![]() This fact was the cause of some displeasure in the PNGDF which was looking for larger patrol boats and hoped that Australia would provide the Fremantle-class vessels then being built for the RAN as the replacements for its Attack-Class boats. With a length of 31.5 metres and a top speed of 20 knots, these vessels were slightly smaller and slower than the Attack-class vessels. The PPBs were constructed between 19, although the four PNG boats were among the earlier ones to enter service and were all in service by 1989. The Attack-class boats were progressively paid off-my old vessel Aitape was sunk as a dive site inside the reef south-east of Port Moresby, while rumour has it that sister-ship Samarai served for a period, ingloriously, after being paid off as a floating brothel in Port Moresby. The first major development post-Independence occurred in the 1980s when the five Attack-Class patrol boats were progressively replaced by four Pacific Patrol Boats (PPBs), members of a class of twenty-two patrol boats built by Australia and donated to twelve South Pacific countries. Most recently it was during 2017 to undertake a study for the Australian and PNG governments of border and maritime security in PNG. ![]() ![]() My last posting to PNG ended in late 1974 but I have returned several times over the years mainly for projects related to Australian assistance for the PNGDF, particularly the Maritime Element. ![]() ![]() Sam Bateman on the right with colleague, Dr Anthony Bergin, and the Commanding Officer of PNGS Tarangau on Lombrum wharf April 2017 ![]()
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