Bay class patrol boat
Encyclopedia

The Bay class is a class
Ship class
A ship class is a group of ships of a similar design. This is distinct from a ship-type, which might reflect a similarity of tonnage or intended use. For example, the is a nuclear aircraft carrier of the Nimitz class....

 of eight patrol boat
Patrol boat
A patrol boat is a relatively small naval vessel generally designed for coastal defense duties.There have been many designs for patrol boats. They may be operated by a nation's navy, coast guard, or police force, and may be intended for marine and/or estuarine or river environments...

s, built by Austal Ships and used by the Customs Marine Unit of the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service. They entered service during the late 1990s and early 2000s, and are primarily used on border protection duties.

The class was due to be replaced by 2010, but a request for tender
Request for tender
A request for tender, commonly abbreviated to RFT, is a formal, structured invitation to suppliers for the supply of products or services. In the public sector, such a process may be required and determined in detail by law to ensure that such competition for the use of public money is open, fair...

 was not issued until June of that year. The availability of the Bay class ships decreased during the later years of their service life.

Design and construction

Bay class vessels have a displacement of 134 tons, are 38.2 metres (125.3 ft) long, have a beam of 7.2 metres (23.6 ft), and a draught of 2.4 metres (7.9 ft). The propulsion system consists of two MTU 16V 2000 M70 diesels, supplemented by a VosperThornycroft bow thruster. The patrol boats have a maximum speed of 20 knots (10.9 m/s), and a maximum range of 1000 nautical miles (1,852 km). Each vessel is fitted with a 7.62 mm general purpose machine gun, and two Wiltrading Pursuit 640 vessels are carried for boarding operations. The sensor suite consists of a Racel Decca surface search radar operating in the E/F and I bands, and a Wesmar SS 390E dipping sonar. A Bay class vessel has a crew of 12.

The Bay class was built by Austal Ships. The eight ships were delivered over a period of 19 months, beginning in February 1999.

The Bay class design was used as the basis for the 14 larger Armidale class patrol boats
Armidale class patrol boat
The Armidale class is a class of patrol boats built for the Royal Australian Navy . Planning for a class of twelve vessels to replace the fifteen Fremantle class patrol boats began in 1993 as a joint project with the Royal Malaysian Navy, but was cancelled when Malaysia pulled out of the process...

 in use with the Royal Australian Navy, and the 10 patrol boats used by the Yemen Navy
Yemen Navy
-History:Yemen's navy was created in 1990 when North and South Yemen united.Yemen early on had problems with trying to keep drugs from entering Yemen by sea. In 2006 Yemen purchased 10 Bay class patrol boats which were very effective at stopping smugglers from entering Yemen.In the Hanish Islands...

.

Operational history

The eight patrol boats are operated by the Customs Marine Unit of the Australian Customs Service
Australian Customs Service
The Australian Customs and Border Protection Service is the Australian Federal Government agency responsible for managing the security and integrity of the Australian border, facilitating the movement of legitimate international travellers and goods, and collecting border-related duties and...

. They are primarily used to patrol Australia's Economic Exclusion Zone, although they also operate in support of other Australian law enforcement and defence agencies, including but not limited to the Australian Federal Police
Australian Federal Police
The Australian Federal Police is the federal police agency of the Commonwealth of Australia. Although the AFP was created by the amalgamation in 1979 of three Commonwealth law enforcement agencies, it traces its history from Commonwealth law enforcement agencies dating back to the federation of...

, the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park
Great Barrier Reef Marine Park
The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park protects a large part of Australia's Great Barrier Reef from damaging activities. Fishing and the removal of artefacts or...

 Authority, and the Royal Australian Navy
Royal Australian Navy
The Royal Australian Navy is the naval branch of the Australian Defence Force. Following the Federation of Australia in 1901, the ships and resources of the separate colonial navies were integrated into a national force: the Commonwealth Naval Forces...

.

Bay class vessels often operate on broder protection duties under Border Protection Command. The age of the vessels and resulting maintenance needs has seen a drop in the amount of time spent at sea, with other ships of the Customs Marine Unit forced to take up the slack.

Replacement

The Bay class were due to be replaced in 2010, but it was not until June of that year that a request for tender
Request for tender
A request for tender, commonly abbreviated to RFT, is a formal, structured invitation to suppliers for the supply of products or services. In the public sector, such a process may be required and determined in detail by law to ensure that such competition for the use of public money is open, fair...

was issued for eight new, larger patrol boats. Austal received the tender for eight 57.8 metres (189.6 ft) patrol boats on 12 August 2011. Construction of the vessels, to be designated the "Cape" class, is to start in February 2012. The new patrol boats will enter service between March 2013 and August 2015, with the Bay class likely to remain in service until the latter date.

Ships

ACV Roebuck Bay (ACV 10)
ACV Holdfast Bay (ACV 20)
ACV Botany Bay (ACV 30)
ACV Hervey Bay (ACV 40)
ACV Corio Bay (ACV 50)
ACV Arnhem Bay (ACV 60)
ACV Dame Roma Mitchell (ACV 70)
ACV Storm Bay (ACV 80)
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