View source for HMAS Advance (P 83)

{{Short description|1968 Attack-class patrol boat}}
{{Use Australian English|date=April 2018}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2018}}
{|{{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship image
|Ship image=RAN-IFR 2013 D3 24.JPG
|Ship caption=HMAS ''Advance'' on Sydney Harbour in October 2013
}}
{{Infobox ship career
|Ship country=Australia
|Ship flag={{Shipboxflag|Australia|naval}}
|Ship builder=[[Walkers Limited]], Queensland
|Ship laid down=March 1967
|Ship launched=16 August 1967
|Ship commissioned=24 January 1968
|Ship decommissioned=6 February 1988
|Ship motto="Never Look Back"
|Ship nickname=
|Ship honours=
|Ship status=Museum ship at the Australian National Maritime Museum
|Ship notes=
|Ship badge=[[File:HMAS Advance crest.png|Ship's badge]]
}}
{{Infobox ship characteristics
|Ship class={{sclass|Attack|patrol boat}}
|Ship displacement=*100 tons standard
*146 tons full load
|Ship length={{convert|107.6|ft|abbr=on}} [[length overall]]
|Ship beam={{convert|20|ft|m|abbr=on}}
|Ship draught=*{{convert|6.4|ft|abbr=on}} at standard load
*{{convert|7.3|ft|m|abbr=on}} at full load
|Ship propulsion=*2 × 16-cylinder Paxman YJCM diesel engines
*{{convert|3460|shp|abbr=on}}
*2 shafts
|Ship speed={{convert|24|kn}}
|Ship range={{cvt|1200|nmi}} at {{convert|13|kn}}
|Ship complement=3 officers, 16 sailors
|Ship sensors=
|Ship EW=
|Ship armament=*1 × [[Bofors 40 mm Automatic Gun L/60|Bofors 40 mm]] gun
*2 × .50-calibre [[M2 Browning]] machine guns
*Small arms
|Ship notes=
}}
|}

'''HMAS ''Advance'' (P 83)''' was an {{sclass|Attack|patrol boat}} of the [[Royal Australian Navy]] (RAN). Constructed during 1967 and commissioned into the RAN in 1968, ''Advance'' operated from Darwin and patrolled northern Australian waters.

During her career, the patrol boat shadowed a Soviet trawler, survived [[Cyclone Tracy]], was used for filming of the television series ''[[Patrol Boat (TV series)|Patrol Boat]]'', and participated in the RAN's first anti-terrorism patrol of the [[North West Shelf]]. ''Advance'' was replaced in 1980, but continued to operate as a training ship until she was decommissioned in 1988.

''Advance'' was donated to the [[Australian National Maritime Museum]], which has maintained her in an operational condition.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.sea.museum/whats-on/vessels/patrol-boat-hmas-advance|title=Patrol Boat: HMAS Advance|website=Australian National Maritime Museum|language=en|access-date=2020-04-11}}</ref>

==Design and construction==
{{main|Attack-class patrol boat}}
The ''Attack'' class was ordered in 1964 to operate in Australian waters as [[patrol boat]]s based on lessons learned through using the {{sclass2|Ton|minesweeper}}s on patrols of [[Borneo]] during the [[Indonesia-Malaysia Confrontation]], and to replace a variety of old patrol, search-and-rescue, and general-purpose craft.<ref name=Gillett86/> Initially, nine were ordered for the RAN, with another five for [[Papua New Guinea]]'s Australian-run coastal security force, although another six ships were ordered to bring the class to twenty vessels.<ref name=Gillett86/> The patrol boats had a displacement of 100 tons at standard load and 146 tons at full load, were {{convert|107.6|ft}} in [[length overall]], had a beam of {{convert|20|ft|m}}, and draughts of {{convert|6.4|ft}} at standard load, and {{convert|7.3|ft|m}} at full load.<ref name=Gillett86>Gillett, ''Australian and New Zealand Ships since 1946'', p. 86</ref><ref name=Janes68>Blackman (ed.), ''Jane's Fighting Ships, 1968–69'', p. 18</ref> Propulsion machinery consisted of two 16-cylinder Paxman YJCM diesel engines, which supplied {{convert|3460|shp}} to the two propellers.<ref name=Gillett86/><ref name=Janes68/> The vessels could achieve a top speed of {{convert|24|kn}}, and had a range of {{convert|1200|nmi}} at {{convert|13|kn}}.<ref name=Gillett86/><ref name=Janes68/> The ship's company consisted of three officers and sixteen sailors.<ref name=Janes68/> Main armament was a bow-mounted [[Bofors 40 mm Automatic Gun L/60|Bofors 40 mm]] gun, supplemented by two .50-calibre [[M2 Browning]] machine guns and various small arms.<ref name=Gillett86/><ref name=Janes68/> The ships were designed with as many commercial components as possible: the ''Attack''s were to operate in remote regions of Australia and New Guinea, and a town's hardware store would be more accessible than home base in a mechanical emergency.<ref name=ANMM>''The patrol boat'', Australian National Maritime Museum</ref>

''Advance'' was laid down by [[Walkers Limited]] at [[Maryborough, Queensland]] in March 1967,<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.militaryfactory.com/ships/detail.asp?ship_id=HMAS-Advance-P83|title=HMAS Advance (P83) Coastal Patrol Boat - Australia|access-date=2018-04-30|language=en-US}}</ref> launched on 16 August 1967, and commissioned on 24 January 1968.<ref name=Mitchell>Mitchell, ''Past meets future''</ref> It was the third ship of its class.<ref name=ANMM-PB/>

==Operational history==
''Advance'' operated out of {{HMAS|Coonawarra}} in [[Darwin, Northern Territory]] between 1968 and 1980.<ref name="ANMM"/> As well as the standard duties for her class, ''Advance'' was also used for surveillance, search-and-rescue, and hydrographic survey (in company with the survey ship {{HMAS|Moresby|1963|6}}).<ref name=ANMM/><ref name=Mitchell/>

During 1968, ''Advance'' and sister ship {{HMAS|Attack|P 90|2}} shadowed the Soviet trawler ''Van Gogh'', which operated in the [[Gulf of Carpentaria]] for two months.<ref name=Mitchell/><ref>Frame, ''No Pleasure Cruise'', p. 256</ref>

''Advance'' and three other patrol boats were in Darwin Harbour on 25 December 1974, when [[Cyclone Tracy]] hit.<ref name=Jones234>Jones, in Stevens, ''The Royal Australian Navy'', p. 234</ref> ''Advance'' and {{HMAS|Assail|P 89|2}} managed to escape serious damage, but ''Attack'' was forced aground and suffered hull damage, and {{HMAS|Arrow|P 88|2}} collided with Stoke's Hill Wharf and sank.<ref name=Jones234/>

During 1975 and 1976, ''Advance'' regularly operated as part of [[Operation Trochus]]: a concentrated effort to respond to illegal fishing vessels in northern Australian waters.<ref name=Mitchell/>

[[File:HMAS-Advance-P83-3.jpg|thumb|right|Stern view of ''Advance'']]

From late 1977, the patrol boat was assigned to {{HMAS|Waterhen|naval base|6}} in Sydney for patrols along Australia's eastern coast,<ref name=Mitchell/> but was redeployed elsewhere when necessary.

In 1979, ''Advance'' was one of two ''Attack''-class vessels used to portray the fictional HMAS ''Ambush''; setting of the [[Australian Broadcasting Corporation|ABC]] television series ''[[Patrol Boat (TV series)|Patrol Boat]]''.<ref name=ANMM/><ref name=Mitchell/>

Following her replacement by a {{sclass|Fremantle|patrol boat}} in 1980, ''Advance'' was reassigned as a training ship.<ref name=ANMM/> She was assigned to the Sydney Port Division of the [[Royal Australian Navy Reserve]] in February 1982.<ref name=Mitchell/>

The patrol boat participated in the 1986 Naval Review.<ref name=Mitchell/>

==Decommissioning and preservation==
''Advance'' was decommissioned on 6 February 1988, and was transferred to the [[Australian National Maritime Museum]] (ANMM).<ref name=ANMM/><ref name=Mitchell/><ref name=ANMM-PB>{{cite web |url=http://www.anmm.gov.au/whats-on/vessels/patrol-boat |title=Australian National Maritime Museum – Vessels – HMAS Advance |publisher=Australian National Maritime Museum |access-date=13 October 2014}}</ref>

The patrol boat has been maintained in operational condition by the ANMM.<ref name=ANMM/>

In October 2013 ''Advance'' participated in the [[International Fleet Review 2013]] in Sydney, celebrating the centenary of the Royal Australian Navy.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.navy.gov.au/ifr/participants/civilian-ships |title=Participating Civilian Ships |date=2013 |work=International Fleet Review 2013 website |publisher=Royal Australian Navy |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131127111545/http://www.navy.gov.au/ifr/participants/civilian-ships |archive-date=27 November 2013 |access-date=14 December 2015 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

==Citations==
{{reflist}}

==References==
===Books===
*{{cite book |editor=Blackman, Raymond |title=Jane's Fighting Ships, 1968–69 |edition=71st |year=1968 |publisher=Jane's Publishing Company |location=London |oclc=123786869}}
*{{cite book |last=Frame |first=Tom |author-link=Tom Frame (bishop) |title=No Pleasure Cruise: the story of the Royal Australian Navy |year=2004 |publisher=Allen & Unwin |location=Crows Nest, NSW |isbn=1-74114-233-4 |oclc=55980812}}
*{{cite book |last=Gillett |first=Ross |title=Australian and New Zealand Warships since 1946 |year=1988 |publisher=Child & Associates |location=Brookvale, NSW |isbn=0-86777-219-0 |oclc=23470364}}
*{{cite book |last=Jones |first=Peter |editor=Stevens, David |title=The Royal Australian Navy |series=The Australian Centenary History of Defence (vol III) |year=2001 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=South Melbourne |isbn=0-19-555542-2 |oclc=50418095 |chapter=Towards Self Reliance}}
*{{cite book |last=Lind |first=Lew |title=The Royal Australian Navy: Historic Naval Events Year by Year |orig-year=1982 |edition=2nd |year=1986 |publisher=Reed Books |location=Frenchs Forest, NSW |isbn=0-7301-0071-5 |oclc=16922225}}

===News articles and websites===
*{{cite web |url=http://www.anmm.gov.au/site/page.cfm?u=1369 |title=The patrol boat |publisher=Australian National Maritime Museum |access-date=26 March 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110706121634/http://www.anmm.gov.au/site/page.cfm?u=1369 |archive-date=6 July 2011 |url-status=dead }}
*{{cite news |url=http://www.defence.gov.au/news/NAVYNEWS/editions/4902/topstories/story07.htm |title=Past meets future |last=Mitchell |first=Brett |date=23 February 2006 |work=Navy News |access-date=26 March 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110329023002/http://www.defence.gov.au/news/navynews/editions/4902/topstories/story07.htm |archive-date=29 March 2011 }}

==External links==
{{Commons and category|HMAS Advance (P 83)|HMAS Advance (P 83)}}
* [https://www.sea.museum/whats-on/vessels/patrol-boat-hmas-advance Patrol Boat: HMAS Advance] – vessel page at the Australian National Maritime Museum

{{Attack class patrol boat}}

{{coord|33|52.15|S|151|11.995|E|type:landmark|display=title|name=HMAS Advance}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Advance}}
[[Category:Attack-class patrol boats]]
[[Category:Museum ships in Australia]]
[[Category:Ships built in Queensland]]
[[Category:Training ships of the Royal Australian Navy]]
[[Category:1967 ships]]
[[Category:Australian National Maritime Museum]]
[[Category:Cyclone Tracy]]