HMAS Bombard (P 99)
Template:Use Australian English Template:Use dmy dates
Template:Infobox ship imageTemplate:Infobox ship careerTemplate:Infobox ship careerTemplate:Infobox ship characteristicsHMAS Bombard (P 99) was an Template:Sclass of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN).
Design and construction
Template:Main 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>
Bombard was built by Walkers Limited at Maryborough, Queensland,<ref name=Gillett87>Gillett, Australian and New Zealand Ships since 1946, p. 87</ref> launched on 6 July 1968,Template:Citation needed and commissioned on 5 November 1968.<ref name=Gillett87/>
Operational history
During 1978 and 1979, Bombard was one of two Attack-class vessels used to portray the fictional HMAS Ambush for ABC drama series Patrol Boat.<ref name=Gillett86/> For this, BombardTemplate:'s pennant number was changed to 83, to match the other patrol boat used, Template:HMAS.<ref name=Gillett86/>
Bombard paid off on 12Template:Citation needed September 1983, was transferred to the Indonesian Navy and renamed KRI Siribua.<ref name=Gillett86/><ref name=Saunders20112012>Template:Cite book</ref> The patrol boat was listed in Jane's Fighting Ships as still operational in 2011.<ref name=Saunders20112012/>