The former HMAS Gladstone in 2010
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History | |
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Australia | |
Namesake | City of Gladstone, Queensland |
Builder | NQEA, Cairns |
Laid down | 7 March 1983 |
Launched | 28 July 1984 |
Commissioned | 8 September 1984 |
Decommissioned | 13 March 2007 |
Motto | "Defend the right" |
Nickname(s) | "Sadrock" |
Honours and awards | Two inherited battle honours |
Status | Preserved as museum ship in Gladstone |
Badge | |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | Fremantle-class 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 | 24 |
Electronic warfare & decoys | Type 133 Prism ESM[1] |
Armament |
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HMAS Gladstone (FCPB 216), named for the city of Gladstone, Queensland, is a Fremantle-class patrol boat, formerly of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). Built by NQEA during the early 1980s, Gladstone was commissioned into RAN service in 1984.
The patrol boat spent most of its career operating out of the naval base HMAS Cairns on fisheries and border protection operations. The ship's company were granted Freedom of the City of their ship's namesake city on three occasions.
Gladstone was decommissioned in 2007, and was donated to the Gladstone Maritime History Society for preservation and display as a museum ship at the Gladstone Maritime Museum. Work was postponed due to the 2007–2008 financial crisis, with preservation work and development of a wet dock to display the ship completed in 2016. The vessel is now available for tours on weekends and is located in the Gladstone East Shores precinct, adjacent to the Gladstone Marina.