HMAS Acute
Template:Short description Template:Use Australian English Template:Use dmy dates
Template:Infobox ship imageTemplate:Infobox ship careerTemplate:Infobox ship careerTemplate:Infobox ship characteristicsHMAS Acute (P 81) was an Template:Sclass operated by the Royal Australian Navy (RAN).
Design and construction
{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} The Attack class was ordered in 1964 to operate in Australian waters as patrol boats (based on lessons learned through using the Template:Sclass2s 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 Template:Convert in length overall, had a beam of Template:Convert, and draughts of Template:Convert at standard load, and Template:Convert 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 Template:Convert to the two propellers.<ref name=Gillett86/><ref name=Janes68/> The vessels could achieve a top speed of Template:Convert, and had a range of Template:Convert at Template:Convert.<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 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 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.<ref name=ANMM>The patrol boat, Australian National Maritime Museum</ref>
Acute was laid down by Evans Deakin and Company at Brisbane, launched on 26 August 1967, and commissioned on 26 April 1968.<ref>Straczek, The Royal Australian Navy: Ships, Aircraft and Shore Establishments</ref><ref name=Gillett87>Gillett, Australian and New Zealand Ships since 1946, p. 87</ref>
Operational history
Acute was predominantly used for training of Royal Australian Navy Reserve personnel at Fremantle, Western Australia.<ref name=Bastock/> From November 1978 until the 1980s,Template:Clarify date Acute was attached to the Permanent Naval Force, and was assigned to the newly completed base at Template:HMAS.<ref name="LoneGun">"The Lone Gun of the West Coast!", in Navy News, p. 9</ref> Before the Two Ocean Policy was completely implemented, the patrol boat was for several years the only warship assigned to Western Australia (with the nickname "The Lone Gun of the West Coast"), and responsible for patrolling an area extending from Albany to Broome.<ref name="LoneGun"/> Whilst on a training cruise in May 1983, Acute apprehended two Taiwanese fishing boats engaged in illegal fishing.<ref name=Bastock/> This was the first such operation involving RANR personnel.<ref name=Bastock>Bastock, Australia's Ships of War, p. Template:Page needed</ref>
Acute paid off on 6 May 1983.Template:Citation needed She was transferred to the Indonesian Navy and renamed Silea.<ref name=Saunders20112012>Saunders (ed.), Jane's Fighting Ships 2011–2012, p. Template:Page needed</ref> The patrol boat was listed in Jane's Fighting Ships as still operational in 2011.<ref name=Saunders20112012/>
Citations
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Online sources
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