HMAS Advance (P 83)

{{main|Attack-class patrol boat}}

The Attack class was ordered in 1964 to operate in Australian waters as patrol boats 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. 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. 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.Gillett, Australian and New Zealand Ships since 1946, p. 86Blackman (ed.), Jane's Fighting Ships, 1968–69, p. 18 Propulsion machinery consisted of two 16-cylinder Paxman YJCM diesel engines, which supplied {{convert|3460|shp}} to the two propellers. The vessels could achieve a top speed of {{convert|24|kn}}, and had a range of {{convert|1200|nmi}} at {{convert|13|kn}}. The ship's company consisted of three officers and sixteen sailors. Main armament was a bow-mounted Bofors 40 mm gun, supplemented by two .50-calibre M2 Browning machine guns and various small arms. The ships were designed with as many commercial components as possible: the Attacks 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.The patrol boat, Australian National Maritime Museum

Advance was laid down by Walkers Limited at Maryborough, Queensland in March 1967,{{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}} launched on 16 August 1967, and commissioned on 24 January 1968.Mitchell, Past meets future It was the third ship of its class.

Advance operated out of {{HMAS|Coonawarra}} in Darwin, Northern Territory between 1968 and 1980. 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}}).

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.Frame, No Pleasure Cruise, p. 256

Advance and three other patrol boats were in Darwin Harbour on 25 December 1974, when Cyclone Tracy hit.Jones, in Stevens, The Royal Australian Navy, p. 234 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.

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.

File:HMAS-Advance-P83-3.jpg

From late 1977, the patrol boat was assigned to {{HMAS|Waterhen|naval base|6}} in Sydney for patrols along Australia's eastern coast, 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 ABC television series Patrol Boat.

Following her replacement by a {{sclass|Fremantle|patrol boat}} in 1980, Advance was reassigned as a training ship. She was assigned to the Sydney Port Division of the Royal Australian Navy Reserve in February 1982.

The patrol boat participated in the 1986 Naval Review.

Advance was decommissioned on 6 February 1988, and was transferred to the Australian National Maritime Museum (ANMM).{{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}}

The patrol boat has been maintained in operational condition by the ANMM.

In October 2013 Advance participated in the International Fleet Review 2013 in Sydney, celebrating the centenary of the Royal Australian Navy.{{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}}

{{reflist}}

• {{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}}

• {{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 }}

{{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