
HMAS Wollongong (ACPB 92) - Wikipedia
https://www.defence.gov.au/news-events/releases/2022-12-08/hmas-wollongong-decommissions-cairns
https://www.shipspotting.com/photos/463622?navList=moreOfThisShip&perPage=8&page=1&imo=4512934&lid=444472
